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Eamonn Magee (born 13 July 1971) is a retired Irish professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2007, becoming the WBU World Welterweight Champion in December 2003 a title he held until May 2006. He also held the Commonwealth light-welterweight title twice, and challenged for the European light-welterweight and British welterweight titles. As an amateur, Magee won a bronze medal in the welterweight division at the 1992 World Junior Championships.

He 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.

Biography
Magee grew up in the notoriously tough Ardoyne housing estate in Belfast. He is the youngest of four boys all of whom held regional, national, commonwealth or international titles throughout their lives. Magee hails from a long line of boxers and was introduced to the sport at seven years of age. His mother, Isobel, recognizing the inherent danger, and potential attraction of Belfast's worn torn streets, enrolled all four of her sons at the famed Sacred Heart Gym in West Belfast where young Eamonn came under the tutelage of world renowned coach Patsy McKenna. Magee stated that for his mother "...boxing was as important as school. She'd know where we were, most of the time anyway, and at a time when young men, both Catholic and Protestant, were being killed, this gave her a certain reassurance". To this day, Magee's amateur record is one of the most successful in the history of Irish boxing.

Magee's successes in the ring were marred by numerous violent incidents on the streets of Belfast. His illustrious amateur career brought with it fame and subsequent notoriety. "Being recognized almost everywhere I went at seventeen or eighteen years of age made me a target". His own predisposition to violence, womanizing, alcohol and cocaine brought the attention of not only the rougher underbelly of society, but also that of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who had a particular distaste for drugs and drug dealers. It is interesting to note that the youngest Magee was the only wayward son. All three older brothers, Terry, Noel and Patrick were never attracted to these dangers.

Many neighborhoods in Belfast at that time, indeed in the entire North of Ireland, were considered far too dangerous for the local police, or even the British Army to enter. Ardoyne, a notorious breeding ground for Irish republicanism and fervent Irish nationalism, was top of that list. As such, the IRA acted as local 'enforcers'. However, as the war against the occupying British forces dragged on, 'safe-houses' in which arms and explosives were secretly stored, became targets for frequent British Army incursions the aim of which was to rid the IRA of its killing power. Anyone who jeopardized the IRA's war effort became a legitimate target for its vicious and barbaric tactics known as "punishment-shootings". Victims were held down while masked men shot at close range through the back of the knee, hence the term knee-capping. In extreme cases, victims were shot through all six joints (elbows, knees and ankles). This was the preferred method of dealing with drug dealers who did not heed prior warnings. Maiming rather than simply killing, served as a warning to drug dealers and to the entire neighborhood that the IRA meant business. In typical Irish understatement and humor, these shootings were known as "six-packs" or "six-packing". Knee-capping still occurs to this day though six-packing is far less frequent.

In his early teens, Magee, through a toxic mix of predisposition, teenage rage, environment, and perhaps even in acknowledgment of his own father's prior IRA membership, was sworn into the Youth IRA known as "Na Fianna Éireann" (literally, "Warriors of Ireland"). In truth, Magee, like many young men at that time, was not necessarily motivated by an extreme hatred for the British but by the system of oppression itself. As such his involvement, while brief, was limited to fund-raising petty crime, inciting riots, making and distributing petrol bombs, and 'spotting' (street intelligence-gathering). In one such incident, Magee, while fleeing a British Army patrol, ran directly into the path of an oncoming RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) police vehicle. In the blink of an eye an armed officer took direct aim and shot him at close range in the chest with a rubber bullet (although designed not to kill, rubber bullets nevertheless accounted for almost two dozen fatalities during "The Troubles"). Magee was arrested, interrogated at the notorious Castlereagh Police Station and later released. Much to the disappointment of his Irish National team, Magee was ruled out of any participation in the upcoming Canadian Gaelic Games as a result of the shooting. This incident would mark the first of numerous such episodes that pockmarked Magee's long career.

