Kelsey Leonard: I'm definitely capable of becoming boxing world champion
boxing
, you'll have seen videos of world champions doing mittwork. In most of these the boxer effortlessly tip-taps away, while the coach does most of the
movement
.
The fighter simply rotates his fists into position and a heavy clap rings around the gym.
It's the showy way of hitting pads, impressing only the most surface level viewers, and it gave the whole practice a bad name for a while.
What's going on inside the ring in
Kildare's
UNIT 3 gym is proper padwork. Everything here is based in real scenarios, and even with a body protector and mitts, coach Niall Barrett is taking a serious beating from the two boxers.
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One at a time, they're in with a combination, then pulling back as Barrett fires warning shots, then tearing back into their coach, before pivoting and disappearing out of his sight.
Gary Cully, the 6ft 2ins lightweight, who seems to defy science by making that weight, is a familiar face to Irish boxing fans, having fought on major cards in Ireland and the UK. Soon enough, they'll know the other boxer too, as long as things go according to plan.
Eight-time Irish amateur champion Kelsey Leonard makes no bones about her goals: 'I think I'm definitely capable of becoming world champion. If I could become multiple-time world champion, that would be the ultimate goal'.
It's a lofty ambition for the 25-year-old who makes her professional debut on August 2nd in Belfast, but it's not out of reach.
Plus, with Katie Taylor nearing the end of her career, it would be a perfect time to make a splash. 'It would be great to be able to continue that legacy of Irish female fighters,' Leonard explains. 'She's always been a huge inspiration to me.'
She followed in Taylor's footsteps last year, when she won the Haringey Box Cup, Europe's largest amateur boxing competition held in London every year. It bodes well for transitioning into the paid ranks, but professional boxing isn't a straightforward way to earn a living.
'It's quite hard financially, especially starting off. Roughly, it costs between four and five grand to fight each time. I could just get a full-time job and I wouldn't have to worry about it. I just know what I'm capable of.'
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All-Irish world title fight confirmed for Windsor Park in Belfast
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Kelsey Leonard and Michaela Walsh face each other in the 2024 IABA National Elite Championships Women's 57kg Finals. Photograph: INPHO/ Laszlo Geczo
There's definitely a set up at UNIT 3 for her to do just that. Originally operating out of a single unit, with a commercial gym to the front and a small boxing ring to the back, the gym has expanded massively in the past couple of years.
Now, the boxing side of operations takes place in a much bigger unit, with a full-scale ring standing alongside the old three-quarter-size model. Add in a recovery centre (hot tub, cold plunge, sauna) next door and you're looking at a pretty ideal modern facility.
'It's mental. It just used to be the small unit, which, at the time, felt like it was huge. There was so much going on and even that was top class.
'Now, we have the place next door, we have the recovery unit. We do boxing, strength and conditioning, core sessions, it's just everything you need in one spot.'
The gym is hidden away within a warren of industrial estates in
Naas
. With 30 minutes left of the morning session, Barrett is standing in the centre of the ring with six or seven pairs of boxers crammed in.
He is directing an infighting drill, where they jostle and shove and punch at vanishingly short range. The din of feet stomping on canvas is only interrupted when he shouts at them to stop throwing hard punches to the head.
On the one hand it's an odd thing for a boxing coach to say. But Barrett is a trainer who is willing to address the massive risks his fighters take when they get in the ring.
'He's a very big advocate for brain health,' says Leonard. 'He wants you to do well in boxing, but then he wants you to still have all your brain cells intact, have a family afterwards.
Kelsey Leonard: 'I think that might be why I loved it so much, because I was good at it straight away'. Photograph: Babs Daly
'Fighters naturally are going to be brave and they just want to fight. And we're not going to think about that as much as your coach should. A lot of the damage comes from excessive sparring - growing up, I never really would have thought about that. We do a lot of technical, slow training, you're not getting loads of impact to the head.'
