SHANNON RYAN used to sell phones for O2 – now she will be fighting under lights of the company’s glittering London arena.
‘Kaos’ Ryan admits she feels “emotional” looking back on her meteoric rise from O2 assistant manager in the Watford branch to professional boxer.
The Watford-born 25-year-old used to juggle her part-time job with gruelling boxing training.
But selling sim-only phone deals isn’t normally what boxers do in the build up to the blood and thunder of a professional fight.
She then switched to training full-time ahead of her second pro fight against fellow Brit Gemma Ruegg in June.
But she still never quite imagined she would be helping to make history on the undercard of Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall’s main event fight at The O2 this Saturday as part of the UK’s first all-female card.
She said: “I go back into the shop which is nice. Some of the colleagues will be watching on Saturday.
“It’s also incredible just to see the journey.
“And video went out recently looking back at the whole five years of the process of where I am today today.
“When I look back on it it’s emotional because I remember the days when I was working and wanting to be where I am now and now I am.”
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Ryan is scheduled to face Spain’s Bucha El Quassi in what will mark the Brit super-flyweight’s third pro bout following points victories over Claudia Ferenczi and Ruegg earlier this year.
She started out at Barnet’s Finchley ABC gym in barnet where Anthony Joshua’s journey to stardom began and it was from there he took her under his wing.
Ryan has since signed for Joshua’s 258 Management agency and bagged a major sponsorship deal with O2.
She added: “It just goes to show that when you do put your mind to something you can achieve anything with the support and the help that you’ve got around you.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
