LONG READ: Tipperary's Carrigeen Queen set to roar and reign

“I’ve been written off all my life. Some of my teachers told me that I would never amount to anything. When I was a young child, my friends from school were not allowed to visit me as my estate was seen as the 'wild west of Clonmel'”.

Irish boxer Shauna Browne (who previously boxed under the name Shauna O’Keeffe) lacks bitterness as she recounts some of the hard knocks she has lived through, and credits them as formative experiences that have helped to shape her into the person she is today.

The 30-year-old is sanguine as she looks ahead to one of the biggest fights of her career to date, when she takes to the ring in Belfast’s SSE Arena on Saturday March 1, when she will compete in a gruelling 10 round fight, probably against Elif Nur Turhan from Turkey, for a WBC eliminator.

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She says it is what she has dreamed of and worked so hard for, and which is all the more important to her given her incredible comeback at the age of 28 , following a hiatus of  six and a half years with injuries.  

Shauna says “It is unheard of for boxers to come back after being out for as long as I had. I had three major surgeries on my right arm. I had a dislocated knee as well but I have always been absolutely consumed with boxing, so I am just so relieved and grateful to be back doing what I love.

“It wasn’t easy though, in fact it was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I am steely and dogged and I drove on through the pain. The people of Clonmel helped me too as they believe in me and that is priceless. I went back in October and by March I was winning fights all over the place”.

Shauna’s love for boxing started when she was a young girl growing up in the Carrigeen Estate in Clonmel.

“Two of my brothers were in Clonmel Boxing Club and I became absolutely fixated on it by the time I was 14. I have always loved sport and did every sport under the sun. I have always loved being out and about, engaged and active but my love for boxing is like an extension of who I am.

“I got good very, very quickly and I suppose part of my steely determination comes from where I come from, literally.

“I love Carrigeen, it is me and I love the people there and they love me, they call me the Carrigeen Queen and I am so proud of that. Of course, it was horrible when my school friends weren’t allowed to visit because it was regarded as rough and tough, but I just got on with it, it was what it was. 

"Today it would be described as ‘othering’ but we just got on with it, you can’t lie down under the opinions of others.

“It wasn’t a true reflection of my family life as I didn’t get into trouble, as my mam was strict and she had rules. We were in bed by 9pm. Mam had a tough life, and she worked several jobs, she did all she could to make ends meet. I respect that and I respect her.

“She was and is my hero.

“She is always petrified when I am in the ring, but she will be in Belfast on March 1 willing me on. She is the best and she has always supported me and the rest of my brothers and sister to do their best in life”.

Doing her best is what Shauna does indeed do best.

“I am incredibly single-minded. When I am in competition and gearing up for a fight, nothing else matters. I train twice a day and am in bed by 9pm.

“I eat well; I stick to an incredibly clean diet. I don’t drink and I sleep well.

“It’s not as if it is forever, I can do what I like when I retire at 36 or 37”.

 “I look to Katie Taylor, who is a friend and a peer of mine and somebody who is as single-minded as I am. I know her and have admired her for years and I am honoured to have been her sparring partner on several occasions, including on her last bout with Amanda Serrano, and she is rooting for me too.

 “I believe I am meant to box. I am made for this game. Nothing makes sense without it. I don’t feel whole.

 “My life may have changed but I haven’t. I’m still the same Shauna but people’s reactions to me are different, I notice that they don’t know how to approach me now.

“It can be lonely, but I am self-sufficient, I have grit".

Now living in Essex, Shauna says March 1 in Belfast is a date that she is relishing and one that is consuming her life.

“The people of Essex where I’m currently living have taken me to their hearts. I get on with people, I don’t think there’s any other way to be in life. Everyone has something going on in their lives. I am a proud, proud Irish woman”.

It is this grit and determination that convinced Spencer Brown, Shauna’s manager, to take her on. Given he has managed some of the biggest names in the world, including Tyson Fury, it is a huge coup for the Tipperary woman.

Brown says he was convinced to manage Shauna, as her pure persistence and ambition shone through.

“She doesn’t give up," he says.

“She rang me out of the blue and asked me if I would manage her. I said I’d think about it and I saw her fight and I was genuinely impressed. She rang me again and something just clicked in me to give her a change and take a chance on her.

“There’s a purity and an honesty about her love for boxing and her drive to succeed. She is not all about the money or the fame, she is somebody for whom boxing is a genuine and real passion and that is so refreshing.

“Make no mistake, she will be up against it on March 1 in Belfast but I believe she can do it. She has all the qualities to go all the way. She is tough and skilful. She will give it her all and I really do believe she will prevail”.

So does Shauna herself.

“I don’t contemplate losing. That’s not arrogance on my part; it’s just self-belief and pure stubbornness”. 

The Carrigeen Queen is set to roar and reign.