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Deirdre Gogarty (born 10 November 1969) is a retired Irish female boxer and current coach of the Ragin' Cajun Boxing Club. She hails from Drogheda and attended Drogheda Grammar School. Before a law was passed in Ireland preventing women from engaging in boxing events, Gogarty was able to begin her career with a six-round decision win against Anne-Marie Griffin. However, when that law was passed, Gogarty could not engage in competition in Ireland. In consequence, she was based in Lafayette, Louisiana and was managed and trained by Beau Williford.

The law preventing females from participating in the sport of boxing in Ireland has since been revoked and there is an increasing number of females becoming involved with the sport thanks to its Olympic acceptance and the consistent international success of Katie Taylor.

After leaving Ireland, Gogarty's next three fights took her to London and Kansas City, Missouri. In London, she defeated Jane Johnson twice, by a four-round knockout and by and eight-round decision. In Kansas City, she drew after six rounds with Stacy Prestage After the rematch with Johnson, she obtained her first knockout in the first round, beating Jane McGhee. Another win followed this and she was matched with Prestage again, resulting in another draw after six rounds.

Following the emerging pattern, another win followed this tie and she was matched against Prestage for a rubber match. However, this time Gogarty suffered her first loss when Prestage won a ten-round decision over her. Two more wins followed this defeat, including a six-round knockout of the top contender Carol Brown and a first-round knockout win over Missy Buchanan. In spite of this winning streak, Gogarty next lost a six-round decision when she faced Mary Ann Almager.

Gogarty followed this defeat with a win, after which she was matched with Isra Girgrah, whom Gogarty knocked out in three rounds. This is considered her biggest win to date. She then boxed another of female boxing's top competitors when she faced Laura Serrano, who beat Gogarty by a knockout in round seven. A knockout win in the first round followed this defeat, when she fought Jessica Breitfelder. Gogarty then participated in the fight many credit as putting female boxing on the sports' fan page: she and Christy Martin faced each other in a six-round match that was televised by Showtime. This fight made the covers of many magazines. Many fans of women's boxing considered it the female version of the Thrilla in Manila. Martin won by a six-round decision.

Gogarty succeeded in winning another three fights consecutively before she challenged Bonnie Canino for the Women's International Boxing Federation's Women's World Featherweight Championship. Gogarty became a World Champion after winning the fight on a ten-round decision. This made her the first Irishwoman to win any boxing world title; the fight occurred in the United States in 1997. She defended her title against Monique Strohman and Debra Strohman. Both were defeated in first-round knockouts. In her last fight to date, Gogarty lost her title to Beverly Szymanski on a ten-round decision.

Gogarty co-wrote her memoir, My Call to the Ring: A Memoir of a Girl Who Yearns to Box, with Darrelyn Saloom. The book was published by Glasnevin Publishing on 8 August 2012. The next day, Katie Taylor won a gold medal for Ireland in the 2012 Summer Olympics, which included women's boxing for the first time.

In 2015, Gogarty was inducted into the Women's International Boxing Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The IWBHF was created by founder Sue TL Fox.

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
23	Loss	16-2-5	Beverly Szymanski	UD		1 Oct 1998	Tropicana Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA	vacant International Women's Boxing Federation World featherweight title
22	Win	16-2-4	Monique Stroman	TKO		19 Apr 1998	Memorial Auditorium, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
21	Win	15-2-4	Bonnie Canino	UD		11 Jan 1997	UNO Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA	Women's International Boxing Federation World featherweight title
20	Win	14-2-4	Debra Stroman	TKO		11 Jan 1997	Nashville Arena, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
19	Win	13-4-4	Patricia Simms	KO		29 Nov 1997	Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
18	Win	12-4-2	Sharon Yates	TKO		29 Nov 1997	UAW Hall, Parma, Ohio, USA
17	Win	11-4-2	Sharon Yates	KO		27 Oct 1996	Cleveland, Ohio, USA
16	Win	10-4-2	Shannise Davis	TKO		18 Sep 1996	War Memorial Auditorium, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
15	Win	9-4-2	Jessica Breitfelder	KO		13 Jul 1996	Mammoth Events Center, Denver, Colorado, USA
14	Loss	8-4-2	Christy Martin	UD		16 Mar 1996	MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
13	Win	8-3-2	Jessica Breitfelder	TKO		30 Nov 1995	Capitol Plaza Hotel, Jefferson City, Missouri, USA
12	Loss	7-3-2	Laura Serrano	TKO		20 Apr 1995	Aladdin Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	Women's International Boxing Federation World lightweight title
11	Win	7-2-2	Isra Girgrah	TKO		14 Feb 1995	Youth Center, Cut Off, Louisiana, USA
10	Win	6-2-2	Gail Grandchamp	TKO		6 Oct 1994	Tampa, Florida, USA
9	Loss	5-2-2	Mary Ann Almager	TKO	6	22 Jul 1994	Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA
8	Win	5-1-2	Angela Buchanan	TKO		8 Apr 1994	Kansas City, Missouri, USA
7	Loss	4-1-2	Stacey Prestage	PTS		23 Nov 1993	Kansas City, Missouri, USA
6	Draw	4-0-2	Stacey Prestage	PTS		2 Aug 1993	Marriott Downtown, Kansas City, Missouri, USA	Women's International Boxing Association World lightweight title
5	Win	4-0-1	Jane McGhee	TKO		13 May 1993	Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA
4	Win	3-0-1	Jane Johnson	TKO		24 Apr 1993	London, United Kingdom
3	Draw	2-0-1	Stacey Prestage	TD		25 Jan 1993	Allis Plaza Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
2	Win	2-0	Jane Johnson	TKO		8 Apr 1992	Town Hall, Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom
1	Win	1-0	Anne-Marie Griffin	PTS		30 Jun 1991	Limerick, Ireland

References

1. "Women's Boxing: Deirdre Gogarty Biography". Wban.org. Archived from the original on 4 August 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
2. "'No-one will want to marry you if you're out boxing'". BBC Sport.
3. Haldane, Lizzie. "Deirdre Gogarty". ESPN. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
4. "Gogarty the trailblazer for Katie's gold rush". Independent.ie. 15 March 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
5. "Documentary on the Irish woman who changed the face of boxing airs tonight". The42.ie. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
6. "Olympics - On Demand Player". Rte.ie. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
7. "Ex World Champ Deirdre to wed - in the ring!". Droghedalife.com. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
8. "Off The Ball: Before Katie Taylor, there was Deirdre Gogarty". Newstalk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
9. "Woman Dedicated To Rings - tribunedigital-sunsentinel". Articles.sun-sentinel.com. 18 September 1996. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
10. "Deirdre Gogarty: No titillating sideshow". Thesweetscience.com. 15 January 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
11. Sares, Ted. ""Dangerous" Deirdre Gogarty –". Theboxingtribune.com. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
12. "Woman Dedicated To Rings - tribunedigital-sunsentinel". Articles.sun-sentinel.com. 18 September 1996. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
13. "Irish Woman Wins On Tko - tribunedigital-sunsentinel". Articles.sun-sentinel.com. 19 September 1996. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
14. "Gogarty wins featherweight title". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
15. "Deirdre Gogarty: Meet the world champion who came before Katie Taylor". BBC Sport. 17 May 2023.
16. "Deirdre Gogarty to enter International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame". Advertiser. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
17. "About the IWBHF". Wban.net. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2016.

External links

• Deirdre Gogarty – official site
• Boxing record for Deirdre Gogarty from BoxRec (registration required)

• 1969 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Drogheda
• World boxing champions
• World featherweight boxing champions
• Irish women boxers
• Boxers from County Louth