A QUICK MESSAGE on Facebook just about puts it into context.
What time do you fancy doing that interview tomorrow, James?
‘Around five o’clock would be great, bud. I’ll be home from school!’
And sure enough, the following day at around 12pm, James Power’s ‘last active’ status on Facebook Messenger is ’4h ago’ — so if you’re reading this, Mrs. Power, you can rest assured your youngfella is paying attention in Coachford College as he begins preparation for his Leaving Cert next summer.
Power has another couple of tests on his more immediate radar, however. Each of them will take place some 8,300 kilometers west of his native Dripsey.
At 17 he’s not strictly old enough to indulge in Cork’s weekend pub scene, but on Friday 21 September Power will become Ireland’s youngest ever professional boxer when he steps through the ropes at the Rancho Grande Bar in Tijuana, Mexico.
Also shy of the required age to obtain a professional licence from the Boxing Union of Ireland, he’ll instead open his punch-for-pay account beneath the Californian border.
Later that week, he’ll fight again in the same city before jetting back to reality on the Macroom-Ballincollig border.
“It’s something different, anyway,” Power tells The42.
You’re approaching something that you’ve never done before anyway by turning pro, so the chance to fight in Mexico on top of it — you might as well just go for it! I thought that was a cool idea.
“I spoke to [fellow Cork boxer] Vladimir Belujsky; he was giving me advice because he’s fought down there a few times. And Declan Geraghty [Sr], too, who I’ve been training with up in Dublin — although unfortunately, he can’t go with me this time.
“But he was making sure I knew everything about it, everything to expect, before I go over there to fight…
“Ah, I should be grand!” Power laughs. “I’m in safe hands.”
As for his poor mother…
“She was actually excited, all right,” he says. “Erra, she would have supported me either way — whether I decided to go pro or not, she’d always have supported me.”
Such has been the case since Power first laced up the gloves aged nine.
He earned his first couple of stripes and scrapes in Macroom Boxing Club before switching to the revered Fr. Horgan’s club in Churchfield, winning two Irish titles at underage level with the latter.
More recently, he was based in Legacy BC, a relatively new gym on the Airport Road.
He’s done the rounds, and he duly reels off some of the talent brewing alongside him in the burgeoning boxing scene on Leeside: he specifically pinpoints European Schoolboy Championship medalists Michael Faulkner and Steven Cairns as a pair of potential aces.
Lightweight Power will predominantly train in Dublin, however, having teamed up with highly-regarded coach Geraghty.
This has meant a regular commute up and down the M50 since early summer, but things should become less hectic after the small matter of Mexico later this month.
School, he says, remains of paramount importance.
Far from consumed by the excitement regarding his pro move among friends and family back home, Power knows he’ll need an educational bedrock for life beyond the ropes — and he’s conscious that new life could begin with the mistimed blink of an eye.
He’s cognisant that boxing is just about the world’s most unreliable profession, and that only its 1% keep their heads above the breadline.
His advisors — revered cutman Andrew O’Neill and boxing management/promotional company Assassin Boxing — were in complete agreement where education was concerned; both parties consulted at length with Power’s family, and both are more than content to circumnavigate the school calendar — even if that means putting boxing on the backburner for 10 or 12 months post-Tijuana.
“He’s not deluded,” says Conor Slater of Assassin Boxing, who will advise Power in a non-contractual capacity until he turns 18 next April.
“He’s a very level-headed kid and, to be honest, we were delighted when we heard he was going to be staying in school — it’s obviously very important and it’s just a good sign of a fighter, that they’re thinking ahead. That’s the kind of fighter you want to work with.
“In boxing terms, he obviously has a huge amount of time on his side, so this is just about getting a bit of a head-start before next year — getting that little bit of experience so he’s 2 or 3-0 and ready to go once he finishes up with the Leaving Cert.
“Who knows — if Mexico went well and if we could make it work, and if it was something James and his family were on board with, maybe we could get him out for a third fight during the October midterm when he has the week off. We’ll see.
“But certainly beyond that, and especially into the new year, it’s just too close to exams and things like that — and there is absolutely no rush.
Even when we spoke about the whole thing initially, he kind of indicated he wanted to go on a Leaving Cert holiday next summer and things like that — and who could blame him? So the reality was that he’d be waiting until next September or so before he got going. It was kind of a case of, ‘Why don’t we do it now? Why not squeeze in a couple of fights before 6th year properly kicks off?’
