Former world boxing champion Barry Mc Guigan has said that it is time that Drogheda’s Deirdre Gogarty, herself a former world champion, was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.
The former featherweight champion of the world expressed his delight at seeing Jane Couch, former five time world boxing champion and the first woman to be granted a licence to box legally in England, on being inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame, and went on to call for the Drogheda fighter to be the next to receive the honour.
McGuigan, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame himself in 2005, says he wants his fellow Irish boxing legend to join him on the roll of honour.
“I hope that the committee are looking at Deirdre, the first female Irish Professional boxer who won a version of the World Title way back in 1997” he said, adding that Deirdre was “an outlier”.
This endorsement from McGuigan, who is arguably the most famous male Irish boxer of all time, will certainly come as a boost to the campaign to erect a statue of Deirdre in her home town.
Women’s World Champion Katie Taylor, who idolised Deirdre Gogarty when she was starting out in the ring, has long ago supported the statue campaign and also for Deirdre to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
McGuigan’s comments attracted numerous responses, all of them positive, with one fan saying: “There would be no Katie Taylor without the inspiration of these great women.”
