Kacie Doocey: “I want to build a legacy. I am confident I can be a world champion.”

Kacie Doocey: “I want to build a legacy. I am confident I can be a world champion.”

Kacie Doocey is another fighter from the Stefy Bull production line. The 22-year-old will make her professional debut next month. A hometown appearance at the Magna Centre, that the Rotherham-born fighter will hope is the start of a professional career that ends with world titles to her name.

“I can’t wait. It seems as though I have been waiting forever,” a beyond excited Doocey told me over Zoom.

Doocey always had thoughts of turning professional rather than staying in the unpaid ranks for too long. “The plan was always to win a National Title and then turn over,” Doocey relayed to me. “I just wanted the experience of being in a national competition. Amateur boxing is a different style to professional boxing. So it’s better to get the rounds in now and build a professional style rather than having to box differently as an amateur and then have less time to work on my professional style.”

Kacie Doocey was no stranger to sporting endeavours. Nine years as a Street Dancer. Time spent playing netball and running alongside other sports in her school days, a career in sport was perhaps always somewhat inevitable. But it was in those restrictive pandemic times when boxing came into her life.

“I have only been boxing since Covid. When the lockdown happened, my dad, who has always been into MMA and jiu-jitsu, had his garage all kitted out with mats and a boxing bag. I wanted to stay fit, and my dad said just go in the garage and do a little bit. I started doing it every night. My dad would take me on the pads, and then one night, he said, “Do you want to try a little spar?” and I said, “Why not?” I then got obsessed with boxing. Every day in lockdown, I was watching Lomachenko and Canelo videos, and I thought I am going to try this with my dad tonight.

“Boxing is now my life. Sparring day is my favourite day of the week. I can’t really explain it, I just love everything about the sport. I like learning things. My dad does a lot of work with me as well as my trainers, and when you pull something off that you have been working on, it gives me a buzz. It feels amazing. I just think, yes, it’s working, I am getting better.”

Doocey had her first fight in 2021. She had ten amateur fights, losing only two, but now a new world awaits. Managed by Stefy Bull and with Jason Cunningham and Bull at the helm in the gym, Doocey is in good hands. A gym where the three-weight world champion and current WBO lightweight champion Terri Harper resides.

“Terri is so inspiring,” Doocey says of Harper. “She was obviously in the gym before I started. I have always watched Terri, and I have looked up to her. She used to invite me to watch her spar, and we have had the odd round together as well. Terri has helped me a lot. She has always been a really good role model.”

At 22, Doocey, who plans to fight in and around the lightweight division, knows she has time to learn her craft, and seemingly has full trust in her inner circle. “In the next few years, I want to have gained a lot of experience and got the rounds in. When the opportunities come and my team is happy with it, I would literally do anything.” There are big ambitions for a fighter who is all in on her sport of choice.

“I want to build a legacy,” Doocey told FightPost “I am confident I can be a world champion. I want to build that legacy to help other boxers out there who are after the same goals to show it can be done.” 

Kacie Doocey doesn’t have to look very far for inspiration. Terri Harper has won the titles that Doocey wants in her future. If her confidence is a guide to what lies ahead, there is every chance Doocey will emulate what Harper has achieved.