Lee Reeves is a soldier with the Irish Defence Forces, a model and a boxer.
The Limerick man landed a first round knockout at Leopardstown racecourse last Saturday as he fought on Irish soil for just the second time in his 17-fight career.
Having been based in Canada and fought in Madison Square Garden before the Covid pandemic, Reeves is now targeting the biggest fights possible in Ireland.
The 31-year-old southpaw returned to work with the Defence Forces on Tuesday, just days after his early stoppage win over Hungary's Andras Balogh. It was the latest victory on what has been quite the journey.
"I won a lot of great tournaments as an amateur in Ireland and Europe and from there I caught the eyes of promoters all over the world. I ended up signing with a promoter Lee Baxter Promotions in Canada and began my professional boxing journey in Toronto and it was going fantastic," explained Reeves.
"In the first two years I probably had six professional fights and it was going really well. Then Covid happened and everything kind of slowed down and it really put a spanner in the works. I still became WBC Super Lightweight Junior Champion which is fantastic and I've built a great repertoire of boxing while in North America.
"I fought in Madison Square Garden on St. Patrick's Day. Tyson Fury watched my first couple of fights and shared a story saying 'looks like Ireland has a new boxing star'. So that was fantastic but obviously it was stop start after Covid and never caught the fire that I wanted it to.
"In the midst of all that I was working for Assets Modelling Agency and I've worked for companies like Lifestyle Sports, Traditional Craft, Guinness and lots of massive companies in Ireland. You can see my face in Dublin Airport if you're going in there so I've been busy.
"A couple of years back I became a soldier in the Irish Defence Forces. Greatest job I've ever had and it absolutely supports my career.
"It's thrived on discipline and fitness which was my life before I joined the Defence Forces with boxing. You need to live the life, you need to be disciplined in all aspects and that only echoed and enhanced my performance in the ring.
"Since then I've teamed with Dave McGinley and Jamie Conlon. Both great managers, advisors and promoters.
"They're giving me great advice and we are coming back to Ireland to hopefully blaze a trail, get the massive domestic clashes that we deserve, that we're good enough for. We're at a point in our career where the record is fantastic but we want to claim scalps and we want big fights.
"We want the money fights, we want the title fights and I think we want the fights that excite the fans more so. I'm not in this sport to make up numbers, I'm in this sport to win world titles."
And the man Reeves wants to fight next is fellow southpaw Gary Cully, who he hopes to face on Pierce O'Leary's 3Arena card on August 1.
"I think the next on the list is Gary Cully. He's 140 pounds, he was European champion, he was top ten in the world, He was Eddie Hearn's golden boy for a while," stated Reeves.
"He's a very talented boxer/ fighter and I think it will make a fantastic domestic clash that I'm more than capable of winning, but also winning the fans.
"I think it's great for the fans, it's great for Irish boxing and it's great for my career. I think that's the next step in the direction."
Reeves also works with Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention, a non-profit volunteer organisation founded in 2018 dedicated to patrolling the River Shannon during the night, dedicated to helping anyone in distress, and risked his own life to save a young woman who entered a river in the city a number of years ago.
"Working as the ambassador of Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention is probably the greatest thing I've ever done," said Reeves.
"Volunteering with a team of people who patrol the bridges and give help, peace and help the people in dire needs, people who are going through emotional distraught and stop them from doing something that could end in suicide. They're a team of legends.
"To be able to work with them, work with the Defence Forces while being a professional fighter, while giving my life and heart to the sport, I'm fairly busy, but I think I'm busy in a way that will inspire the youth behind me."
