Eamonn Magee

A biography of Magee was published in 2018 titled The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee by Paul D. Gibson (Mercier Press, ISBN 978-1781175736). It was a joint winner of the prestigious William Hill Sports Book of the Year that year.

In February 2010 he was sentenced to six months imprisonment for assault after head-butting a man in north Belfast.

In June 2010 Magee was jailed for 12 months for an assault on his ex-partner. He was given the maximum sentence for the offence, but was released on bail pending an appeal.

In December 2010 Magee, who is facing charges of breaching a non-molestation order and harassing his ex-partner Maria Magill was arrested and brought back into custody after failing to sign with police on 28 December. During the court hearing it was reported that Magee is sometimes forced to "lock himself away from the world" due to mental health problems, depression and anxiety which he has suffered from for a long time. The judge, Mr Justice Weatherup, ruled that Magee could be released again on bail after pointing out that no known attempt had been made to contact Ms Magill.

His most recent fight took place 11 May 2007 and was a unanimous points loss to Kevin Anderson for the British welterweight title.

Magee's highest profile fight was against Ricky Hatton for the WBU Light Welterweight Title which took place at the Manchester Evening News Arena on 1 June 2002 and was billed as "Anarchy in the UK" and was a 20,000 ticket sell out.

Within twelve months Magee had won two fights both by third round stoppages including winning the Irish Light Welterweight Title both the arranged rematch with Burke which was set for 12 September 1999 at the York Hall, Bethnal Green in London again for the Commonwealth Light Welterweight Title.

Magee's chance to fight for his first title belt took place on 30 November 1998 when he challenged experienced Preston based fighter Paul Burke for his Commonwealth Light Welterweight Title in Manchester, England on the Mayhem in Manchester bill which included Howard Eastman, Steve Foster and Clinton Woods.

Magee turned professional in November 1995, winning his first fight at the Point Depot, in which he knocked out Hull based Liverpudlian Pete Roberts on a card that included Steve Collins and a debut fight for Dubliner Jim Rock.

Because of his Irish title win, Magee should have automatically been nominated as the Irish entrant for the qualification tournament for the boxing event at the 1992 Olympics; however, a number of members from the Ulster Boxing Council abstained from voting for his nomination and this led to the Irish (IABA) selection team requesting that Magee fight a preliminary fight against Corkman Billy Walsh, a boxer whom he had already beaten to win the Irish title. In protest, Magee then turned down the chance to box off for the place, as he felt he was the automatic choice.

In 1989, Magee was involved in a fight outside a restaurant and sustained a deep wound to his neck from which he almost died. In 1992, he was shot in the leg by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in a punishment attack. In 1994, Magee (who is a supporter of Celtic football club) was charged with affray after getting into a barroom brawl with a group of Rangers fans in a Belfast City Centre pub. In February 2004, Magee was attacked in the Blacks Road area of Belfast. He was pulled from his car and beaten, which broke two bones in one of his legs.

A left-hander, Magee boxed for Ireland as an amateur and, like his brother Noel, won a number of Irish national titles and won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships at San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1989. In 1991, Magee won the Irish National Senior light welterweight title.

Eamonn Magee (born 13 July 1971) is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2007. He held the Commonwealth light-welterweight title twice, and challenged for the European light-welterweight and British welterweight titles. As an amateur, Magee won a bronze medal in the welterweight division at the 1992 World Junior Championships.