25 Facts About Eamonn Magee

Eamonn Magee fought for and won the WBU World title in December 2003.

Eamonn Magee held the Commonwealth Light-Welterweight title twice, and challenged for the European Light-Welterweight and British Welterweight titles.

Eamonn Magee was a veteran of the Irish and European professional fight scenes and fought out of the Breen Gym in Belfast, where he now works as an assistant trainer to John Breen.

Eamonn Magee grew up in the Ardoyne area of Belfast the youngest of four boys and was in and out of trouble as a youth.

Eamonn Magee came from a boxing obsessed family, at the age of twelve, Eamonn Magee's mother enrolled him in the local boxing club.

Eamonn Magee stated that for his mother "boxing was as important as school".

In 1989, Eamonn Magee was involved in a fight outside a restaurant and sustained a deep wound to his neck from which he almost died.

In 1994, Eamonn Magee was charged with affray after getting into a barroom brawl with a group of Rangers fans in a Belfast City Centre pub.

In February 2004, Eamonn Magee was attacked in the Blacks Road area of Belfast.

Eamonn Magee was pulled from his car and beaten, which broke two bones in one of his legs.

In June 2010, Eamonn Magee was jailed for 12 months for an assault on his ex-partner.

Eamonn Magee was given the maximum sentence for the offence, but was released on bail pending an appeal.

In December 2010, Eamonn Magee, who is facing charges of breaching a non-molestation order and harassing his ex-partner Maria Magill was arrested and brought back into custody after failing to sign with police on 28 December.

The judge, Mr Justice Weatherup, ruled that Eamonn Magee could be released again on bail after pointing out that no known attempt had been made to contact Ms Magill.

In protest, Eamonn Magee then turned down the chance to box off for the place, as he felt he was the automatic choice.

Eamonn Magee turned professional in November 1995, winning his first fight at the Point Depot, in which he knocked out Hull based Liverpudlian Pete Roberts on a card that included Steve Collins and a debut fight for Dubliner Jim Rock.

Eamonn Magee thought he had been let down badly by the British officials on the night and Chris Eubank made his protest known.

Eamonn Magee's mind was on revenge and he floored the champion three times in the sixth round before star rated referee Dave Parris stopped the fight with Burke in no condition to continue.

Eamonn Magee's sights were then set on a fight with Manchester's Ricky Hatton and continued his winning streak with a further ten straight wins, seven inside the distance, including wins over Kenya's Joseph Miyumo, Shea Neary and Jonathan Thaxton to line up a super-fight with Hatton.

Eamonn Magee's highest profile fight was against Ricky Hatton for the WBU Light Welterweight Title which took place at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 1 June 2002 and was billed as "Anarchy in the UK" and was a 20,000 ticket sell out.

Also Eamonn Magee had trouble leading up to the fight when the Panamanian sparring partners that Eamonn Magee had paid for were deported from Ireland after they arrived at Dublin Airport.

In what Hatton's trainer Billy Graham called Hatton's toughest fight, Eamonn Magee knocked Hatton down for the first time in his career after only one minute of the fight in round one.

Eamonn Magee again pressurised Hatton in the second round and again Hatton looked shakey and in trouble.

Eamonn Magee eventually lost this keenly contested fight on points over 12 rounds.

Eamonn Magee's most recent fight took place 11 May 2007 and was a unanimous points loss to Kevin Anderson for the British welterweight title.