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Olympian Emmet Brennan to meet Irish-American rival Burke at home of New York GAA

The Dubliner (6-0, 1KO) will face the Galway-born, Yonkers-raised Harley Burke (10-0, 7KOs) at Gaelic Park next month.

TOKYO OLYMPIAN EMMET Brennan will face hometown fighter Harley Burke in a historic clash at Gaelic Park, New York, on Friday, 26 September.

Dubliner Brennan, 6-0 (1KO) in the paid ranks, will meet the Galway-born, Yonkers-raised Burke [10-0, 7KOS] in what will be the first ever professional boxing event to take place at the home of New York GAA.

The eight-round clash between undefeated super-middleweights will top a bill which New York GAA says will be “stacked full of Irish talent” at their 2,000-capacity Bronx base.

New York’s county board will run the event in conjunction with Star Boxing, a promotional company founded by Harley Burke’s manager-promoter, Joe DeGuardia.

Tickets, which will begin at $65, will go on sale this Friday, with full details to be released in due course on the event’s social media pages.

The 34-year-old Brennan has built a fanbase among the Irish diaspora in New York through regular training camps and fights in The Big Apple. He most recently beat Kerry rival Kevin Cronin in their rematch at Madison Square Garden’s Theater venue, on the undercard of Callum Walsh’s St Patrick’s weekend knockout of Scotland’s Dean Sutherland.

Burke, 30, boasts huge popularity in his hometown of Yonkers and its surrounds. As such, a fight between the pair in New York has been mooted routinely, including by the boxers themselves, in recent years.

Burke was born in Galway but is a naturalised American, having moved with his family to Yonkers during early childhood. He remains an ardent Galway GAA fan.

Burke’s 10 victories, seven of them by knockout, have been earned against journeymen. He most recently earned a unanimous decision over Bronx firefighter Louis Maietta (previously 6-4-2, 2KOs) at Westchester County Center, White Plains, in June. (Incidentally, Brennan’s most recent opponent, Kevin Cronin, is also a fireman in Tralee).

A personal trainer and labourer who set up his own pressure-washing company in 2022, Burke also previously served as an intern for his promoter, Joe DeGuardia, before converting his passion for boxing to the professional ring in 2019.

His and Brennan’s meeting at Gaelic Park will be an “event celebrating Irish culture in New York”, as described by New York GAA.

Gaelic Park has been used as the venue for Gaelic games in New York since its construction 99 years ago, when it became a social hotspot for Irish immigrants in the Bronx.

The park was purchased by Manhattan University in 1991 but the college has upheld the ground’s Irish traditions, while also using it for lacrosse, rugby, soccer, and softball.

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