Power chuckles as he recalls how his venture into the pro game came to pass.
“What happened was, I was up in Dublin at a pro show,” he says. “Noely Murphy (New York-based Cork pro) was fighting in Ireland, in the National Stadium — Noely was a training partner of mine back in Macroom Boxing Club. And Andrew O’Neill came up to me and asked me to help him do Noely’s corner.
“He gave me VIP passes so I could help out at ringside, and we kind of hit it off — he’s a bit of craic, like.
“We kept in touch afterwards and, eventually, Andrew and myself kind of came up with the idea to go pro. And he’s helped me out an awful lot: he got me in touch with Assassin, he did a lot for me over the last couple of months to get this to where it is, in fairness to him.
But I’ve thought about it for a good, long time. I was thinking about it before going into the U18s final, even. I kind of had my decision made the minute I heard about it, to be honest, but I had to kind of double-think everything, if you get me — it was obviously a big decision.
“But once the idea came about… I could never have seen myself turning it down.”
There’s an obligatory question one must ask a young boxing prospect as they embark upon their journey into the pro ranks: what do you see yourself achieving in this sport?
And in truth, the obligatory answer — ‘I’m going to be a world champion’ — evokes a kind of wince from the interviewer, for such plans come to fruition only for a select few; for the rest, it’s a case of convincing themselves that they’re the best fighter in the world until somebody proves that they’re not.
Power’s response is quite the tonic by comparison: he speaks about bringing a boxing event to Cork and his wish to fight in front of the people who have helped him to get even this far.
And yes, he mentions a world title but he does so almost sheepishly; he’d rather play things by ear for now.
“Let’s see how far we can go, I suppose. I definitely want to be a world champion someday — that’s every youngfella’s dream in the sport, like, and it’s definitely my dream. Just to have a world professional belt — that’d be class, like.
“But for the next couple of years it’s about getting the wins under my belt, getting the record up, and gaining that bit of experience as I go.
“I just want to keep improving as a fighter and we’ll see where we can from there. There’s no rush with any of it.”
Adviser Slater indicates that Power will fight in Ireland sometime in late 2019, and alludes to the possibility that, were the Dripsey native to develop as planned, he could gatecrash the Irish title scene at a record-low age.
But prospective transatlantic ventures are a distinct possibility, too: one American promoter has already informed Assassin Boxing of their tentative interest in Power, and Slater explains how this alone dispels the notion that this particular 17-year-old is a mere novelty act.
“What you have to remember is that, first and foremost, James is a serious boxing talent, ” he says.
“The little bit of interest in America — already — is proof of that: they’re not going to be looking at some kid who has a story but can’t fight.
Like, this is no PR stunt. It’s not some sort of gimmick. James won two Irish titles as an amateur — he has a lot of pedigree — and we’re very excited to see what he can achieve as a professional.
Power has only once crossed paths with the man who he displaced as Ireland’s youngest professional boxer — in Hollywood, naturally.
19-year-old Aaron McKenna, signed to Golden Boy Promotions and based in California, has made quite the start to his own fledgling career: ‘The Silencer’ of Smithborough has won his first five pro contests, three of them quick, and is establishing himself as one of the standout pugilistic prospects operating on America’s West Coast.
As things stand, the decorated former underage amateur star is some 10 to 12 pounds heavier than Power, but was of a similar weight himself at Power’s age.
You can probably see where this is going…
“Oh, I’d definitely be up for that fight down the road!” he says.
As in, I’d fight anyone, like, d’you know? But I was actually training with Aaron over in Wild Card when I went over during the holidays. I went over to LA for a while, we did a bit of training.
“I didn’t know Aaron before that — I only got talking to him over there. He’s a very nice fella.
“But yeah, if that fight came along sometime, I’d definitely take it.
“I’m not the type of person to be calling out fighters or anything like that — especially not this soon. And Aaron is doing unreal, to be fair to him. Ah, he’ll go far — he’ll get places.
“Unless I get to him first!”
James Power is ready to tackle his fair share of examinations before that prospective all-Irish superfight comes to fruition, of course.
Maybe one day. But for now, it’s back to school on Monday.
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