His rise through the amateur ranks of Irish boxing continued unabated despite his heavy drinking and violent life outside the ring. He developed a natural intelligence for 'The Sweet Science'. Patsy McKenna recognized the youngest Magee's innate ability to predict his opponents' moves and encouraged him to treat each fight like a game of chess. The lifelong bond that developed between the canny coach and his young charge remains to present day. However, the lure of the street was beyond even McKenna's control and once again Magee was involved in street violence that almost claimed his life. In 1989, his throat was slashed in a retaliatory street attack outside a local restaurant. Surgeons required over two dozen stitches to keep him alive and later told him that his jugular vein was within two millimeters of being severed. Less than two months later and to the utter amazement of his family, his coaches, his Irish teammates, as well as several thousand Italian spectators, Magee won the coveted "Boxer of the Tournament" award in an international amateur event in Rome.

Such was his national and international success, a place on the Irish National team for the Barcelona Olympics of 1992 seemed guaranteed. He progressed through each qualifying round without difficulty and in a closely fought contest saw off the reigning Irish champion, Neil Gough. Magee was now All-Ireland Champion. In a twist of fate that continues to be debated, the IABA (Irish Amateur Boxing Association) insisted Magee must face Gough again in order to claim his place on the team. Magee, however, had other ideas. He told the press that "the politics of boxing on the Ireland of island is preventing me from going to Barcelona". Despite pleas from Patsy and from Nicolàs Cruz Hernandez, the famed Cuban coach brought in specifically to train the Irish National team, and with whom he had developed a close personal and professional bond, Magee refused to fight again thereby ceding his place to Gough. In one fell swoop, Magee had ripped apart his own lifelong dream of Olympic competition. A biography of Magee was published in 2018 titled The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee and won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

In June 2022 Triskal Films NYC acquired the option rights to depict the life of Eamonn Magee on the big screen.

Amateur record
A left-hander, Magee boxed for Ireland as an amateur and, like his brother Noel, won a number of Irish national titles and won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships at San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1989. In 1991, Magee won the Irish National Senior light welterweight title.

Barcelona Olympics nomination controversy
Because of his Irish title win, Magee should have automatically been nominated as the Irish entrant for the qualification tournament for the boxing event at the 1992 Olympics; however, a number of members from the Ulster Boxing Council abstained from voting for his nomination and this led to the Irish (IABA) selection team requesting that Magee fight a preliminary fight against Corkman Billy Walsh, a boxer whom he had already beaten to win the Irish title. In protest, Magee then turned down the chance to box off for the place, as he felt he was the automatic choice.

Magee's outlook on boxing was soured by this experience and he then took a sabbatical from the sport.

Debut
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.

Early fights
Magee's first twelve fights took place in a variety of locations such as the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, US and England and against a variety of opposition including journeymen such as Steve McGovern, Kevin McKillan and Karl Taylor as well as future NABF Welter and Light Middleweight title holder Teddy Reid. The Reid fight which took place at The Roxy, Boston, USA, was Magee's only loss on his early record which tallied to 11 win, 9 within the distance and 1 loss.

Paul Burke Commonwealth title fights
Magee's chance to fight for his first title belt took place on 30 November 1998 when he challenged experienced Preston based fighter Paul Burke for his Commonwealth Light Welterweight Title in Manchester, England on the Mayhem in Manchester bill which included Howard Eastman, Steve Foster and Clinton Woods.

Before the fight Magee had stated that Burke was ''"old, slow journeyman. Paul is the sort who hangs in and takes far more punishment than he should. I'll do him a favour and get it over fast".

The fight went the twelve round distance and Burke beat Magee on a controversial points decision. Magee thought he had been let down badly by the British officials on the night and Chris Eubank also made his protest known. A journalist who was at ringside stated that it was one of the "most shocking decisions in British boxing history''".

Within twelve months Magee had won two fights both by third round stoppages including winning the Irish Light Welterweight Title both the arranged rematch with Burke which was set for 12 September 1999 at the York Hall, Bethnal Green in London again for the Commonwealth Light Welterweight Title.

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.

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.

Hatton fight
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.

The fight was one of the most eagerly awaited fights in European boxing for many years and there had been doubts that the fight would ever take place due to the MEN being booked and then an injury to Hatton's knuckle. Also Magee had trouble leading up to the fight when the Panamanian sparring partners that 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, Magee knocked Hatton down for the first time in his career after only one minute of the fight in round one. Magee again pressurised Hatton in the second round and again Hatton looked shakey and in trouble. However, Hatton battled back keeping Magee on the ropes for much of the remainder of the fight. Magee eventually lost this keenly contested fight on points over 12 rounds.

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