Ireland’s Original Raging Belle

Deirdre Gogarty SUN28MAY23

t’s telling that the bould GG didn’t know anything about Deirdre Gogarty until we bumped into this quiet, unassuming woman and her young son on a Delgany walk last week.

Then again, we’re hardly the first dashing, incredibly handsome and plainly chauvinistic male Irish journalist to be blissfully ignorant of this remarkable woman’s pioneering achievements in the boxing world.

The walk was the Fairy Trail, Deirdre’s sister, Sheena – who lives at its Priory Road entrance – quick to inform us later that this shy and retired woman had quite the history. And she wasn’t wrong.

From her first major win – in a Limerick ring against Anne-Marie Griffin back in 1991 – to her inductment into the Women’s International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015, Deirdre Gogarty walked a long and lonely path to her current iconic status in her beloved sport.

With a ban on women’s boxing in Ireland still in place back in 1991 (eventually lifting in 2001), the teenage Deirdre had to travel abroad to follow her dream, stepping into the ring initially in both London and Kansas City. It was on March 16th, 1996 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada that Deirdre took part in the fight that many view as the one that put women’s boxing on the map, going up against Christy Martin (who would win on a six-round decision). Part of the undercard of a pay-per-view championship fight between Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno that had 1.1m subscribers, this stunning display of fearsome fighting skills was quickly dubbed the female version of The Thrilla In Manila.

Gogarty was on a roll after that breakthrough fight, winning her next three contests before taking on Bonnie Canino in January 1997 for the Women’s International Boxing Federation’s Women’s World Featherweight Championship title – and winning.

It was the first time an Irish woman had won a world championship in boxing, but the night was also an example of how far the sport still had to go, and the prejudices still rampant in Ireland. Not only did the promoter of the fight run off with the €12,500 prize money, but when Gogarty arrived at Dublin airport to a hero’s welcome, the Irish media were still hitting below the belt – The Irish Times going with the headline Gogarty Back To Evangelise Ireland whilst also running articles opposing women’s boxing.

Taking notice of Gogarty’s battles – both inside and outside the ring – was a 10-year-old Katie Taylor, who not only wrote to Deirdre but also ended up visiting the Gogarty family home in Drogheda. “How did you do it when everyone tried to stop you?” the little girl asked her idol. “If you keep working at it, and keep showing your skills,” came the reply, “somebody’s going to say, ‘We’ve got to let this girl box‘.”

The 10-year-old Taylor signed off her letter, “Maybe one day they’ll let us box in the Olympics“.

Just how far women in boxing had come in this country was very apparent when, on August 9th 2012, Taylor won gold for Ireland at the Summer Olympics. The day before, Gogarty had published her autobiography, My Call To The Ring: A Memoir Of A Girl Who Yearns To Box.

Gogarty & Taylor MAY23

The two old friends were reunited earlier this month, Taylor always keen to remind the world that before she lifted her first championship belt, Deirdre Gogarty had cleared a path for her and many others. And now that inspiration is being passed down to a whole new generation, including Greystones’ boxing champs Kaci Rock and Siofra Lawless.

The Deirdre Gogarty Legacy Committee

Swinging by from Louisiana to visit her two sisters here (Katherine being the other one), Deirdre is more than a little amazed – and flattered – to find out that there’s a GoFundMe campaign to have a statue of Ireland’s first female professional boxer and first female professional world champion erected in her native Drogheda. Which makes sense to us. You can throw a few pennies in that hat right here.

In the meantime, we sat down with Ireland’s original raging belle at Café Grey to talk battle scars, hard-won victories and how it feels to see women’s boxing finally coming home…

You can grab Deirdre Gogarty’s memoir My Call To The Ring right here, and contribute to that hometown statue right here. Great May 2023 piece from the BBC on this pioneering Irish boxer too over here.