West Belfast born Niall McGreevy never expected to become a two-time World champion when he first entered a Muay Thai gym.
The then 15-year-old was devoted to Gaelic football and hurling, and it was only in the off-season that he decided to give the Thailand-based combat sport a chance.
Over 10 years later, McGreevy is one of the world’s best at a sport mostly fought on the other side of the world, and largely alien to his home shores.
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“I never thought I would be where I am today”, he admitted to The Irish News.
“I only started Muay Thai to keep fit in the winter months when the Gaelic had stopped.
“When I went to secondary school, I thought I could fight and I found out pretty quickly that I couldn’t!
Niall McGreevy is on the rise in Muay Thai. PICTURE: MAC MEDIA
“I did boxing when I was 10 years old, but I got the face punched off me. I wasn’t very good with my hands. I had a couple of fights, but didn’t really like it and went back to hurling and Gaelic, which I’d played since I was about four.
“So when I started Muay Thai when I was 15, it was new and it was exciting, and I was good at it, and I just stuck at it. Now I’m here, a world champion.”
Muay Thai is a combat sport known as the ‘art of the eight limbs’, with fists, elbows, knees and kicks all included as parts of its striking.
Originating from Thailand, the sport has seen only a handful number of professional athletes emerge from Ireland, and even fewer to reach world champion level.
McGreevy climbed that summit in October 2024, claiming his first professional belt in Verona as he won the WBC title.
He defended it successfully last September, and had a quick turn-around to fight again with Muay Thai’s biggest promoter, RWS, at the beginning of this year.
Niall McGreevy working on the pads. PICTURE: MAC MEDIA
The fighter won his most recent bout on January 31, picking up his fourth victory in a row through unanimous decision, something he puts down to his intense preparation.
He added: “I was very confident heading into the fight. I knew I had to stay strong to beat him, and I also knew he could have chinned me.
“But because of the training and the work me and my camp put in, I knew I would have the confidence needed.
“I knew going into the fight I was 100% sure I was going to win.”
With more potential fights coming through the rest of the year, McGreevy is open to whatever comes next.
“RWS are very good to work with. I can only fight for them exclusively in Thailand, and I can defend the WBC anywhere else in the world, so if someone wants to challenge me for it, they can, and I do intend on defending it,” he said.
“There’s been a few real standout fighters from Ireland, but it really is quite a small sport here compared to even England and France.
“Irish fighters going over to Thailand is really unheard of, there’s been only really one or two that have stuck it out in that circuit. So to be over there, representing Ireland on the big stage, especially in Thailand, is pretty cool.”
With fellow champion fighter and best mate, Garrett Smylie, the two have also created their own clothing brand to represent their home city on the global stage.
Named BFast after both their native city, and also with the need to ‘be fast’ in combat sport, the brand has seen fighters Lewis Crocker and Paul Hughes don them in combat.
“We’ve made a career through fighting, but it doesn’t last forever”, said McGreevy.
“It’s great fun making your own clothes, and having people join the brand and get behind the community.”
Representing Belfast as a fighting city was key to both McGreevy and Smylie when creating the image.
“We wanted to name it after where we’re from, and to put Belfast on the map, on the biggest of stages.”