On Friday night Britain's Tysie Gallagher – Luton's first professional women's boxer – challenges the undefeated WBO super bantamweight champion Segolene Lefebvre in her backyard of Douai, France. Ahead of her European conquest, Gallagher spoke with ProBox TV about an opportunity that could define her career.
A world title opportunity after only seven fights and two years as a professional, how did the opportunity come around?
From winning the Commonwealth title back in April, that obviously put me in quite good stead, and after that I became the mandatory for the European title, that’s originally what I was training for. Whilst waiting, there was a mix-up with purse bids, and settling on a date and venue; in the meantime Tony [Pill, my trainer] just got to work and then managed to get me the world title shot. The WBO world champion needed an opponent, and instead of waiting around for the European title, after they had delayed the purse bids for a few weeks, we didn’t want to wait around and managed to get the shot.
How are you feeling ahead of this fight? How is camp going?
Yeah, camp’s going well, as well as it should really go. I feel really good, confident, fit, and I feel mentally in the right place. Looking forward to next week.
How is the gym? Is it correct that Tony Yoka is in the gym alongside your camp?
We’ve got Tony Yoka in the gym with Don Charles. We’ve got quite a few good people in the gym at the minute, Daniel Dubois [against Jarrell Miller on September 23 at the Kingdom Arena, Riyadh] - he’s training for his fight. It’s good to be around those types of people, pushing each other.
Your coach Tony Pill was in Daniel Dubois’ corner for the Oleksandr Usyk-Daniel Dubois bout, how valuable was that experience to you ahead of this fight - your coach having experience at world level?
Massively, I can put all of my trust in him. Obviously with all the good experience he has, he’s done a lot of great corners and big names. I can fully put my trust into him.
You train alongside former Team GB boxer Jordan Reynolds and Frankie Storey, and the three of you are all from Luton, how does it feel to put Luton on the map?
It’s a big thing to me. It’s something that I’ll be very, very proud of to bring the world title back there. Well, I was proud to bring the Commonwealth title back, but even prouder to bring the world title back [to Luton] and make history.
How did that feel bringing the Commonwealth title back home?
Yeah, to be honest, it’s been good to get recognised for what I do. I’m the first female professional boxer from Luton, so the recognition and applause has been really nice.
What can we expect from you on November 24?
You can expect me to bring the belt home [laughs], I’m just going to bring the heat, bring the game plan and execute it very well. I won’t give too much away, but we’ve got a great game plan and I know what I need to do to win the fight. I just need to go and execute it now. I’m going to be victorious and get my hand raised, either way I’m going to get the win.
Did you expect to get this far when you were in the amateurs?
Yeah, I definitely expected myself to, turning professional wasn’t a decision that I made just for the sake of it, it was to become a world champion, and to be the best that I can be. It’s not come with any surprise, but doing it on my eighth fight, that’s like a “pinch me” moment, but I have expected it from myself.
What would be next for you after this fight? Super bantamweight is an interesting division at the moment.
I haven’t really thought that far ahead to be honest, I just need to win this fight. I’m sure this fight will open a lot of doors, but I haven’t fought that far ahead. You’ve got Ellie Scotney, you’ve got the WBC champion in Mexico [Yamileth Mercado], Mayerlin Rivas versus [Erika] Cruz was last week for the WBA [Cruz won via majority decision]. Yeah, it’s a very good and competitive weight category, so there are some exciting fights that can be made, but all that matters is me winning the fight. I’ve got to do that first and then exciting things can come.
What are your thoughts on women’s boxing - Amanda Serrano and Danila Ramos recently fought for three minute rounds?
See I don’t mind it, I’m not against it. I do believe that if women have to fight for three minute rounds, a lot of the girls will have to come back down and condition ourselves, as it’s a massive difference going from two minutes to three minutes, but I’m not against it. If it does happen, we’ve just got to go with it. But I do enjoy two minutes, I’m in and out [laughs].
