Galway boxer reflects on his GAA roots as he heads back to fight in Bulgaria

These days, he’s an elite international boxer, but by his own admission, the GAA was Adam Hession’s first love as a child – hurling with Turloughmore and playing Gaelic football with Corofin.

But the 25-year-old boxer from Monivea found a new grá in his teenage years – and that set him on a path that has since seen him crowned three-time Irish Senior Elite Champion, with a European U23 silver medal under his belt as well.

“When I was about 13, I went to secondary school and one of the guys in my form was doing boxing – so I said I’d go back and it'd keep me fit for the winter. I was back training boxing, and I started getting into it and the more I got into it the more I grew mad about it,” he reveals.

The latest chapter in his career takes place this weekend as he travels with the Ireland squad to Bulgaria for the Stranja Memorial Tournament, the 77th iteration of the oldest, and one of the most prestigious, boxing tournaments in Europe.

The Monivea Boxing Club fighter captained the 18pstrong Team Ireland at this event last year where he secured a bronze medal in the 60kg (lightweight) category.

“We're going to Bulgaria on the 20th [of February] so this week is a hard enough week of sparring – and then next week it could be just like pads and weight management sessions which are not bad at all. It's just light maintenance and steady stuff but we're sweating,” says Adam.

“When we go to Bulgaria, we'll get the draw and from the draw then the fighting starts the next day – so if the draw was on tonight here and the competition was starting tomorrow, I could be fighting tomorrow and I could only be finding out tonight.

“You can't really be training to fight a certain person; your goal is to win, and the idea is you might be fighting again the day after,” adds Adam.

Based in Dublin from Tuesday to Friday, Adam talks through what his typical week of training looks like.

“On Mondays, we're at home, so they tell us that we have a run to do then we have to do pads in our club and then Tuesday morning we come back we come up here to Dublin,” he says.

“From Tuesday to Friday we're up here but we could be doing anything from pads sparing on the bikes and strength and conditioning training and on Wednesdays we started doing a sprint session we're on assault bikes and doing explosive kind of work.”

There are home sessions to do as well when he’s back in the west.

“We have our own sessions to do; they prescribe those different sessions to do at home, whether it's running, bike or pads in our club”, Adam explains.

Training day in and day out is certainly not for the faint hearted, but Adam explains how he stays motivated.

“There are great opportunities from this, we get looked after, we get fed and watered. We're 23/ 24 /25-year-olds and we're all hanging out with our friends”.

This year Adam wants to be fighting as much as he can and from there seeing what the rest of the year has in store for him.

“I'd love to, in my amateur career, come away with a major medal,” he admits.

“I have a European under-22 silver medal, but under-22 kind of isn't considered major at elite level – so if I could get a medal at a European or a World Championship, I'd be over the moon.

“Then we’ll see where that takes me.”

Pictured: Different paths...Adam Hession’s first love was GAA.