Maureen Shea: “The economics of the promoters should not dictate the rankings and the sanctioning bodies, it’s just not fair.”

Maureen Shea: “The economics of the promoters should not dictate the rankings and the sanctioning bodies, it’s just not fair.”

By Matt Elliott

Picture the scene. You’ve dedicated your life to your career. You started in your workplace as a junior and, through hard work and dedication, you have worked your way to a senior position. You’ve made the sacrifices, worked the overtime, and missed the family get-togethers, all in pursuit of being the best you can be at work and hopefully, one day, landing the top job. Then, from nowhere, you are leapfrogged by the apprentice; the person who has the talent, but who lacks experience and certainly hasn’t put in the hard yards you have, at least not yet. How would you feel? Frustrated, right? Well perhaps now, you can understand why Maureen Shea has been so vocal of late.

In February of this year, the IBF ordered an interim title fight between their number one-ranked fighter, Ellie Scotney and Shea, who was ranked number two. Negotiations took place, with Shea and her team agreeing on terms for the fight and ultimately signing a contract; Matchroom reportedly received it, but never filed it. A few weeks later, unbeknownst to Shea, it was announced that Scotney would face reigning IBF champion Cherneka Johnson, who was supposedly sidelined through injury, on the Taylor Cameron undercard (subsequently moved to June 10). Shea understands Scotney’s position in the rankings but insists that after the IBF ordered her fight and having negotiated in good faith, she should be in line to fight the winner.

“The sanctioning bodies have to step in here, or the promoters need to be fair and say, ok Maureen, well you fight the winner of that fight. It needs to be an immediate defence though, I mean why wouldn’t these girls want to defend, why would you want to sit on a belt for nine months, don’t you want to be active? I know what it’s like, I haven’t fought in a year, and it stinks. I wish I could be more active, but I can’t get a fight. Girls are either outpricing themselves or dropping out or just won’t fight. So, it’s a difficult situation but the fair thing to do would be to make me mandatory for the winner. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but Eddie has Ramla Ali, who’s currently ranked number three, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to get her to skip me. The bottom line is the economics of the promoters should not dictate the rankings and the sanctioning bodies, it’s just not fair. That’s why the sanctioning bodies are there, to protect us.”

This latest situation is perhaps the tip of the iceberg for Shea, who also points to the 2021 fight between Shannon Courtenay and Ebanie Bridges for the vacant WBA bantamweight title. Courtenay was ranked eighth at the time and Bridges was ninth, whilst Shea sat second and, all things being equal, should have fought Shannon O’Connell, who was ranked as number one.

What Shea is very keen to stress, is that her speaking out is not a personal vendetta against any of the females who are receiving these opportunities, whether justified or not; it is frustration at the promoters and sanctioning bodies and the roles they play. At forty-two, Shea is in a position where she is no longer prepared to remain quiet.

“I am not just speaking for myself, I am speaking on behalf of a lot of women who are going through this, I just happen to be in a position to speak because it’s happening to me at this moment. What Matchroom are doing isn’t bad, what they are doing for women isn’t bad, I think it’s great, but some of these women are skipping lines and it’s not fair. I am not personally attacking any of these individual females, I wish them all well and I respect them for what they have done, they each have their own story, but they don’t know. I was going back and forth with Ebanie Bridges (about the Courtenay fight) and she didn’t even know I got skipped, I’m not mad at her, it’s not her fault, it’s the promoter and manager and whoever else is involved, but when she says boxing is corrupt and then tweets #boxing, well that is part of the problem if you are prepared to accept it and are not going to speak up about it. Then for people to say some of these girls have earned their spot, I’m not saying they can’t but work your way to that place, go through the challenges, go through everything to get there.”    

In the UK we have witnessed first-hand the growth of women’s boxing and there is undoubtedly a plethora of talent on these shores or associated with promoters such as Matchroom and Boxxer. We have seen talent emerge and very quickly move towards a world title shot, the reason given is often the lack of depth within the sport and whilst this may be valid in some circumstances, is it also the case that promoters are using this excuse to their advantage, whilst protecting their fighters from tougher opponents, such as Shea, who might derail the hype train?

