Emma Dolan: Against All Odds
Emma Dolan will head to Sheffield on Saturday night with a determination to repeat a previous victory and get herself back into world title contention.
It was a difficult night in April at the Olympia. A long-awaited world title challenge ended in a manner that nobody saw coming. A devastating third-round stoppage victory at the hands of Irma Garcia and her IBF world super-flyweight hopes were in tatters.
There were tears as Dolan left that London ring. A fight that she was expected to win had gone so disastrously wrong. Three times she was on the canvas, Garcia ripping up the script to retain her IBF title. But Dolan was down, but not out.
The 28-year-old returned in a low-key fight in April. Dolan (9-1) won every round against the Argentinian Antonella Shirley Molina. A ‘comeback’ victory that earned Dolan another big fight, and a chance to get back what was lost against Garcia six months ago.
Dolan will rematch Shannon Ryan this Saturday night at the Sheffield’s Utilita Arena live on DAZN. The British, Commonwealth and IBF Intercontinental super-flyweight titles will be on the line. Dolan will see it as an opportunity to cement her credentials and put herself right back in the mix for another world title fight.
Ryan (11-1) is ranked number one by the IBF. If Dolan wins, that top spot should be hers.
It’s a rematch that makes sense for both fighters. Ryan gets her chance at revenge. An opportunity to eradicate the only blemish on her record. The pre-fight odds say that she will do exactly that.
But Dolan will revel in the underdog mentality. In many ways, her boxing career has been fighting against the odds. Without a big promoter, Dolan has been given very little. Everything earned, the hard way.
But the chance of another victory over the surging Ryan, who is coming off big wins over Chloe Watson and Nicola Hopewell, has clearly lit a fire in Dolan.
“The platform motivates me,” Dolan told FightPost. “The fight itself gives me the bit between my teeth too. I’m very confident. I’m training very hard, and I am looking forward to getting in there. It’s another defence of my British which I’d like to win outright, and it puts me back in world title contention against Irma Garcia, so I can rewrite my wrong.”
The Garcia defeat still hurts. And it should. Dolan wants to run it back. She should. But to get her cherished rematch, Dolan has a job to do first on Saturday night in Sheffield in another rematch.
The motivation is obvious. Shannon Ryan will be in the opposite corner. Ryan will come with thoughts of revenge, and a maiden world title opportunity will surely be hers if she beats Dolan the second time of asking. High stakes indeed. Both fighters have a lot to gain, and even more to lose. A triple-title showdown that has major implications for both winner and loser.
Whispers from the Dolan training camp are encouraging: “She’s on it,” I’ve been told.
Two years ago, many were sleeping on Dolan in the first meeting between the two British fighters. But Dolan dropped Ryan and won a deserved split-decision upset victory. The betting line seemingly indicates that Emma Dolan is being overlooked again. The odds were proven wrong in 2024; Dolan firmly believes she will do so again.
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