Feeney returned again to the gym the following day to be met by one of his childhood hero's Barry McGuigan who supervised his workout and advised Feeney to become a professional stating that he had "the right style, having good upper body movement, good body shots and power" in his punches.

In this fight Feeney drew with Bradford bantamweight Adey Benton over six rounds the undercard of a bill that included Cornelius Carr.

[1] Feeney come out to much fanfare with Irish dancers leading him, bedecked in tricolor poncho, headband and shorts, to the ring.

[1] The decision cost Feeney an opportunity of fighting for the European bantamweight title against Johnny Bredahl from Denmark.

[4] When Feeney's manager Frank Maloney returned to Britain after signing a World Heavyweight unification fight deal between WBC champion Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas [when?]

The bout was rescheduled to August 1998 and took place at the Town Hall, Acton, London on the bill dubbed "Double trouble".

[1] Feeney was to fly out to South Africa to challenge for the IBO super bantamweight title against Simon Ramoni.

However, hours before Feeney was to board a flight at Heathrow Airport to Durban he received a report that an irregularity had shown up during his medical check and that he had failed a routine MRI scan which he had undertaken earlier that year.