Louise Creaven: “Boxing is who I am. It gives me my identity. I am not doing it for anyone else, only myself.”

Louise Creaven: “Boxing is who I am. It gives me my identity. I am not doing it for anyone else, only myself.”

Louise Creaven left her native Ireland around ten years ago. The move to Australia started out as one big party. Creaven was also battling a severe eating disorder. By her own admission, it could have killed her. But when she found boxing, everything changed. A born fighter who had finally found her calling.

After a fifteen-fight amateur career, Creaven is now four fights into her professional journey. After winning her first three bouts, Creaven lost a unanimous points decision over six rounds to the unbeaten Sheilla Yama in June. After suffering her first career reversal, Creaven has been recovering from an injury sustained in the fight with Yama.

“I dislocated my shoulder in the last fight,” Creaven told me over Zoom. “Since then, there has just been a labrum tear in there, and we have been rehabbing that pretty much since that fight. It’s pretty good now, back to about 90%, I would say. We have been back sparring, so I am pretty happy with that. It will probably give me a bit of grief for a while longer, but we just have to keep strengthening it. There is not much else I can do. I took a full six weeks off from using my right arm to the point of not even opening a door with it. I gave it a complete rest. It just has to heal itself.”

As the rehabilitation process moves to the final chapter, Creaven is nearing a return to the ring.
“I will definitely be back out before the end of the year. We have registered to do an amateur fight; they were looking for someone around my weight. We are going to do that, and then we are looking at early December for a pro fight. It’s just been a struggle to try to find girls to fight. Girls are already fighting, or they don’t want to fight.”

The defeat to Yama hasn’t deterred someone who inspires in so many ways. Experience gained, which Creaven believes will greatly benefit her going forward.

“That was my first loss,” a reflective Creaven relayed to me. “Which was obviously devastating. When I lost my first amateur fight, I didn’t cope very well. I went into a bit of a rabbit hole. I didn’t speak to anyone. I just blocked everyone out. I realised then that wasn’t a good way to be. So when I went into the pros, I mentally prepared myself in case it happened again. I never knew when that would be. It just wasn’t my night. She was definitely the better boxer as well. Going into that fight, I was mentally fine, but in the ring, my eye cut open, and that had never happened before. There was blood gushing everywhere. It probably looked worse than what it was, but I got it in my head that my parents were watching this. I think that sort of sidetracked me a little bit. But that’s not an excuse, and I am taking it away from her that she was the better boxer. But I think my mind kind of tapped out a little bit. But there were a lot of lessons learned from it, and I will use that as fire for the next one.”

The Louise Creaven story could have been completely different if boxing hadn’t entered her life. A move to the other side of the world was heading down a seemingly dark one-way street until Creaven found boxing.

“I moved over to Australia from Ireland ten years ago,” Creaven told me. “When I first came, it was just party after party. I was actually quite sick at the time. I had an eating disorder. I started in the gym, and that became an unhealthy obsession. The trainer at the time was doing a charity white-collar boxing thing at the gym. I took that, but I was very unhealthy at the time, so it wasn’t a very good idea. I was still living in that eating disorder mindset. It nearly killed me. There was a time when I had those thoughts and stuff. But deep down, I knew I loved the boxing and what it was giving me. So once that event was over, I took some time off and went to another gym that did the amateurs, and I trained there for about two years. But I was still very sick, and I had to put my health first. I took some time off. Got help. Recovered. I went back and had my first fight two years after that. I just love boxing. I love getting in there. I love the fighting and the training part of it. The discipline it gives me. But the biggest thing was overcoming the eating disorder, and now it doesn’t control me. I don’t focus on the food or anything like that; I focus on the training. Everything now just falls into place.”

“Boxing gives me that fire in my stomach,” Creaven added. “It gives me purpose. Boxing is who I am. It gives me my identity. I am not doing it for anyone else, only myself. I grew up always thinking I had to prove myself to people. Boxing just fuels my fire.”

After amassing a 12-3 amateur resume, Creaven decided to switch codes. A frustration with the lack of opposition prompted the move into the world of professional boxing. “When I first started, it was great,” Creaven said. “There were loads of girls, and we were getting lots of fights. But then it got to a stage where I was fighting the same girls in every tournament. We went up and down in weight classes just to get the fights. We then decided to turn pro.”

But the same problems still linger. A difficulty in finding someone to fight has somewhat restricted her career to just four fights since she turned professional in 2024. Creaven hopes that once she picks up her career later this year, regular activity will be key to her continued progress.

At 30, Louise Creaven has time on her side. There are immediate targets of fighting Jessica Messina for the Australian welterweight title and hopes of returning to her native land for an emotional homecoming. “I want to get the Australian title,” Creaven says. I want to fight for that belt. But my biggest goal is to fight closer to home. I want to fight in Ireland next year.”