Cully relishing ring return at 3Arena

FOR the past 20 years, boxing has been Gary Cully's life - his ‘bread and butter’ as the Kildare man describes it.

- BY ROBERT HYNES

But 2025 was the first year since he was a child that “The Diva’ did not fight. It has been the longest period he has been out of the ring since the man who turned 30 last month started boxing at the age of seven.

Cully was forced to undergo surgery due to persistent issues with his eyes and was unable to take impact for some two months afterwards.

Thankfully, all has gone to plan with his recovery and the 18-2 fighter returns to the ring at the 3Arena next month as he moves up in weight.

"This will be like a fresh start and a whole new reset and I'm looking forward to getting the ball rolling and feeling good in there and enjoying being in the ring again because it's been a while since I've been there,’ said Cully.

"My last couple of performances havent been the best in my opinion for the level that I've been operating at so just to get back and get back enjoying it, get back into full flow and feel good in there again, that’s what this one's about for me and then we'll move on and build on that then.”

Despite not fighting in 2025, last year was one of the busiest the southpaw has ever had.

In June, his partner gave birth to their first child, Sunny, who has been a regular visitor to UNIT 3 Health and Fitness in Naas, where Cully trains, since.

The boxer owns Diva coffee co, a cafe located next door to the gym, and manages 4-0 fighter Kelsey Leonard with his coach Niall Barrett.