Former six-time National Champion Con Sheehan is set to make his highly anticipated professional heavyweight debut in America next week, on January 19th.
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I caught up with the Tipperary man ahead of his debut, who is loving life in America at the moment.
Sheehan is being trained by world class coach Virgil Hunter, and is feeling the benefits already of being around some of Hunter’s world class pugilistic pupils, that include the likes of Andre Ward, Amir Khan and Andre Berto:
“It’s fantastic (being around these guys). I’m basically getting the same level of technical training as those guys, which is bringing me on massively.”
In recent press releases and interviews, I touched on how new trainer Virgil Hunter likes to call Con by his full name ‘Cornelius’, which Con joked was due to the shortened version of his name sounding similar to the surname of one of Hunter’s leading pugilists Amir Khan:
“My full name is Cornelius, it’s funny Virgil just started calling me by it one day as ‘Con’ sounded like ‘Khan’ when he was saying our two names in the gym.”
After his debut on January 19th, Con mentioned he’s looking to be as active as possible in his first year as a professional:
“I want to box as much as possible. I can’t put a number on it at the moment, but I’m looking to be as busy as possible this year.”
Our conversation moved on to the current heavyweight landscape at the moment that is really going from strength to strength on a world level, and what Con thought of new heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury:
“It’s really buzzing at the moment. I think Tyson Fury is underestimated by some people, he could potentially hold onto his belts for a while in my opinion.”
We then spoke about how Con is finding the adjustment to training in America, and some of the subtle differences that exist to being a professional fighter in the States, as opposed to his native Ireland.
Con mentioned how the strength and conditioning program he is on at the moment is very beneficial, and how Virgil Hunter is quite happy with where he is at currently – both physically and technically:
“Strength and conditioning out here is a bit different to back home, I’m getting stronger and fitter by doing boxing work, as opposed to just picking up a set of weights. My stamina is really coming on too, which is very important. I’m weighing around 225lbs at the moment and Virgil is happy with me at that weight.
He added:
“If you look at Deontay Wilder he’s only around 215lbs or so, and is putting people to sleep. It’s about punching correctly and Virgil is big on correct punching technique.”
As our cross-Atlantic phone conversation drew to an end, we covered some of the ultimate aspirations Con was looking to get out of his prize fighting career.
Con firmly stated his intent of looking to reach the very top of the game:
“I’m looking to go all the way and coming out to America early in my career, I feel that shows how serious I am, as the level of preparation and sparring out here for anyone who wants to do anything in boxing is as good as it gets.”
The talented young Irish heavyweight fights next week (Jan 19th) at the Nokia Club in LA and is set to be featured in one of the swing bouts, so there is a chance potentially that his fight could air on a mid-week Fox Sports 1 broadcast.
(Top image credit and source: Con Sheehan Facebook)
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