Shannon O’Connell v Lauryn Eagle in the mother of all title fights

Shannon O’Connell, a 37-year-old fitness trainer, will be fighting two divisions above her normal 55kg division but is confident she has the speed and top-shelf experience to beat the Sydney model and fighter Lauryn Eagle

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Logan mother of three Shannon O’Connell will fight Lauryn Eagle for the IBA women’s world super-featherweight title on April 17 in Sydney.

The 37-year-old fitness trainer will be fighting two divisions above her normal super-bantamweight (55kg) division but is confident she has the speed and top-shelf experience to beat the Sydney model who is a former Miss Teen International and Celebrity Apprentice contestant.

The fight announcement comes just a few days after Brisbane’s Deedee Hobbs, one of Jeff Horn’s team-mates, lost in nine rounds against IBF light-welterweight women’s world champ Mary McGee in Hammond, Indiana.

O’Connell has a record of 18 wins, six losses and a draw and has previously held the IBA super-bantamweight title as well as the WBC Silver title.

Shannon O'Connell with Jeff Horn and heavyweight Alex Leapai. Picture: Annette Dew

In her last bout she outpointed long-time rival Bianca Elmir on the undercard to the first Jeff Horn-Michael Zerafa fight in Bendigo in August.

Her trainer Steve Deller said they leapt at the offer to fight Eagle, 32, who has been a pro boxer for 10 years and has a record of 23 wins and a draw in 28 fights.

``As we have been offered this fight by numerous promoters over the years and it never materialised, we decided to give the weight away and take the fight,’’ Deller said.

`We know we will be behind the eight ball fighting in Lauryn’s backyard on a promotion that is being put together by Lauryn’s trainer.

``As in the past Shannon has had to take the hard road and only too well knows how to fight when the chips are down.’’

The fight will be held at the Hurstville Entertainment Centre.

Lauryn Eagle beats Mayra Alejandra Gomez at the Hurstville Entertainment Centre in Sydney. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

O’Connell dedicates every fight to her father Kevin. She was only two when the 25-year-old Adelaide electrician, who rode speedway motorcycles in his spare time, became the first fatality at Speedway City, on Adelaide’s rural outskirts the day before Australia Day 1985.

O’Connell took up boxing aged 20 to rehabilitate a back injury she suffered playing netball. Her first coach was the relentless old-school taskmaster Terry Fox, one of Adelaide’s best boxers in the 1970s and a man who had raced speedway against O’Connell’s father.

Fox was a good coach and O’Connell was a fast learner. She won an Australian amateur championship in her fifth bout.