The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Siobhán aims to clinch boxing title
SHE may have taken a highly unconventional route to boxing - having only taken up the sport aged 29 - but Kilcummin native Siobhán O’Leary is certainly making up for lost time as she prepares to fight for the Celtic Nations title on Friday night.
Siobhán, who boasts a 3-0 record will fight Scottish-based Greek Eftychia Kathopouli for the Celtic Nations title at the Gilvenbank Hotel in the UK.
Speaking to The Kerryman ahead of the fight, Siobhán was in a confident mood as she revealed that preparation for the fight is going incredibly well as she stated definitively that it was not ‘if ’ she wins the title on Friday, but a ‘when’ she wins.
“I’m feel brilliant. I feel sharp and ready and powerful. Camp has gone very well. I feel absolutely ready to go over and bring this title home.
“When I win on Friday, it will be - apart from my national senior title - my biggest achievement so far in professional boxing,” she said.
A fight initially due to take place last September before that entire show was cancelled, O’Leary is determined to take her chance and win her first professional belt.
At 37-years-old Siobhán knows that she does not have the luxury of time on her side if she wants to achieve all that she wants to achieve in her sport.
“I don’t have the time to hang around. I am not 19 or 20. It is what it is. I am not going to be here in the four or five years. I am here to do what I can do in a shorter time. If I have to take risky fights then I have to take risky fights. I don’t think this one is risky, I think I knock her out - of course I am going to say that though.”
As for who will be in her corner on the night, Siobhán has a fantastic team of people behind her and she credits all of their hard work and patience in helping her to stand upon this, the precipice of a title win.
“I’ll have my coach Pavel Paco and the rest of my team. I’d say that there’s a few from Kilcummin and Limerick who’ll be coming over too, My mam and dad, a good few friends, my partner Maeve. It’s great. My good friend Graham McCormack is coming too, he’s a fellow boxer who has been in my corner a part of team from the very beginning. There’s a nice little number of us going over and by god, they’ll shout the place down when I lift that belt,” said Siobhán.
We’ll go round by round, punch by punch and I cannot see any other outcome other than me getting my hand raised and getting that belt around my waist.