I'm happy with it.

Louise is an unbelievable opponent and, uh, she gave it everything, and there was a few parts there where I thought I, I'd had the better of her, and she just kept on coming back, and she gave me some tenth round there, and, um, fair play to her.

And, uh, it's, it's an honor to share the ring with her for the first ever Irish title fight.

Now you've got an EBU title fight to look forward to.

Yeah.

My manager Kevin's been putting in the work as well as Martin here in Saim Warriors.

Um, and, uh, look, I've been honored to be fighting at home a lot.

And I haven't even thought about it, but yes, Spain in two weeks for a European title fight against a good opponent.

But...

Over 10 rounds, that was my first 10 rounder, and she's been there before, so she was used to it.

for christina desmond it is now a european title to look forward to

christina

It's very special, isn't it?

Oh, it's crazy.

Like, you know, when I started first in the amateur game, out of, you know, the 15 or 16 Irish titles on a day, if you had five of them contested, it would be great.

And nowadays, you know, I've been in the stadium where I've got walkovers and it's not that satisfying really after all the training you've done.

But now through the amateur days, it's just built and built and built and built.

Without the women gone before us, it wouldn't be like that.

Kelly Harrington, Katie Taylor, Shawna Brown is doing great things as well on that side of things.

It's important to remember the people around you, the team, the sponsors.

How have you found working with Martin?

Ah, he's a gent.

It's been very easy.

I, like, to be fair now, I, I, I, my manager, Kevin Crowley, will do a lot of that.

Um, but, uh, yeah, um, it's, he's only at the other side of the phone, and I'd say his phone never stops.

I feel sorry for him.

I'd say it's constant.

No

How have you found working with Martin?

Ah, he's a gent.

It's been very easy.

I like, to be fair now, I, I, my manager, Kevin Crowley, would do a lot of that.

Um, but, uh, yeah, um, it's, he's only at the other side of the phone, and I'd say his phone never stops.

I feel sorry for him.

I'd say it's constant.

Mm

Can you just put can you put into context Christina how significant this is for Katie?

It's kind of dicing on top of the cake really.

What Katie has done for Irish boxing, what Katie has done for women in sport and women in boxing all over the world is extraordinary.

She's paved the way through the amateur game and through the professional game and without her, us, other girls wouldn't be able to do it and we wouldn't be at the level that we are at now so uh what she's after doing for us and for everyone uh through the sport and inspiring young athletes doesn't even have to be boxing whether it be um other sports uh has been huge and just to get her get her she you know she's getting her reward tomorrow night by uh getting 80 000 people into croke park and um yeah it's just phenomenal uh i'm very proud of her and um Hopefully, there's a few more of us that will be able to follow in her footsteps.

Absolutely.

How much will all of that, if at all, weigh on her shoulder?

It'll be huge.

I don't even know how she'd be feeling.

that kind of the regime? Yeah,

that'd be training twice a day, if not three times a day.

It's totally rest, total training and just making sure you're fit and able.

She was in America.

Katie did her camp in America most of it.

with her trainer and she's home probably with about two weeks so yeah tapering in she probably has been tapering now with about two weeks so just getting her weight right and getting fight ready I think her last spar was last week sometime last Thursday or Friday in Dublin so yeah there's a lot to it but

What do you do then? How do you get your head

right? Myself, I personally take it in stages.

that kind of the regime, yeah?

Yeah, that'd be training twice a day, if not three times a day.

And, you know, it's totally rest, total training and just making sure you're fit and able.

She was in America, Katie did her camp in America most of it.

with her trainer and she's home probably with about two weeks so yeah tapering in she probably has been tapering now with about two weeks so just getting her weight right and getting fight ready I think her last spar was last week sometime last Thursday or Friday in Dublin so yeah there's a lot to

getting the body ready is one point get then getting the mind ready and here you'd be now say 36 hours before a massive fight you've been there yourself at your own level what what do you do then how do you get your head right

um myself i i personally take it in stages so um the first part is the weigh-in so um i'm professional now of the year um and the professionals weigh in one day before um the fight uh so you'd get the weight right you get down onto the weight and then um after the weigh in you kind of relax and enjoy for an hour or two and then you start focusing on the fight so let's say she's going to weigh in today I think it's around 5 o'clock they weigh in and then she won't fight till tomorrow around 8 or 9 o'clock so she'll have a full 25 or 6 hours to get prepared or if not even more so yeah it's just rest and recovery then at that stage eating right and eating well and just getting yourself into the right mindset

I know it's Katie's farewell, but this is just, to see how far Irish women's, women's boxing has come, like this is, this is huge for the sport, isn't it?

it?Massive.

Um, you know, when I started, um, boxing back many, many moons ago when I was only 11 or 12, like, uh, Katie wasn't even, even ...

You know, she was only getting started, and she had only just...

She's 10 years older than me, so she, you know, she was getting into her stride at that time, and she was fighting for the Olympics, to boxing to be in the Olympics.

Um, now what she's after doing is absolutely amazing.

Um, there's boxing now at the Olympics, and now there's professional fight where she's headlining, and it's she's headlining in Croke Park.

And before we let you go, and just for our listeners and our viewers, can you explain the big difference between amateur and pro?