Lightweight Feargal McCrory plans on delivering on his promises on Sunday night as he makes his Zuffa Boxing debut. A former 130-pound title challenger, McCrory takes on former featherweight champion Mark Magsayo in the co-feature of Zuffa Boxing 05 at Meta Apex in Las Vegas, and the straight-talking Irishman already feels right at home in his new surroundings at Zuffa Boxing. “There's no snakes, everything’s straight up, everyone knows what they're doing. There's nothing where people don't know what's happening. You know you're going to be in hard fights. You're going to be in great fights. I believe it's going to bring the glamor back to this sport. The opportunities that I'm craving are the biggest opportunities out there, you know? Give me the biggest fighter you’ve got, and we go, no problem.”
McCrory’s passion for boxing began at an early age, when his father, himself a former boxer, took him to his local boxing club in Tyrone, where the experience of being in an old-school boxing gym left a lasting impression on him. “I was six when I first went,” he remembered. “I’ve had a few breaks in between there as I grew up. But I loved it. I loved the smell. The smell of the bags, the sound of the ropes, the thumping of the bag. I loved it. And what keeps me fighting now is my family. I have a wife and three kids at home, and, yeah, they inspire me.”
He also has vivid memories of his first professional fight, when he pulled on a set of gloves for a pro fight for the very first time. “I remember the gloves came in and I put my hand in the glove, and was my first time putting my hand in that little eight-ounce glove. And I remember thinking, ‘Whoa! This is serious! Now this is it!’ I remember walking out and the crowd, and you always dream of it as you grew up as a kid, of fighting professionally and coming out to the music and the noise and the atmosphere. And I’d sold loads of tickets. I'm so lucky. I'm so, so lucky that my local community and people support me as they do, and I'm so blessed. But the noise when I walked out for my first fight… oh, incredible! And it only lasted like 25 seconds or something! The guy fell down, and I didn't even hit him! I threw a body shot and hit his arm. I distinctly remembered hitting his arm, but I sort of remember saying to myself, ‘I found my range.’ And he went down, and I thought, ‘Yeah, this is easy! This game is easy!’ But you learn as you go on. It's not easy.”
Despite that early realization that life as a professional boxer was going to push him beyond what he thought possible, McCrory embraced the grind as he threw himself into his training. Now, he lives for it. “I miss it when I'm not doing it. I like getting my break, my week, or my two weeks off. I enjoy my break, but I love getting back into it,” he admitted. “I love the structure around training camp. I love the competitiveness of waking up when it's raining outside or snowing outside, but I’ve got to go. I love that. I love that challenge on me. I love the preparation, but I love the fight. I love the fight. I love everything around the fight. And yeah, I'm very happy at what I do.”
That dedication to preparation is one of the major reasons why he’s in Las Vegas this week. The 33-year-old has been a pro for 10 years and has built a record of 17 wins against just one defeat. And on Sunday night, he faces former WBC featherweight champion Magsayo in a huge fight for the Zuffa Boxing lightweight division. It’s a matchup he’s looking forward to immensely. “I think our styles will gel incredibly well,” he suggested. “He comes forward, I come forward. Now, we don’t just bomb forward and throw unnecessary punches and hope. It’s educated pressure. We know what we’re doing. I think it’s a great fight, I really do. The minute it was offered to me, I jumped on it right away.”
And when he did, he threw himself into his training to ensure that he’s prepared for whatever Magsayo can throw at him on fight night. “I believe you have to make yourself comfortable being uncomfortable,” he explained. “Psychologically, going into the fight, I know that no matter what faces me, I've prepared for it. My miles are in my legs, the rounds are in the bank. Everything's ready to go, and it gives you a great sense of belief. Confidence comes through preparation. I prepare the best I can. Like I said about the rain and the snow, and when I go out running on my sprints and my training, and even, like the other day in New York, it was closed down with a blizzard. ‘You can take the day off, Feargal. You don't have to come in.’ Yes, I do. That psychology of ‘nothing else in the world matters’ – as selfishly as that sounds, as I prepare for battle, nothing matters. I have to prepare every day. I don't miss. And when I go into that ring, I know within me that I'm ready to fight. And yeah, especially in a fight like this, I’ve got to be ready.”
McCrory is ready for the challenge ahead, and ultimately, he has his sights set on winning a Zuffa Boxing championship. But first he has to get his Zuffa Boxing career off to a winning start, and that means defeating Magsayo.
In addition to victory, McCrory hopes he can showcase the sort of fighting style that could make him an instant fan-favorite in Zuffa Boxing. “I hope they just see the resilience, the fight, the will to win, the sacrifices I make to be there and to prepare. And yeah, I think they'll fall in love with my style,” he said. “I come to pressure, throw lots of shots. You won't have to go looking for me. For my opponent, I hope I don't have to go looking for you, either, and we can really put a show on for the fans.”
And, having laid out his fighting manifesto ahead of his Zuffa Boxing debut, there’s just one thing he wants the fans to be saying about him as they leave Meta Apex after his fight on Sunday night. “He told you so.”
