Brian Keohane

Brian "Hollywood" Keohane (born March 1, 1970, in Dublin, Ireland), is an Irish boxer. He is seen by many as one of the most controversial Irish fighters of all timeFact|date=August 2008.

Keohane is a former WBU Super Middleweight Champion, having defeated Jose Smith in what infamously became known to fight fans around the world as the "boardwalk bashing". Having disposed of the supposed "Iron Chined" Smith, in what Smith described as "the longest and most brutal seven rounds of my life", Hollywood was destined for greatness, The same could not be said for Smith who had to retire due to a dislocated retina in his left eye from injuries sustained in this fight. Keohane would lose his title eleven months later in his first defense in the Garden which would go down as the darkest days in boxing history.

Boxing career

Keohane began at the age of 15 in the world famous Hitpit trained by Jack Blassey. Jack realised straight away he had a star in the making, a fighter he described as being a young Marvin Hagler. At the age of eighteen he had two Irish Amateur national titles under his belt and retired as an amateur with a career of 36 and 1. At nineteen he turned pro and Blassey had him fight more fights than the average fighter within his first zear and by the age of 22 he was 23 and 0.

Although he was undefeated he never got to fight outside Europe. Growing increasingly frustrated with the lack progress internationally Blassey took a brave and bold step in taking him to the U.S. It is in the US where he finally made his mark in boxing. He won his first four fights having fought a total of eleven rounds. At the age of 23 he was 27 and 0 he finally got what he described as the "money match" against Bernard Coleman who was ranked as number nine in the p4p list. This fight was what Burt Sugar called "bloodbath, neither fighter will ever be the same again". Keohane would win this fight on points, 119-114, 117-114 and 118-116. While the result of this fight was never in doubt, this was by far the toughest fight he had to date. He had now had finally shown to the world what BLassey had seen so many years earlier as a young Marvin Hagler.