This week, Boxing News is featuring an exclusive excerpt from My Call to the Ring by Deirdre Gogarty and Darrelyn Saloom.
My Call to the Ring is the inspiring story of Deirdre Gogarty, who held the Women’s International Boxing Federation featherweight title from 1997-98. Just to climb into a ring, Deirdre had to break down barriers that prevented women from even training, let alone boxing competitively.
The excerpt details Deirdre preparing for her first fight on the underground female boxing scene in London. It starts like this:
In the evenings I cycle to the gym and picture myself as Rocky Balboa in his training sequences. I skip rope until my heart and lungs threaten to burst. I tune my shoulders and hand velocity on the speedball until the metal swivel emanates heat. Stomach muscles burn as Pat urges me to increase my usual fifty sit-ups. He then pounds my tensed abdominals with a fifteen-pound medicine ball to prepare me for body shots.
