Shauna O’Keeffe: “The lightweight division is stacked, but I believe I am the one to take over.”

Shauna O’Keeffe: “The lightweight division is stacked, but I believe I am the one to take over.”

“Australia was just amazing. It was incredible. It’s probably one of the best places I have ever been to. The win was massive. I am very blessed for the win.” The opening words of the unbeaten Irish lightweight prospect Shauna O’Keeffe.

We connected over Zoom just a few weeks removed from her fifth professional victory. O’Keeffe had travelled to Australia to take on Taylah Gentzen. It was an impressive performance from the Tipperary native, and she looked a clear winner after ten good rounds. But on away soil, there is always a sense of jeopardy that you will get a fair deal on the cards. Despite looking the only winner and securing a knockdown along the way, O’Keeffe had to settle for a split decision. The knockdown being the deciding factor on the judges’ scorecards.

“I was warned about it,” O’Keeffe says of worries about being the victim of a hometown decision. “But it is just one of those things, and it is completely irrelevant. I just focus on the task at hand. No matter what was going to happen, I was going to win. That is all I had in my head. I just knew I had to give it everything, and I would come back with the win. I literally threw everything, but the kitchen sink at her, just to make sure I got the decision.”

It was a big win for O’Keeffe. “I am now ranked in the top ten in the four governing bodies. That is massive, but we are not going to rush it. The lightweight division is stacked, but I believe I am the one to take over. I firmly believe that with all my heart. But I am going to build my record, get more experience, and just enjoy the journey. And just keep winning.”

Shauna O’Keeffe left boxing behind for over six years. Only returning to her sport of choice just over two years ago. She left for pastures new, but thoughts of returning were never far from her mind.

“I got beat by Kelly Harrington by a 3:2 split-decision, and she is a double Olympic gold medallist,” O’Keeffe told FightPost. “Everyone was on me saying I was going to be the next big thing. But it was either to stay as Kelly Harrington’s sparring partner because I wouldn’t have been picked internationally over her, or pursue a career as a personal trainer, build up a business and obviously make some money. I opened up a gym in 2017 and did extremely well with that until I came back to boxing in 2022. I just took a career break, you could say, because I was always training. It was always there in a sense. It was always in my head to come back to boxing because of the what-ifs. I never want to live with a what-if. So I knew I would come back at the right time, and I believed 2022 was the right time.”

Shauna O’Keeffe had a highly impressive amateur resume. Only six defeats in one hundred and thirty-six fights tells its own story. It could have been even better. Without a dislocated knee that required surgery when she was 20, O’Keeffe could have had even more fights. It cost her two years. But now that O’Keeffe has finally returned, she is a fighter fully intent on making up for lost time.

You sense it is more than a sport to her. “Love. That is literally it. I love it,” O’Keeffe says of her sport. “I believe I have been put on this earth to do exactly what I am doing now. You have to be mad in the head to do what we do. I don’t get paid, I have been living my whole boxing life on sponsorship. But I don’t really care. I love what I do.”

Shauna O’Keeffe has big ambitions. A desire to inspire the next generation, but also she wants to leave behind something truly special.

“I want to unify the 135 and 140 divisions. I want to do it in devastating fashion as well. I want to be the only female to knock girls out. I believe I can do that. I want to do the unthinkable in the sport. I want to be extraordinary. I want to leave a legacy. I want to entertain people and put bums on seats. I want to be a PPV fighter. I want to excite people. There is a lot I want to do in this sport.”