Pierce O'Leary will miss birth of his child as he chases world title dream
The 16-0 fighter (9 KOs) promises to deliver a "demolition job" when he faces Liam Dillon this weekend as he aims to become the first Dubliner since Bernard Dunne to win a European title.
But there won't be much time to celebrate as O'Leary plans to get straight back to work between his Liverpool base and America shortly after Saturday's fight, with a Dublin homecoming in the works for later this year.
"My little girl, she's finished school next week so I'll be home for that. I'll be back to camp then and I'll be missing the birth of my second child," explained 'Big Bang', who faces Dilllon on the Fabio Wardley vs Justis Huni card.
"That's the sacrifice that needs to be made and that's what we plan on doing. We're going out there and setting the future up."
He added: "I'm here to collect belts and that's what I'm doing. If I'm sacrificing the birth of my child or my daughter, I need it to pay dividends so that's what we're going to do."
O'Leary will get his first experience of fighting outside on Saturday night when he faces the 15-2-1 Dillon in the co-main event at Ipswich Town FC's Portman Road as he looks to add the EBU European Super Lightweight title to his WBC International belt.
And he has dreams of fighting outdoors at home. As a Northsider, the likes of Dalymount Park and Fairview Park are both options, while his brother-in-law is Shamrock Rovers forward Graham Burke and Tallaght Stadium is another possibility.
But Dillon is the man O'Leary has to get through first after a number of potential opponents turned down the opportunity to fight time.
"Fair play to Liam Dillon stepped up to the plate. He's now a challenger like myself for the belt and I'm looking forward to coming out on top and becoming a European champion," stated O'Leary.
"I don't know much about him to be honest. I know he's been in there with the likes of Ryan Garner etc. I never looked too much into detail of him.
"I just know for a fact that if I pick up where I left off in sparring and training camp, no one will touch me and that's going to the world level as well. I'm just going out there prepared. I'm bringing the best 'Big Bang' version of myself.
"Once I get that done, no one will ever lay a glove on me."
It will be O'Leary's first time fighting at 12 rounds and that is something he is relishing after the 'best training camp' of his career so far.
"We've done an old school training camp and you see the definition that I'm in from it," he explained. "We sparred 15 rounds one time and I could have gone on and done another 20. That's how fit I am and I'm ready to rock and I'm looking forward to it. I don't think 12 rounds will be an issue at all.
"If anything, I'm going to pace myself a little bit more and do more damage."
The Sheriff Street native is promoted by Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren, who has publicly backed him to become a world champion and that is O'Leary's ultimate aim.
In his quest to achieve that, O'Leary will spend time in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Canada and possibly Miami for his next training camp, having struggled to get sparring partners at his weight class in England.
"If he can back me being a world champion, that's where I want to go. I want to be a world champion. By March next year I want to be fighting for a world title and I want that to be in Dublin as well," stated O'Leary.
"I really and truly believe that's going to happen. I want to be in a mix of all the big names out there."
"Then after that, we're going to unify it," he continued. "That's the plan, going to unify the whole division. I truly believe that.
"I'm in the mix with the likes of Teofimo Lopez and all the other 140 champions out there. There's also the WBA, Gary Russell Jr., the WBC, Alberto Puello, whatever his name is, and the IBF, which is Richardson Hitchins, who's fighting George Kambosos Jr.
"Mix me in with all of them and I guarantee you I'll come out on top. It's only a matter of time."
He added: "It's going to be this and main events going forward. That's where I visualise myself and that's what Frank told me to my face personally. He shook on it.
"Really big things are going to be happening quite soon. That's what drives me every day and that's what I want. It's been a long time coming but we're now eventually getting the situation that we want.
"It's about going out there now and grabbing it with both arms and not letting anyone take that away from me."
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