Ring News 24 talks to super featherweight Maxine McCarthy

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Exclusive Interview: Ring News 24 chats to super featherweight Maxine McCarthy

 

 

Ringnews24.com: What made you decide to take up boxing at the age of 29?

 

Maxine McCarthy: I turned professional at 29 but I actually started boxing at an early age. My dad was a professional boxer so it was always in the family. I always trained but just never fought. I did have 6 white collar fights when I was about 27 and won all of them. My dad was the one who got me into boxing. He was a boxer and I used to love what he did and it motivated me to do the same. I was training in the gym one day and there was a guy called Tom Bruggen there doing a documentary on him turning people who hardly had any experience into professionals. He trained us for about 2 years. There were hundreds of guys come and go but the only one who stayed the whole time and made it was me.

 

Ringnews24.com: Did you not think about trying your hand at amateur level first?

 

Maxine McCarthy: No, I just didn’t want to. I don’t like headgear for starters and I like being thrown in at the deep end. That’s probably my personality. I’ve got a strong personality so when I make a decision, that’s it. I just trained so hard to become pro and that’s what I wanted. I trained with a guy who was a Commonwealth champion for my first fight.

 

Ringnews24.com: Can you tell us about your father’s boxing career?

 

Maxine McCarthy: He was a light welterweight, had about 120 amateur fights in Ireland and then turned professional but fought under different names because he wasn’t supposed to be fighting due to injury. He won quite a lot but eventually he had to stop because of injuries. Nowadays a lot of boxers are mollycoddled in a way whereas back in his day they just threw him in with anyone.

 

Ringnews24.com: I read that you’re also into bodybuilding?

 

Maxine McCarthy: Well, if we go back to when I was a kid I was always heavily involved in sports at school; I won lots of awards and stuff because of it. My brother in law had a gym and was into bodybuilding so I took it up myself at 16 after I left school. I’ve just always been interested in fitness. I’ve worked at gyms, I went to university and got a degree in sports science and I’ve done boxing. I’d say there hasn’t been more than a week in my life where I haven’t trained; that’s how much I love fitness and boxing.

 

 

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