Keely O’Neill: “When I am boxing, I am at my happiest.”

Keely O’Neill: “When I am boxing, I am at my happiest.”

Not everyone who fights does it purely for world titles or for the supposed riches many think the sport offers. For some, it runs a little deeper than that.

Keely O’Neill came to boxing relatively late in her life. But it arrived at a pivotal moment. “It started at a local gym, Maroubra Fiteklub,” O’Neill told me over Zoom. “I started in a mum’s class. I had a lot of anger built up in me. I suppressed a lot because I was a young mum at 19. I ended up leaving a physically violent relationship. I ended up in a violent shelter with my son. I was in there for five months. I guess when I did the mum’s class, I felt fire. It all came to me, and I started to feel control after all those years of not feeling in control of my life.”

“I did the class with Fidel Tukel, who has had a few world champions,” the Australian added. “I loved it. I love that knockout style. I felt that rage, and he would just scream at us to go 100% for 30 seconds. It was great, and it really helped me. I was also able to take my son down there. It was a bit of a hood area, to be honest, with the kids roaming the street, wanting to fight people. But it was all part of the vibe, I guess.”

A planned first fight at a local show didn’t materialise. Much to the frustration of O’Neill. “I dropped the weight, and I was ready. But the lady I was meant to fight, she had already had four fights; she was not allowed to fight for some reason. I was devastated. I had family and friends there. I was quite gutted. I just wanted to fight.”

It was nearly two years before the first fight happened. A hook-up with the legendary trainer Johnny Lewis proved highly beneficial to her boxing life. “It taught me a lot,” the 31-year-old says.

Keely O’Neill is now eight fights into her fighting career. A 4-4 record is more than respectable for a fighter still learning her trade. “I learned a lot from those defeats. They teach you a lot.”

A niggling injury has kept O’Neill out of the ring since last summer. “I had to have six months off due to an injury. For that time, I focused on my rehab. I decided to drop some weight. My last fight was at 66kg. I used to walk around at 72kg. But now I am walking around at 58kg. In a month’s time, I should be good to go. I should be fighting in another weight category, at either 56 or 52kg, when I fight again. I would love to fight at 52, but we’ll see, I don’t want to lose the power.”

With only eight fights behind her and an extended ring hiatus, O’Neill is eager to return to the ring and get some much-needed experience. “I would like to fight six times at least this year,” O’Neill told me. “I am hoping to go to Queensland to compete in the Golden Gloves. I flew up there last year and fought a girl called Melita Hegarty. She beat me, but she is a really good fighter. I was sick with the flu, but there was no way I was not going to fight.

“I want to get some more experience, and then turn professional. But I want to make sure I am ready before I make that move. In two years time, if I get maybe 15-20 fights, I think I will be ready then.”

“I want to be the best in my division,” O’Neill says of what she would like to achieve down the road. But you sense boxing carries a deeper meaning. From where she was to where she is now, happiness is the title she has already claimed through her sport. “I am a lot happier now. When I am boxing, I am at my happiest.”