Mary-Kate Smith: “I want to be an Olympic Champion.”

Mary-Kate Smith: “I want to be an Olympic Champion.”

Mary-Kate Smith had her first taste of boxing on the international stage at the recent World Boxing Championships in Liverpool. The 21-year-old came within one fight of leaving with a medal. Despite losing at the quarter-final stage, Smith can look ahead to a possible golden future. A dream of winning Olympic gold and becoming a world champion in the professional ranks, Smith is beyond ambitious.

“It was great,” Smith told me over Zoom about her experience in Liverpool. “Really good. I am disappointed. Don’t get me wrong. I had two fights in Liverpool. In the first fight, I boxed a Ukrainian who was a European Champion. I put on a really good performance, and I beat her. But in the next round, I boxed Busra Isildar from Turkey, who reached the final. In some ways, it was a good performance, but overall, I thought it was a little lacklustre. I started to rush my work. Obviously, I was a bit heartbroken at the time, but I took a lot of positives from it.

“That was my first time on a world stage. I take away the performances, how I handled it, and the opposition I was up against. But I now know I have got it in me to beat them. I have proved that to myself. It’s my turn to catch up now from an experience point of view.”

Mary-Kate Smith’s career is still in the embryonic stage. A more than encouraging performance at the World Boxing Championships seemingly indicates that the Team GB fighter will only improve further. Tournaments will now come thick and fast for Smith, but she has two big targets in her sights. “I want to do the Commonwealth Games next year, and then go for the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. I feel like I am at a good stage in my career.”

Like many, the entry into boxing came by way of a sibling. “I started boxing by just going with my little brother,” Smith relayed to me. “I always had an interest in it. I went a couple of times, and then my brother stopped, but I just carried on. I just walked in and thought I’ll have a go at that. It just got me excited.

“When you are playing football, you are playing with so many other people,” Smith added. “In boxing, it’s all on your back, and I like that aspect of it. Boxing gives me everything. It has changed my life. Without it, I don’t know what I would be doing. It gives me discipline. It gives me something to do every day. I am travelling everywhere. I am getting paid now. Boxing is my full-time job. It has opened so many doors for me.”

Every fighter looks up to someone, be it inside or outside of the sport. Smith is no different. “Stylistically, I look up to Lomachenko and his use of angles and shot selection,” Smith said. “Also, Marvin Hagler, again, for his style and work ethic. I also take inspiration from Savannah Marshall, Katie Taylor and the whole team around me at GB in Sheffield for showing me that I can do what they have done and are doing, to get to that Olympic medal.”

Mary-Kate Smith is now twenty-seven fights into her boxing journey. A career still developing, but the ambition is obvious. “I want to be an Olympic Champion, even if that takes two cycles. When I turn pro, the goal is to become a world champion.”