Unlike most college kids at NYU, there were no Saturday mimosas for Sean O’Bradaigh.

“I remember all the NYU kids would go to this place called Citizens of Bleecker on Bleecker Street, Saturday at 10am,” he recalled. “They had a mimosa deal. If you get there before noon, you get bottomless mimosas. And I was always at sparring.”

Yes, despite recently completing his bachelor’s degree in real estate finance from one of the most prestigious universities in the country, the 22-year-old has always had another goal in mind, one that gets started in earnest on Sunday at The Theater of Madison Square Garden when O’Bradaigh makes his pro debut against fellow debutant Jose Manuel Florentine.

Needless to say, professional boxing wasn’t on his parents’ 2025 bingo card, but there’s always been something about the sport that connected with him, and it hasn’t lost its grip on him yet.

Why? That’s the question practically everyone has when they find out that this NYU grad (who officially gets his degree in May) is deciding to throw hands for a living in the hardest sport in the world.

“It's hard to answer,” O’Bradaigh said. “But I've been a fan of boxing since I was 12 or 13. That's when I started training. When I was growing up, watching these fights, I idolized the fighters I saw on TV. And I always wanted to be the guy on TV.”

Ironically, the first guy on TV that O’Bradaigh saw wasn’t even a boxer, but mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor. And it’s not surprising that he was taken in by “The Notorious” one, because once the Dubliner hit the world scene with the UFC, countless impressionable young men wanted to be the one knocking people out, fighting the best in the business, and cutting promos before and after each bout.

“My dad's friend came to stay with us from Ireland, and this was in January of 2015,” said O’Bradaigh. “I was 12. And he goes, there's this Irish fighter you guys need to watch. He's fighting tonight. And I was sleeping on the couch, and they woke me up and I watched McGregor walk in with a strut. Then he touched gloves with Dennis Siver, the guy he was fighting, and Dennis didn't want to touch gloves, so he put up two middle fingers, and soon after that, he knocked out Dennis Siver and then did another strut. And I was like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen. I want to be like that guy. And when you're that age, you're easily impressionable. So you would think that that feeling would go away by the time you're 22, and that you don't see that as being as cool anymore. But I kept doing it. Boxing gave me structure, discipline, it made me fit, made me confident, and I just continued getting better and better until now.”

That’s the quick and easy version. The longer version includes 15 years of study in a French private school (it’s a language he speaks fluently), his eventual arrival in NYU, and a tug of war with him and his parents over his boxing.

“At first, I told my parents, I don't want to go to college. I want to become a professional boxer. And they were like, ‘Are you crazy? The last thing I want is my son to be 30 years old, broke because he lost his last two, three fights, can't get another big fight, and then has no college degree, and he will never make six figures in his life.’ And I understood that. So I parallel tracked my degree with boxing.”

Obviously the schooling went all right, and so did the boxing. O’Bradaigh competed in the U.S. Olympic trials for the 2024 games, made it to number eight in the country as a light heavyweight, and won local titles in New York in two weight classes. So the kid was good and he had ambitions for more, even if his parents weren’t fully on board yet.

“They always had this idea like, ‘Oh, he'll get his ass beat and then he'll quit.’ Or, ‘He'll come to terms with this at some point and he'll just say, this is too hard.’ But I kept going. And I always knew that slow and steady wins the race. So I kept pushing and working hard, both in school and in boxing, because you can do that. College for me was 10 to 12 hours a week of class, 10 to 12 hours outside of class for study. That still leaves you a lot of free time. A lot of my friends would spend that free time drinking mimosas on Saturday mornings, watching sports, drinking, messing around. I was waking up early, going to spar in the Bronx, going to spar in Brooklyn with the toughest guys in the city. And I just sharpened my blade both in academics and boxing. And now I had this opportunity where I can choose either a good corporate job in finance or professional boxing, and I knew that I'd regret it for the rest of my life if I just let boxing go altogether, because I promised myself I would push it and do the best I can until I wasn't good enough to continue on the journey. So I'm doing the professional boxing thing now. I moved back in with my parents, so I don't have to pay rent or anything like that. I just pay for my own expenses. And if for some reason it doesn't work out, I have something to fall back on.”

He's certainly got the right attitude, now he just needs to show what he can do in the ring this weekend. But first, remember that McGregor guy? He not only follows O’Bradaigh on Instagram, but the pair sparred here in NYC last September. How’s that for a full circle moment? Some young boxers might have called it a day right there, but once he completed his studies, he found out that Callum Walsh was headlining a card in the Theater on the day before St. Patrick’s Day. O’Bradaigh immediately called his manager, David McGinley, who was already on the case. A short time later, O’Bradaigh had his pro debut secured, in his hometown, on the biggest weekend of the year for Irish fight fans. His fight will even be aired on UFC Fight Pass’ YouTube channel for free around the globe.

That’s called a perfect storm.

“Honestly, it was kind of a thing where if I didn't get on this card and there was no good card in the next six months to a year, if I had to have my pro debut at the Paramount Theater in Huntington or at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens or at Foxwoods or Atlantic City, I would've been less motivated, and I would've put more time into finding a corporate job.”

Instead, the only job he has to worry about is between the ropes. Mom and dad will be there, dad filming with his phone and mom looking at anything but her baby boy in the ring, and, as of Monday afternoon, 200 of O’Bradaigh’s closest friends.

At least.

“I expect twice that because everyone shows up last minute fight week. So I expect over 300 and I hope north of 400 on fight night. But yeah, I bring a pretty big crowd.”

An Irish kid in New York City who can sell tickets, has a great story, and can fight? Oh boy, get ready for the Sean O’Bradaigh show. As for the mimosas…

“Maybe when I'm done with this career, I'll try,” he laughs.