UNBEATEN Derby boxer Dylan “Fitzy Boy” Fitzgerald is preparing for his first professional title fight — carrying the name of the grandfather who gave him his first boxing gloves.
The middleweight, from Littleover, is scheduled to contest the vacant Midlands Area title on November 7, almost 45 years after his grandfather Tommy Gilligan promoted a championship bout at Derby’s Assembly Rooms.
Gilligan was also a founding member of Derby Irish Centre, which continues to support Fitzgerald’s career by hosting weigh-ins and gatherings for his supporters.
Dylan “Fitzy Boy” FitzgeraldAccording to the family’s archive, Gilligan staged a professional boxing show at the Assembly Rooms on November 4, 1981, ending a 16-year absence for the sport in the city.
He followed it on December 1 with a Midlands Area welterweight championship contest between Joey Mack and John F. Kennedy.
Now his grandson is pursuing a Midlands Area belt of his own, having remained unbeaten since turning professional in November 2023.
Fitzgerald joined Derby’s One Nation Boxing at the age of 11 and has stayed with the gym throughout his amateur and professional career, working under trainer and manager Clifton Mitchell.
His amateur achievements included two East Midlands championship titles and victory at the Polish Box Cup.
Throughout that journey, Fitzgerald has carried a tribute to his grandfather into the ring. The initials “TG” appeared on his amateur shorts, later becoming “TOMMY G” across his professional trunks.
His supporters, known collectively as TeamFitzy, include family, friends, gym members and followers from across Britain and Ireland.
For Fitzgerald, the forthcoming contest represents both an opportunity to win his first professional championship and another chapter in a family boxing story rooted in Derby’s Irish community.
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