Monaghan to defend WBC title

If pro boxer Seanie Monaghan is looking a little more muscular these days, it’s not because he’s significantly changed his diet.

“I still eat pizza at Gino’s,” Monaghan said. “But the amount of calories that I’m burning disintegrates everything. Overall, I probably work out about four or five hours a day.”

Monaghan, a.k.a. “Irish,” a 31-year-old former bricklayer from the West End, has taken the boxing world by storm since he turned pro in 2010, and boasts a 15-0 record with 10 knockouts. He is currently the 24th-ranked light heavyweight in the world.

As his training intensifies — he runs and works out at the Freeport PAL with renowned boxing coach Joe Higgins — he faces more skilled opponents. And the number of rounds he fights has increased as well: Monaghan has progressed from four-round bouts early in his career to 10-rounders.

In June, he fought Romaro Johnson (11-7-1, 6 KOs) at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan, and clinched the World Boxing Council Continental Americas light heavyweight title.

“I train to win,” he said, “but these guys are definitely no joke.”

Known for taking out his opponents in the early rounds, Monaghan has been described by the boxing press as a formidable contender and exciting to watch. He has knocked opponents out with both his left and right hooks.

According to Fightnews.com, Monaghan rocked Johnson in the eighth round with a barrage of heavy blows, before the ringside physician determined that Johnson had had enough and stopped the fight.

“I really trained like an animal for that fight, and there was no way I wasn’t coming home without that belt,” Monaghan said, adding that fatherhood has made him an even more determined fighter. His wife, Beverly, gave birth to their first child, a son named Sammy, in May of last year.

“I may have been a little cocky going in … but it took eight rounds. I’m kind of maturing in that way, where I don’t want everything to be a first-round knockout.”

Normally, Monaghan said, it takes a boxer at least 20 fights to win a WBC title. He did it after just 13 fights. “I kind of got it early in my career,” he said. “The WBC is the real deal, and now I have my foot in the door. And hopefully it will lead to a world title sometime soon.”