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DAILY EXPRESS 1/3/07, RINGSIDE BY NIALL HICKMAN: He might be just about the hottest prospect in British Boxing, but John O’Donnell still lives in a caravan – and he wants it to stay that way.
He is proud of his traveller routes and as he continues to cut a swathe through the welterweight ranks, he insists he does not need a roof over his head. Not a tiled one anyway.
The 21-year-old has a wife and a baby girl, but he is happy to live on a site with family and friends. And that will never change.
“Even if, sorry when, I win a world title and I am boxing at Madison Square Garden, I will always live in a caravan,” he said. “I’ll just buy a bigger one!”
O’Donnell boxes for the love of it and even though there are vast rewards for those who can make it on the global stage, he is not particularly interested.
He said: “Sure the money would be great, but I’d give most of it away, I don’t really need money, If I had it, I would buy a caravan park or two, I like living in a caravan with all my family and friends around me. It is much more sociable and everyone looks after each other.
“My wife Bridget loves it to, she wouldn’t have it any other way. I have tried living in a house and I just don’t like it and neither does she. Our little girl Cody loves where we are and that’s good enough for me.”
O’Donnell, born in Corydon and raised in Shepherds Bush, has an Irish lilt courtesy of his life among the Emerald Isle traveller community. He fights Stuart Elwell for the English Title on March 23rd in Nottingham, and after 14 straight wins the former junior Olympic gold medallist is a hot favourite.
“First the English, then the British title later this year, then the world next year,” he said. “This will be my toughest fight, but I will beat Elwell no problem.”
O’Donnell is trained by former world title contender Robert McCracken and the boxing world is starting to take notice. He and Amir Khan have sparred many times and O’Donnell is convinced they will meet in th professional ranks one day.
“Amir is a lovely lad, but I will beat him every day of the week,” O’Donnell said. “Not just now but in a year, two years and five years down the line. I am faster and fitter and I can certainly take a punch better. As an overall package, I’m the one you should bank on.”
McCracken said: “I saw Oscar de la Hoya at 17 and Floyd Mayweather trained in the same Las Vegas gym as me when he was 18.
“John has that similar spark about him, he is class, just as they were. Boxing is a strange sport and odds thing happen, but I would put my house on him being a world champion one day.”
