Phil Sutcliffe, the former Irish Olympian who has served as Conor McGregor’s boxing coach for many years, has a different type of fight on his hands.
Sutcliffe, who has long been associated with the Crumlin Boxing Club where a young McGregor took his first steps into the world of combat sports, has won a seat in the Dublin local elections in the Ballyfermot/Drimnagh constituency, it has been confirmed on Monday, where he secured the fifth and final seat after tallying 6.7 percent of first preference votes.
In doing so, Sutcliffe defeated the Lord Mayor of Dubin, Daithí de Róiste in the vote. Sutcliffe — who ran under the Independent Ireland banner — had been endorsed by McGregor in the lead-in to last Friday’s election. He also ran in the Rathmines/Kimmage area but was unable to secure a seat in that locality.
Coach Sutcliffe! Vote INDEPENDENT! 🇮🇪 https://t.co/pGgBOWjSiu
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 15, 2024
Sutcliffe, who is regarded as a world class boxing coach, is also a veteran of the Irish Army, and was hailed as a strong voice in his community by Independent Ireland ahead of the vote.
“Independent Ireland is delighted to announce that Phil Sutcliffe Sr, a former Olympic boxer and respected community leader, will be standing as a candidate in the upcoming local elections for the Drimnagh-Ballyfermot and Kimmage-Rathmines Local Electoral Areas (LEA) in Dublin,” the political collective said in May.
“Phil, who competed in the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games and is a four-time national boxing champion, has been an instrumental figure in youth development through sport in the Crumlin, Drimnagh, Ballyfermot and Kimmage areas of Dublin.”
Elsewhere in the local elections, McGregor’s former SBG Ireland teammate Paddy Holohan, who ran as an independent candidate, won seats in two constituencies (Tallaght Central & Tallaght South) while Eric Donovan, the Kildare-born professional boxer, was elected in the Drogheda Rural area as part of the Sinn Fein party.
