Keeler determined to focus fully on Irish Middleweight title quest
By Stephen Leonard
LUKE Keeler is determined to gear all his efforts towards landing the Irish Middleweight title this summer.
The Ballyfermot boxer will face off against Darren Cruise in the National Stadium on Saturday, June 24 hoping to secure the strap that could well provide him with a springboard to bigger title challenges.
Given the opportunity that he now has, Keeler is adamant he wants to focus fully on his preparations and not be distracted by work and college commitments as he has been in the past.
Speaking about the prospect of raising the Irish title and his training ahead of it, Keeler told The Echo “It would be a dream.
“I never won an Irish title in the amateurs. I was there or there abouts and to get that belt would really help with the ranking.
“I’m 12th in Europe and I’m top 20 in the IBF world rankings.
“I’m close to going full time [in boxing] I’m going to take four or five weeks off work for this fight.
“It’ll be the first fight that I will have trained for full time. I’ve no choice. I have to go for broke and dedicate myself fully to my boxing.
“Between college and work, I’ve just had so many distractions. But I’m at a level now where I can have no slip-ups, otherwise I’ll only have regrets when I’m looking back.
“I really need to give it everything and not be working 40 to 50 hours a week and struggling to train twice a day as I have been. I was just getting burnt out.
“I feel I haven’t boxed at my potential yet and I just want to be heading into this fight feeling good” he said.
Keeler knows he will have to be top of his game in order to see off Cruise who will be equally determined to land this prize.
While the Roscommon man’s pro record of seven wins and five defeats may not be as convincing as Keeler’s 12 and 2, the Dubliner is not taking the challenge lightly.
“He [Cruise] has all the basics, the fundamentals” said Keeler.
“At a quick glance, his record might suggest that he’s a pushover, but he is a danger.
“He fought for the Irish Super Middleweight title and lost to JJ McDonagh who went on to win the WBA title.
“He has fought some good opponents and this will be a good fight, but I think I’ll be at a different level and I just can’t wait to get in there and prove that” he added.
Keeler’s only two defeats came at the hands of the one man- Tom Doran.
Indeed he lost out to the Welsh boxer both in the Prizefighter tournament back in early 2015 and in their clash for the WBC International Middleweight title just over a year later.
Still the Dubliner insists he has learned a huge amount from those defeats as he chalked up wins in his two latest outings against more British opposition in Bradley Pryce and most recently Lewis Taylor, both of which took place in the National Stadium.
And his return to winning ways has generated interest from other quarters with more offers having been tabled.
“I was offered an IBF Inter-Continental title fight against Ronny Mittag, but I had already signed for the Irish title fight” explained Keeler.
“He [Mittag] beat Conrad Cummings. Cummings should have beaten him. It was a very close fight.
“Originally when I got the offer I was, like, yeah I’ll take that fight, but it was too close to the Irish fight. I wouldn’t have been able to do both.
“It’s something that could come around again, but I’m not too worried. I’m not looking past this fight in June” he insisted.
