{"id":326978,"date":"2025-12-20T19:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T19:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/326978\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T19:34:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T19:34:17","slug":"rory-mcilroy-rules-out-potential-fight-as-he-flies-to-us-for-joshua-vs-paul-bout-i-dont-want-to-take-punches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/326978\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy rules out potential fight as he flies to US for Joshua vs Paul bout: \u2018I don\u2019t want to take punches\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The newly crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2025 was back in the United States on Friday night, hours after lifting the trophy in Salford in England, as he attended the boxing exhibition between Anthony Joshua and internet personality Jake Paul in Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BBC Sport ahead of the fight at the Kaseya Center, the Co Down golfer laughed as he reflected on the frantic schedule that followed Thursday night\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n

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\u201cQuick turnaround\u2026 flew from Manchester this morning about 9 o\u2019clock, went home, freshened up and then came here,\u201d he said. \u201cQuick turnaround but a great couple of nights,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Asked whether watching Joshua and Paul had sparked any interest in boxing, McIlroy was emphatic. \u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m very happy to play golf for a living, I don\u2019t want to take punches for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy had travelled directly from Florida to attend the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, following competition commitments at the Golf Channel Games earlier in the week. After winning the public vote on Thursday night, he returned to the United States on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/p>\n

Rory McIlory with Bela Bajaria (Chief Content Officer of Netflix) and Dave Portnoy (founder of Barstool Sports) at the Kaseya Center (Photo by Alexander Tamargo\/Getty Images for Netflix)<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy shares special moment with daughter Poppy after Irish Open win<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old became Northern Ireland\u2019s fourth winner of the prestigious award, joining Lady Mary Peters (1972), Barry McGuigan (1985) and Sir Anthony McCoy (2010). He topped the public vote ahead of England rugby international Ellie Kildunne and Formula One world champion Lando Norris from a six-strong shortlist.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s victory capped a remarkable year which included Masters triumph at Augusta in April \u2013 completing the career Grand Slam – a homecoming Open Championship at Royal Portrush and Ryder Cup success with Team Europe.<\/p>\n

During his acceptance speech, McIlroy described 2025 as \u201cthe year that I made my dreams come true\u201d, paying tribute to his family for their support throughout his career<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Augusta to the Ryder Cup and everything else in between, it really has been the year that dreams are made of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He thanked his parents, Rosie and Gerry, and his wife Erica and daughter Poppy, who were unable to attend the ceremony as they remained in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re what holds me together, my rock,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t be here tonight, but I can\u2019t wait to get back to see them tomorrow and celebrate this with them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also was a double winner on the night after Team Europe scooped Team of the Year for their performance in New York at the Ryder Cup earlier this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The newly crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2025 was back in the United States on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6565,2560,57911,2623,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-326978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-anthony-joshua","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-kurtis-reid","11":"tag-rory-mcilroy","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}