Regan hangs up the gloves
Bray boxer retires at 22
TOP boxing prospect Regan Buckey has announced his retirement form the sport at the age of 22, citing a lack of financial support as the primary reason behind his decision.
Despite winning a bronze medal at last year’s European Games and being viewed as a potential Olympic contender, the Bray-native did not qualify for High Performance funding from Sport Ireland.
This lack of support, on top of other financial constraints, was referenced by Buckley as the motivation behind his stepping away from boxing.
“It was way too hard for me to keep on going training full time and not have an income.
‘I was expected to be in the High Performance training Tuesday to Friday each week and then weeks abroad at competitions and training camps,’ he told Irish-Boxing. com.
‘My only source of income was 44 euro-a-week from the social welfare and for a 22-year-old man it was impossible to even attempt to live off that.
‘It was something always on my mind worrying how I’m going to pay for anything at home, insurance, phone bills, rent.
‘Had it not been for the help of my sponsors I wouldn’t have had a penny to my name when travelling abroad or wouldn’t have been able to get essential sparring gear.
His success at the European Games gave people a realistic shot at the Olympic qualifiers. However, he was beaten by Jude Gallagher in the Irish elite championships, which led to the Brendan ‘The Wee Rooster’ Irvine going to Rio in 2016.
Even if Irvine failed to qualify through the European route, Buckley has dismissed the idea of potentially going to the World qualifiers to fight his way into going to Tokyo 2020.
‘I put many years of hard work into this sport but the last year had been very tough for me to try and carry on and it finally got to a stage where it didn’t feel worth it anymore. So much worry and stress that nobody sees just in the small chance that I get selected for a team.
‘I won’t be hanging on for the second qualifiers. I feel like the High Performance had most of the team picked a long time ago, so hanging in for another few months of the same stuff and hoping I’ll get a chance just wasn’t possible financially.
‘It all really put me off the sport a bit I always had such a love and passion for it.
‘I was always happy training at home with my Dad and I had that enjoyment when working towards tournaments, but you can’t compete in bigger competitions unless you’re in there all the time when you’re called up.’