Maureen Shea is one of the most known women boxers in the world. The “Bronx” girl with the Mexican and Irish background now lives out of California and was nice enough to give me her time for an interview. She touched on numerous topics that included her life, her perspective on what gets her excited to see in a boxer, as well as the lighter side of her. This is the 1st of a 2 part series that will explain the views of boxing, in the eyes of the one nicknamed, “The REAL Million Dollar Baby”.
We started off the interview with me asking about her life before boxing. When did she 1st start boxing? What inspired her to get into the sport? Shea replied, “I started boxing at age 19. I was going through a lot of things in the Bronx, getting kicked out, acting rebellious, and being in an abusive relationship. I started going to the gym to focus on other things, I went to the back of the gym and there was a boxing ring, the rest is history.”
I then asked if she followed boxing as a kid and who did she follow. She said, “I really didn’t know much about the sport when I 1st started. The only fight i really knew about was when Tyson bit Holyfield’s ear off. That was it. I respected Tyson for just being Tyson. There was just something about him. He was crazy, but good. Jose Torres wrote a book about him and it helped me understand him better. The only female I really followed was Lucia Riker. I also knew Christy Martin, but not anyone else. It’s hard to find female boxers. I got to tell Lucia, 1 day, how much she meant to me. I was 21 and female boxing wasn’t big at that time.”
Maureen Shea is nicknamed “The Real Million Dollar Baby” because she was the main sparring partner for Hilary Swank, the actress who was the star in the move named “Million Dollar Baby”, so I asked how that came about. She said, “Hilary trained with boxing coach Hector Roca, and he knew I could control myself in the ring. They knew if she hit me hard, I wouldn’t retaliate. I became friends with her outside the ring.”
Maureen helped to launch “Pandora Promotions”. Shea then went on to explain her reasons for launching this, how she thinks it will help her and possibly other female fighters in the future. “It was something I started to create opportunities for myself, something to put on shows. If we couldn’t get on cards, we would just create our own. We did 2 shows, but we don’t need to use it right now”, said Shea.
I talked to Shea previously through social media and at the time, we discussed a fight she was supposed to have, which was about a year ago. She decided to explain why she has not fought since December of 2011 and when will she be stepping into the ring next. “They told me to be ready for the 2nd week in April. I won the WBC title in December 2011. I was scheduled to fight the #1 WBC mandatory, Ina Menzer, and all of a sudden she pulled out and didn’t want to fight. I don’t know the reason for sure, but it was probably because they wanted me to go to Germany and I had a fight date booked in Mexico. I was scheduled to fight in March, then April, and then May, but all were canceled. Then I ended up getting sick in May and had to take time off. I learned a lot about myself in that time. I may have overworked myself and a lot of other stuff, but I’m in a better place now,” said Shea.
Since Shea had just mentioned being in a better place, I asked why, what changed, and who helped her. Shea responded, “I’m very spiritual. Everything happens for a reason. It’s a great time for me right now. It shows how God works. I have amazing sparring right now. It’s like a full training camp and it just all came together at the right time. Everything just fell in place.” Maureen wanted to make special mentions of 4 of her sparring partners, Maria Suarez, who’s a Flyweight and has a fight April 5th, Karla Herrera, a current amateur 125 lb. fighter that is a multiple time national champion, another amateur in the 152 lb. division named Heidi Wolf, and Faith Franco, another current amateur in the 141 lb. class and is also going Nationals. “I just want to help them not go through what I went to,” stated Shea.
The way that Shea spoke, it almost had the feel of a trainer speaking, so I asked if that was something that she wanted to do. Shea responded, “I don’t want to be a trainer. I just get my work out of these girls. I know how to work and how to get my work in. We both help each other out. They get experience and advice from me and they are great at helping me get my work in. Everything is just coming together. Even the guys I see at KnuckleHeadz Boxing Gym are great. It’s really like a family.”
