"What a way to start your ring career," said Bird's coach, the former world champ Billy Murray, speaking from Hong Kong. "The two lads are great figureheads not just at the ProKick Gym but across the world.

"They show the youngsters who come through the doors what can be achieved by hard work and training. It helps that they are also hugely talented and naturally gifted, but there's a lot of sweat there too.

"They kept young David focused on the task in hand and relaxed so he could really enjoy his ring debut to win on points and against a tough campaigner like McEvoy."

Because David is so young, the fight in Galway against local talent Eric McEvoy - took place under strict safety rules. Each of the fighters wore body shields and head guards and there were no kicks to the head.

David comes from a talented kickboxing family. His older brother Mark, still just a teenager himself, is in line for an Irish title shot later this spring. He was toasted as a star of the future at the recent ProKick Irish Kickboxing Awards ceremony in Belfast.

For more on kickboxing, including Billy Murray's blog from his trip to China where he is building links for Irish kickboxing, bookmark www.prokick.com