{"id":739252,"date":"2026-06-15T23:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/739252\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:24:10","slug":"big-bang-wants-taylors-torch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/739252\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Bang Wants Taylor\u2019s Torch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pierce O\u2019Leary <\/a>says he is ready to step into the light created by the torch Katie Taylor<\/a> has carried\u00a0so well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Irish Icon will have her last dance on September 5 and will bring the curtain down on one of boxing\u2019s most influential careers in Croke Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dubliner O\u2019Leary is waiting in the wings with his dancing shoes on and is adamant he is ready to take centre stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Big Bang\u2019 says he is primed and poised to become Irish boxing\u2019s leading light once Ireland\u2019s greatest sports star calls it a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference to officially confirm his August 1, 3 Arena hosted Mark Chamberlain bout, the boxer, who, like Taylor, is managed by Brian Peters, said: \u201cKatie\u2019s last dance is soon,\u00a0Once she retires and hands me the torch again, and that\u2019s two torches I have from Steve Collins and Katie, I\u2019ll be running forward.\u201d\u201dI\u2019m ready and feel like I\u2019m going to just kick on. I\u2019m here now. I\u2019m living the dream and it\u2019s everything that I ever wanted at one point.\u201d<\/p>\n

August 1 is the European Champion\u2019s second on home soil. He co-featured alongside\u00a0an Anthony Cacace and Jazza Dickens world title fight down by the Dublin Docklands in March and headlines alone this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Sheriff Street native is happy to take the pressure that comes with being the star attraction and is confident his shoulders are big enough to carry a card.<\/p>\n

Indeed, he hopes to lead a strong Dublin revival and create regular work for local fighters moving forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can just keep the momentum going and keep the train going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives everyone else a chance, all the fighters coming up, to build on home ground rather than going up and down countries all over Europe to fight just to build a record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming to ruin the Dublin Dockland graduates\u2019 capital\u00a0dreams is Mark Chamberlain O\u2019Leary certainly hopes he tries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The English fighter was initially\u00a0scheduled to trade leather with the Inner City operator in March but pulled out at late notice, much to the home fighters\u2019 frustration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think this fight would happen but he\u2019s been given his chance and I don\u2019t think he deserved it. I hope he will turn up and I wish him a fantastic camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Chamberlain does opt out a second time, there is plenty of light welterweight cover.\u00a0 Sean McComb, who has been calling for a Dublin \u2013 Belfast bout with O\u2019Leary, will appear on the bill. Gary Cully who also fancies a shot at the headliner, faces Limerick southpaw Lee Reeves on the card, while Senan Kelly, who can fight at the weight, is in with Queensberry prospect Steven Cairns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pierce O\u2019Leary says he is ready to step into the light created by the torch Katie Taylor has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,8808,210441,82],"class_list":["post-739252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-katie-taylor","tag-pierce-oleary","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}