 Loughran then turned professional later that year.Loughran fought out of the Breen Gym in Belfast and, in December 1987, fought his first professional fight at the Ulster Hall, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, in which he beat Glaswegian Adam Muir on a card that included Dave "Boy" McAuley and Andy Holligan.It was five years, during which he fought twenty professional fights, before Loughran challenged for his first title belt.