Deirdre Gogarty is a true trailblazer of female boxing in Ireland. She was born in 1969 in Drogheda and after watching Barry McGuigan win the world title, decided she wanted to follow in his footsteps and become a world champion boxer. Back in the 1980's female boxing in Ireland was not seen as a viable option for many young girls, but Deirdre was determined to follow her dream. After training in gyms in Drogheda and Dublin, she would eventually have her first and only fight in Ireland back in 1991 in Limerick.

Deirdre would decide to uproot her life and move to the States to sign with manager and coach Beau Williford in 1992. After winning 7 contests and drawing 2, Deirdre would lose her first 2 world title attempts against Laura Serrano and Stacy Prestage. After these disappointments an opportunity to fight on a Mike Tyson world title undercard at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas against Christy Martin would change the sport of female boxing forever. In March 1996, Deirdre and Christy went to war for 6 rounds on PPV television and the public's attitude to female boxing would change.

Deirdre would eventually claim that illusive world title in 1997 against Bonny Canino in New Orleans. She would get a modest homecoming back home in Drogheda in comparison to todays open top bus parades. Deirdre would inspire so many female boxers around the world and one particular young aspiring boxer would write a letter to her hero in the late 1990's. That young girl was Katie Taylor who would become the icon that she is today. After retiring from boxing in 1998, Deirdre would coach for over 20 years and is now happily settled with her family in Louisiana. In March this year a statue of Deirdre was unveiled in her hometown of Drogheda to honor her achievements and is a permanent reminder that the woman who was forced to leave her hometown and country to pursue her dreams never has to leave again...

This week’s special podcast is a look down memory lane at arguably the best boxing gym and stable ever to come out of Ireland, the famous Barney Eastwood stable of the 1980-1990's.

Barney Eastwood was born in 1932 in Cookstown, Tyrone. He was a talented Gaelic footballer, winning the All Ireland Minor title in 1948. His love of boxing would begin after watching US soldiers box at the US Army base in Tyrone back in WW2. Barney would start his own bookmakers business in the 1950's and after building an empire, he would turn his attention to his love of boxing.

Barney would build a gym and stable of fighters/coaches over the next two decades that would compete with any gym in Europe. Barry McGuigan, Hugh Russell , Herol Graham and Dave McAuley would win World, European and British titles during the 1980's. Who can forget the special nights with Barry McGuigan and the amazing relationship they built together which unfortunately would turn sour years later.

By 1992, Paul Hodkinson, Crisanto Espana and Victor Cordoba would also join Dave 'boy' McAuley as World champions. Countless other champions would make their mark in the gym including Ray Close, Sam Storey, Noel Magee, Crawford Ashley as well as future World champions Eamonn Loughran, John Lowey and Steve Collins.

Barney Eastwood would end his love affair with boxing by the late 1990's and eventually sell his successful Eastwood's bookmakers chain in a huge multi-million pound deal. He would retire to his home in Holywood with his wife Frances until his sad passing in 2020. He legacy lives on and he will forever be regarded as the 'Godfather of Irish boxing'.

Paul Quinn and I chat all things boxing from the past month. We review the massive card in Saudi which featured the Undisputed Light-Heavyweight contest between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. We also give our thoughts on Fabio Wardley's 1st round knockout of Frazier Clarke, Ben Whittaker's bizarre injury and the Benn v Eubank scenes in the ring featuring Neymar. We also review the massive AJ V Dubois fight and discuss what should be next for both boxers. We also review the stacked card which featured Anto Cacace beating Josh Warrington. Finally, we preview some of the big upcoming fights this month including Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano and Jack Catterall v Regis Prograis.