“The American promoters haven’t embraced the sport and that’s where I give Eddie Hearn credit, he has jumped in. I don’t dislike Eddie, I understand it’s a business, but it’s also about what’s fair, it’s messing with people’s livelihoods. It’s my life too, I am in the gym every day, I’m training, I’ve worked for that spot and now you are giving someone else my opportunity. Then they are selling these as great fights, I mean that’s a disservice to the public because you are missing out on what could be some great matchups. Take Skye Nicolson as an example. In her next fight, Skye is fighting Laura Lecca; I know Laura and she is a true super-flyweight who is coming off of two losses against girls in higher weight classes who she shouldn’t be fighting, but these girls are taking the fights and then the public are being sold, oh look how good they are; they’re not, they can be and they are good for where they are right now, but they haven’t done the work to deserve a title shot. I mean if Skye wants to prove herself, fight Tiara Brown, but then Tiara is offered a fight at 130lbs like they offered me a fight at 130lbs which is not my weight class, I’m a natural 122lbs but when I don’t take it people are like, oh well you’re scared. I don’t care, why shouldn’t I fight on my terms? Why should I move to a different weight class to get an opportunity? I earned the opportunity by being who I am and doing what I’ve done; that should be enough.” 

As a veteran, with thirty-four professional fights to her name and as a former two-time world champion, Shea certainly has earned the right to fight on her terms. Raised in the Bronx to an Irish father and Mexican mother, Shea admits to being brought up in a very traditional household, where she was taught how to take care of herself, learning how to cook and clean, but also change a tyre. From an early age, Shea struggled with her emotions, admitting that she was initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder, something which was later discovered to be a seasonal affective disorder, a condition which sees a person’s mood change in line with the seasons.

“I didn’t realise I had seasonal affective disorder until I was in my late twenties, and I had been medicated, for most of my life, as the doctors thought I was bipolar. I was this high-energy, high-functioning person in the summer months and during the winter I was the complete opposite, so they diagnosed me as bipolar, and from the age of fourteen, I was on a variety of medications, including lithium. I noticed my mood would get start to get significantly lower from September, and then around April I would start to come out of it, so I would only really have four months of feeling myself. I was debilitatingly depressed at that time; I had social anxiety and I struggled to leave the house. It got so bad that I just didn’t want to live; I wasn’t suicidal, I just didn’t want to live, and I was battling those thoughts for like six months, it was horrible. I would end up spending time with my aunt out in California, where I was exposed to almost year-round sunshine, and that’s when I realised what it was that had been affecting me all these years.”     

Shea eventually relocated to California permanently in 2010, before moving back to Florida which is where she resides today. It was back in New York though where her boxing journey began. Shea was in a relationship, which had turned abusive. Feeling as if she needed to go to a gym to better herself for her abuser, she walked through the doors of a local fitness centre.

“I went to the gym to better myself for him and I walked into the back and there was a boxing ring. I first saw boxing when I was about sixteen, it was the fight where Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear. I felt like I had a lot of that inner emotional struggle inside of me, it wasn’t the boxing that attracted me, it was Tyson’s rage, because I could relate to it. Not that I wanted to bite someone’s ear, but I’ve been angry to the point where I’ve lost control and was punished for it, I didn’t know how to manage it and then I found boxing and it helped me a lot. Boxing was a huge component in helping me and I say it was a gift from God. There weren’t many fitness gyms that had a boxing gym in the back, but I happened to walk into one that did.”

It was at that gym where Shea teamed up with Willie Soto, a coach she remains in contact with and for whom she has the utmost respect. It was Soto who first told her she could be a world champion, and while she admits she didn’t know what that meant at the time, she credits him for believing in her and putting her on the right path. Shea eventually ended up at Gleason’s gym in Brooklyn, where she fought twelve times as an amateur. With women’s boxing now established as an Olympic sport, it is easy to forget that pre-2012, that route didn’t exist and girls such as Shea had to do it a different way.

“It was difficult doing the club shows and being matched. I’ve turned up to fights where there wasn’t a match for me and that happened a lot. For me, there weren’t opportunities such as the Olympics, I had no idea that women would ever be able to compete on such a stage and sometimes I don’t think the public understands that. I had a conversation with someone on Twitter, and they were like, oh well these girls have amateur experience, and I’m like ok, well I didn’t have the experience because it just wasn’t there when I was coming through, so does that mean I should just disappear?”

