Georgia O’Connor: A New Beginning

Georgia O’Connor: A New Beginning

I last spoke to Georgia O’Connor in June. She was waiting to get her career up and running after a frustrating hiatus from the sport. O’Connor had a fight scheduled, but that date came and went without reward. When her opponent pulled out the day before the fight, her hiatus would be extended even further.

O’Connor hasn’t boxed since that history-making all-female Boxxer card at O2 Arena in London last October. O’Connor was impressive in extending her professional resume to three fights unbeaten when she outpointed the previously unbeaten Joyce Van Ee over four rounds. The win and the manner of it offered real hope that O’Connor would make real progress in 2023. But it hasn’t quite turned out as planned.

The time away left the talented super-welterweight prospect thinking of walking away for good. But a hook-up with Sam Jones and Conlan Boxing reignited that hope. A date in August was set before the late pullout of her scheduled opponent left O’Connor kicking her heels in frustration once again. A further planned date in September also failed to deliver a fight that O’Connor desperately wanted.

But O’Connor will hope that another scheduled date for her return is a little more successful. FightPost is of the understanding that the comeback is tentatively set for December in Belfast. O’Connor deserves a change in luck. She is far too talented a fighter to be lost to the sport. Hopefully, that Belfast date will be the end of her time in the wilderness and the start of better things ahead for the boxing career of Georgia O’Connor.

She has overcome many things in her life. A few years ago, a brush with death through a condition called pulmonary embolism, an extremely serious condition which, in simple terms, is a blood clot in the lungs, was a battle that she bravely won. You sense boxing politics pale into insignificance in comparison to her health issues from 2021.

“Being ill and nearly dying just made me realise how important life is, and I want to do something I love,” O’Connor once told me. Boxing is her passion and one that she is extremely good at. It would be a travesty if we didn’t get to see just how good she really is. Her amateur days would indicate she is very good.

O’Connor is in the process of starting a new job as a civil engineer for Durham County Council. Very soon, she will hope her boxing life gets a similar upward trajectory.

“I just want to be happy. Getting out there inspiring others and maybe by the end of next year have a title or two, that would be nice.” O’Connor told me in June. Five months on, those words still ring true.

O’Connor is only 23, and despite all the frustrations and disappointments of recent times, her best years are still ahead of her. Hopefully, this time next year, her story is very different.

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer