McGirt's aspirations of becoming a professional boxer existed at a young age."They said I was too small," McGirt says now. "They said I couldn't do it. I said I could. I said I'd be the first world champion from Long Island - so the guy they said couldn't do it is the one who did it." Fulfilling this childhood dream, he did so with a vengeance, turning professional in the year 1983, the year he graduated from Brentwood High School. In 1988, McGirt defeated Frankie Warren, avenging what was at that time his only defeat, to win the
IBF light welterweight title. In his second defense, he lost the title to
Meldrick Taylor. In November 1991, he defeated
Simon Brown to win the
Lineal and
WBC welterweight titles. Buddy was a new level of talented. he was an excellent fighter who had an outstanding career in the ring. He defeated men such as Simon Brown,
Livingstone Bramble,
Saoul Mamby, Edwin Curet,
Howard Davis Jr., Frankie Warren,
Tony Baltazar, Gennaro Leon,
Patrizio Oliva,
Gary Jacobs, Tommy Ayers, Willie Rodriguez, Ralph Twinning,
Buck Smith, Kevin Pompey, Rafael Williams, John Senegal, Eric Martin,
Joe Manley, Tyrone Moore, Nick Rupa,
Joe Gatti, and George Heckley. At the beginning of 1993, McGirt was the world's top-ranked 147-pound boxer, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world; but in the first week starting off the year he tore up his left shoulder while training. Without his money punch, the left hook, he had to box virtually one-handed for a total of 24 rounds in two championship fights. He won the first fight, but he lost his title in the second. McGirt lost the title to
Pernell Whitaker in 1993. The following year, he again lost to Whitaker in an attempt to regain the title. In 1997, he retired with a record of 73–6–1 (48 KO). McGirt was inducted into the
Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on
Long Island in the Boxing Category with the Class of 1992. He was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998 and inducted into the
International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2019. ==Training career==