TYSIE GALLAGHER wants to bring top-level boxing to Premier League Luton.
The 24-year-old Hatters fan scored an upset of her own when she outpointed celebrated former Team GB star Laura Whiteside for the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title in April.
She’ll be at Wembley on Saturday hoping the club she played for as a schoolgirl prospect can spring another surprise against Coventry and reach the Prem for the first time.
And Gallagher – who was the town’s first female pro fighter despite taking a couple of years off around the birth of five-year-old daughter – dreams of marking their recent successes with a Kenilworth Road show.
“That would be the dream,” she told SunSport after a tough morning after Macie-Mae was sick overnight, had to miss school and early morning sparring was approaching.
“Luton is a town that sadly gets in the media for the wrong reasons sometimes, so for the football club to return to the Premier League – and the lift it would bring all the businesses and people – would be brilliant.
“I played for the centre of excellence as a girl, I threw myself into sport to help after I was diagnosed with ADHD and then boxing came along and took over.
“I don’t get to as many games as I would like, with boxing and parenting, but I will be getting the train down on Saturday and cheering the boys on.
“There has been a great buzz around the place this season and this would be the perfect way to finish it off.
“I walked past the club shop last week and I had never seen it so busy with people queuing up to get shirts and their names printed, the place is buzzing.”
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Before parenthood, Gallagher worked in a nursery in the mornings, training in the afternoons and worked at a retirement home in the evening to make ends meet.
Thankfully she has now secured enough sponsorship to commit fully to the sport and drives down every day to work at Don Charles’ Pug Gym in North London.
But she remembers the tough early days fondly and hopes they will help her secure a world title shot soon.
“I never had it easy,” she said. “I have had to work hard alongside training and fighting hard.
“I got used to it though, it helped me, there were times early on when sponsorships started coming in and I didn’t know what to do with them, I thought ‘woah, I am not used to this’.
“Before I had Macie I could jam-pack my days with training, sparring, working, travelling, from 6am until 10pm but having my little girl means lots of stuff has to be done around the school hours, so the sponsors are really helping.”
Female fighting is currently booming and Gallagher is right in the mix sparring big names like Ellie Scotney.
But there remains a divide among the brave women in the sport, with some maximising their profiles and earnings with racy weigh-in clothes, Only Fans accounts and the sales of sweaty kit, while others prefer to let their fists do the talking.
Gallagher respects both stances but insists she prefers the old-school approach.
“Each to their own,” she said with a wise head on young shoulders. “But it’s not my cup of tea.
“Boxing is such a hard and brutal sport that some things can make a mockery of it.
“I have no problem with other people choosing to do things like that, when I hear about how much money some of them make from it, I think ‘go for it’.
“But it’s not something I am rushing toward, I think I would always rather be known for my boxing, skills or toughness.
“I think I would always prefer for people to talk about my boxing, rather than walk past me in the street and say ‘look, there’s the Only Fans girl’”.
Gallagher lost a controversial points decision to Nina Hughes last year – she won the WBA world title just four months later.
And – as the away fighter again – was supposed to lose against Whiteside who was tipped as a world champ.
Now she has the brightly coloured belt her daughter loves to show off and promoters eager to make her the home star, making her future as bright as the belt.
“I don’t mind being in the away dressing room, coming in as the underdog,” she laughed. “But I do feel I have earned a crack from the home corner now.
“I have now had those two hard fights against more experienced girls and shown I am not afraid of anything. I hope I have earned some respect.
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“Me and my manager Tony have meetings booked with a couple of big promoters so things are hopefully coming along.
“We have some great boxers in Luton and I would love to have my first pro fight here soon and one day the football stadium too.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
