Paul Maguire of Black Panthers with coach Thomas Bateman
Maguire wins silver at Kickboxing World Cup
TALLAGHT native Paul Maguire has won a silver medal in the masters category at the 30th edition of the Hungarian kickboxing world cup.
Maguire would participate in two divisions, Light kick and Light contact with the second being where he achieved his podium finish.
He would first come up against Poland’s Wojciech Adamski. Maguire’s skill and use of combinations was more than enough to get the win and see him progress to the final after a bye from the first round.
The final of the tournament would see Maguire come up against Stefan Hoppe of Germany.
Maguire would begin to take the lead in what was an extremely close encounter with both men performing admirably. With two seconds left on the clock all three judges had it in favour of the man from Tallaght yet a foul would draw a warning from the referee and a point deduction from the judges giving the win to his opponent.
Maguire hasn’t been discouraged by the final loss and is using it as fuel to prep for upcoming tournaments.
“That’s spurred me on now and I’m thinking head down now and look towards the World Championships in Abu Dhabi in November. The’yre going to be a different animal but now at least I know the standard”
Maguire joined the Black Panthers gym in 2022 and began his journey in kickboxing in 2016.
His first initial foray into combat sports was in 2009 when he took up boxing at the age of 29.
“I came to it relatively late. I started boxing aged 29 after experiencing a few challenging things in life. All in all I’m nearly 16 years at it which is crazy. It just goes to show the power of the actual training and the discipline that it brings.”
For Maguire his experiences in combat sports have directly contributed to other aspects of his own life and remain a key motivational factor for why he continues training today.
“I have a business and I need to keep ahead of things and I need to keep strongminded with positive thinking.
‘I believe that how I perform and conduct myself in my private life will have a direct reflection on my business and my company. If I’m a bad captain, the ship’s going to crash.”
Maguire is an accomplished fighter at this stage in his career now with four All Ireland titles to his name as well as the silver medal he won two Fridays ago.
He spoke about appreciating the smaller victories on the way to an ultimate World Championship goal.
“They are the type of things that you don’t even stop to look at when you’re focused on a world title.
‘The stuff that gets picked up along the way you actually can’t appreciate it. Sometimes you don’t give yourself enough credit for what you achieve because it’s all part of the bigger picture.
Maguire is taking training seriously for the World Championships in November, ramping up his training even further and getting diet and nutrition in check. Giving up alcohol earlier on this year he plans on being in elite condition when the competition rolls around.
“Come November I will have at least seven or eight months alcohol free so that itself shows where the mind is at in regards to training. I’ve already started the training and I’m hungry.”