It was at Gleason’s where Shea encountered a brush with fame. In 2003, actress Hilary Swank turned up at the gym to train for her role as Maggie Fitzgerald in the film Million Dollar Baby. Swank was paired with Shea as her sparring partner, and this helped to bolster her profile at a time she was considering turning professional and ultimately ended with her gaining her fighting nickname ‘The Real Million Dollar Baby.”

“Million Dollar Baby came about, and I worked with Hilary and was training for the Golden Gloves at the same time. I literally had a brush with fame, as CNN was coming to the gym, Access Hollywood was there, and at the time it was actually annoying because I was in college and I was trying to maintain the academic scholarship, whilst trying to box and travelling from Brooklyn to New Rochelle, which is quite a distance. I was getting up at 4 am to get to Gleason’s for 6 am, or sometimes earlier to do interviews for the morning news. I’d then spar, eat, and go to school. I had a lot of energy at that point, but I was also very regimented. After Million Dollar Baby, it was a great time for me to turn professional; I had to jump in. It was either stay as an amateur and keep going or take the opportunity that was there and learn on the job, which is what I did.”

It was August 2005 when Shea made her professional debut and since that time, she has fought thirty-four times, with thirty victories, two defeats, a draw and one no-contest. She has held the North American Boxing featherweight title and the IBA world super-bantamweight and WBC interim world featherweight titles, as well as fighting for the WBA super-featherweight and IBF super-bantamweight straps, during a career which now spans eighteen years. Her most recent fight was last year, a unanimous points win over Calista Silgado after over two years of inactivity. With all of those achievements on her record, I wondered what she considered her single best moment to date.

“Fighting at Madison Square Garden on my father’s birthday. My dad often questioned why I was boxing, he told me that in this house you go to school and work and my brother was also asking why I was doing it. On that night, my dad was ringside and he was sitting next to Liam Neeson. I wore a skirt with ‘happy birthday dad’ on the back and after I won, I shook it in his direction. I made it all about him and I think that was my greatest moment because I know how proud he was. My dad was an old Irish catholic, so he didn’t express a lot, but I know he was proud.”

Now in her forty-third year, Shea’s fitness levels are as good as they have ever been. I wondered what subtle changes she has made to maintain her condition and stay at the top of her game.

“I train smarter now and I know the importance of the sessions. I don’t need to be sparring, I don’t need to take risks when it’s not necessary. I’ll jump in and do some defence work and perhaps play around with the girls but it’s about training smarter and maintaining my mature muscle, which I’ve done and that’s especially important at my age, for bone density reasons. It’s a dedication to a lifestyle I’ve made and one which I made consciously at seventeen. If you look at someone like Chris Algieri, who is a teammate of mine, he’s always in shape because he lives the lifestyle. I understand the science behind it, and I have a great strength and conditioning coach and boxing coach, who help me out. With my seasonal affective disorder, in the past, I developed a compulsive eating disorder, so I’ve also had to work to understand food better and I have worked with some great diet coaches and nutritionists along the way and have learnt so much from them.”

Shea is very content with her life outside of boxing right now. She has recently bought a house in Florida, is in a good relationship with a man who understands the sacrifices she makes for the sport she loves and has a job working as an executive assistant for Phil Daru, an award-winning strength and conditioning coach who has worked with athletes such as Dustin Poirier. What is it then, that gives her the motivation to keep speaking out and how much longer will she persevere?

“I could be like, I’m just not going to do this anymore and continue with the rest of my life. I am going to write a book, I do a lot of charity work and I’ve got other things going on, but I’m like no; this is not just about me, because if I let go, there’s a lot of women who started the same time I did, who walked away because they couldn’t get fights and they got tired of it all. I don’t know what gave me the endurance and I’ve had people ask me before and I really don’t know. I love this sport and you need to be able to compartmentalise the act of boxing with the business because if you keep them together you are never going to want to train. I remember a coach once told me, when I was feeling frustrated at the lack of opportunities, he was like, you know you don’t have to be here, you choose to be here, and I’ll never forget that. I’ll never forget those words, it’s a choice. So, I will continue making the choice until the day comes when I decide I don’t want to anymore, but guess what, today, I say yes; tomorrow, I don’t know, we will see what happens when I get up in the morning, but I’ll probably say yes.”