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Katie Taylor erases all the question marks with her third win over Amanda Serrano
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With her debut fast approaching, training is now made to fit the requirements of the fight, which will be four two-minute rounds. It's a change from Leonard's amateur career, where each session is three minutes.
'My training has to be tailored a little bit now because now I'm [doing] two-minute rounds. So it's short sprints, really high intensity cardio. I do like the two-minute rounds because there's a lot of action. But the three-minute rounds, you can set things up, you can think a little and use your technical ability.'
Her passion for boxing was kindled in the ring at just nine-years-old, after she got a flier in school for her local club in the Curragh. She says that her parents were surprisingly approving of her new hobby, although they probably didn't expect her to make a career of it. She had natural ability from the word 'go' and decided it was the sport for her.
'I think that might be why I loved it so much, because I was good at it straight away. The minute I went in, I was like, 'oh, I want to fight soon'. I always kind of underestimated myself, but when I won my first Irish title and I was representing my country, I was like 'I'm probably okay at this.''
She will face winless journeywoman Kira Carter in her debut fight on an undercard in Girdwood Community Hub in Belfast today (Saturday, August 2nd).
Colm Murphy of Belfast battles England's Luke Pearson in the main event, but Leonard will surely catch a few eyes before then.
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Irish Daily Mirror
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- Irish Daily Mirror
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It had been so long since they had reason to update it, the paintwork on the famous Thurles Sarsfields mural had become rather patchy. So, no sooner had Ronan Maher's portrait been hastily added alongside his eight clubmates as an All-Ireland winning captain last week than it was temporarily removed as part of a bigger redecorating process. 'They're redoing it all up now,' he says. 'The whole clubhouse has actually been painted, and they're repainting all the signs, so it'll be really cool to be walking in training now and see it.' The first All-Ireland winning captain from anywhere came from Thurles Sarsfields, with Jim Stapleton leading Tipperary to victory in the inaugural Championship of 1887. Yet, Stapleton only took over as captain for the final victory over Galway. The skipper up to then had been Denis Maher, who stepped down from the role due to a fallout over travelling expenses for the final. Denis was Ronan's great-grandfather. Tom Semple, after whom the stadium in Thurles is named, captained Tipp to the 1906 and '08 All-Irelands, while another Sars man, John Joe Callanan, became the first man from the county to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1930. Clubmate Jimmy Lanigan was the second in 1937, with John Maher, Ronan's granduncle, the third in 1945. Tony Wall maintained the club tradition in 1958 and it was further embellished by Jimmy Doyle (1962 and '65) and Michael Murphy (1964). So, Ronan Maher became the ninth different Thurles Sarsfields man to captain Tipperary to All-Ireland honours last month, and the first in 60 years. But, in an era where players drone on about the process and having eyes only for the next game, Maher had a wider gaze. Indeed, a doctored version of the wall was the screensaver on his phone. 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It's hard to believe that it's actually come to life now.' Aviva Insurance Ireland have announced their new partnership with ClubberTV. At the launch in Aviva Stadium was Tipperary and Thurles Sarsfields star Ronan Maher. See to catch this weekend's highlights of club games across Ireland. (Image: Inpho) And yet, there's a certain poignancy for him in that his brother, Pádraic, who captained Tipp before him and was forced into retirement in 2022, didn't make the wall before him. 'I always thought that Pádraic should have been going up on it in '17 and '18, and that hits home as well, and it's one thing you think about, and I suppose you think you're so lucky to be going up there. He was one of our best leaders ever to wear a Tipp jersey, and in '17 and '18, we thought we'd be getting him up on the wall, but unfortunately we didn't and things didn't go according to the plan, so that just makes it more special I suppose, and the achievement that it is. 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'I think in Tipperary we just have to build on it now, we can't be just happy and go back down again next year and not reach the same heights,' he adds, as Tipp look to retain the title for the first time since 1965 when, of course, a Thurles Sars man was captain. As for the screensaver, what is it now? 'I had to change back to the girlfriend there!'
Irish Examiner
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Now Tipperary skipper Ronan Maher will visualise 2026 target
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