Humble to the end, Padraig McCrory was never going to hype up his farewell win.
Although, he was able to admit he was happy with the final chapter of his much-celebrated fairytale career.
The curtain looked to come down on ‘The Hammer’s’ career when he lost to Craig Ricards in the spring of 2024. However, he returned for an encore at the Waterfront Hall last weekend.
The Last Dance headline bout allowed him to say goodbye on his own terms and a win over Ondrej Budera meant his exit stage left was a much happier one this time around.
Speaking after the Belfast fan favourite rejoiced in the occasion, was delighted to go out with a stoppage but noted he had shared the ring with better opponents over the year.
“I’m obviously happy that I got the end of my career on a special night like that and a performance,” he told Irish-boxing.com.
“I’m not going to dress it up. I was fighting a guy that was levels below what I previously fought at, but the man accepted the fight. He came, fought and he tried. So it’s great to finish my career like that after my performance previous. I’m so happy to such a strong performance.”
The former champion admitted that simply getting through camp was a challenge in itself, having endured a long layoff and an untimely injury setback before fight night.
“I haven’t boxed in about 14, 15 months and then I sparred for the first time and I got a busted eardrum seven weeks ago. So I didn’t spar again after that. The whole camp in sparring, that was the biggest worry. I hadn’t got punched. I didn’t know what was left.”
That uncertainty quickly disappeared once the opening exchanges began, as the St James man found his timing early and imposed himself on the contest.
“I went out. If I had to get hit, I was like, am I going to be hurt? But I put it in the back of my head and we went in and worked on a game plan. I caught him early and I went a bit mad, but I reset, jabbed again, and then caught him again.”
For McCrory, the emotional weight of a farewell fight was always present, but he made a conscious effort to stay present and enjoy the moment with his family on the walk to the ring.
“I tried to really just enjoy it. On the ring walk with my son, walking out in front of the people that backed me from day one, and I tried to enjoy it as much as possible.”
Once under the lights, the noise of the crowd only added fuel to the performance as the Waterfall Hall support erupted during key moments.
“Yeah, listen, I rocked him and I heard this cheer again. I went a bit mad and I had to reset because I didn’t spar and I was in a hard round fight and I didn’t want to blow up so I just reset.”
Even in victory, McCrory remained measured about what the performance means in the wider context of his career, refusing to inflate expectations around the level of opposition.
“I don’t want to dress it up to be something special because as much as I have respect for my opponent, I don’t want to paint it up that it was meant to be a very difficult fight… I don’t know why certain fighters get accepted and some don’t.”
He finishes a special career satisfied, if not sentimental, with a final win delivered on home soil in front of the people who have followed his journey from the start.