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Super featherweight (also called junior lightweight) is a weight division in professional boxing. The maximum weight for this division is 130 pounds or 59 kilograms.

The Super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) in 1930. The first English champion was "Battling Kid" Nelson in 1914 who lost his title to Benny Berger in 1915. Artie O’Leary also won this title in 1917. This weight class appeared into two distinct historical periods, from 1921–1933 and 1960–present.

Notable fighters to hold championship titles at this weight have been Flash Elorde, Alexis Argüello, Azumah Nelson, Julio César Chávez, Diego Corrales, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Érik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Márquez, Oscar de la Hoya, Rocky Lockridge, and Manny Pacquiao.

Professional Champions[link]

Current champions[link]

Sanctioning Body	Reign Began	Champion	Record	Defenses
WBA	January 21, 2011	Takashi Uchiyama	18-0 (15 KO)	4
WBC	November 26, 2010	Takahiro Aoh	23-2-1 (10 KO)	3
IBF	September 10, 2011	Juan Carlos Salgado	25-1-1-1 (16 KO)	2
WBO	November 26, 2011	Adrien Broner	23-0 (19 KO)	1

For a full list, see List of super featherweight boxing champions

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Alex Arthur, nicknamed "Amazing" Alex Arthur, (born 26 June 1978) is a professional boxer from Edinburgh in Scotland.

Arthur is a former British, Commonwealth, European Boxing Union (EBU) and WBO super featherweight champion.^[1] He is trained by Austin Handren.

Early Professional Career[link]

Arthur had his first professional contest in November 2000 when he defeated fellow debutant Richmond Asante at the Wythenshawe forum in Manchester. Also on the card that day were fighters of the quality of Anthony Farnell, Junior Witter, Matthew Hatton, Michael Jennings and Jamie Moore.^[2]

After winning 11 fights in a row and picking up a couple of fringe titles on the way, Arthur managed to get a crack at the vacant British Super Featherweight title when he challenged Dewsbury's Steve Conway at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow on 19 October 2002. The win established Arthur as a force on the domestic scene and he followed up the victory with two defences against Carl Greaves and fellow Scot Willie Limond. One more victory would have given him the Lonsdale belt for keeps and that was when the undefeated prospect with a record of 16-0 ran into Manchester's Michael Gomez.

Michael Gomez fight[link]

Michael Gomez fought Arthur for the British and WBA International super featherweight titles in front of a sold out Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland in October 2003. This was the first professional boxing card in the city for almost 20 years.^[3]

A war of words was waged between the two fighters prior to the fight, Arthur had stirred up the animosity between the pair stating in an interview that Gomez "gets involved in wars with journeymen" and that "looking deep into Gomez's eyes at the press conference, I’m not sure even he believes he can win. He’ll be so fired up I expect it’ll take me eight or nine rounds but, if his resistance has gone as people are saying, it could be a lot sooner" and "I see about 20 ways to beat him. I'm just looking forward to shutting him up.".^[3][4]

Arthur, who was looking to retain the Lonsdale Belt, was seen as a rising star in British boxing and was being groomed to be a future world champion. Arthur was a strong favourite to defeat Gomez and this fight was seen as a stepping stone against a Gomez how had been through too many battles and abused his body too much.^[5][6][7]

Gomez proved his critics wrong when on the night of the fight Gomez arrived in prime condition and with aggression, determination and desire.^[6][8] Eventually, Gomez won this bad tempered contested fight with an explosive knock out of Arthur in the fifth round.^[9] Arthur's performance in the early rounds and his resilience before the KO saw the bout hailed as one of the best fights in Britain for a decade. Boxing promoter Frank Warren called the fight "the greatest contest seen on these shores since Nigel Benn beat Gerald McClellan in 1995".^[10]

Comeback[link]

Alex Arthur in 2008

He made his comeback the next year on 27 March 2004 by stopping Michael Kizza in the first round for the IBF Inter-Continental super featherweight title. He made two defences of that fringe title before lining himself up for a shot at Commonwealth Super-Featherweight champion Craig Docherty. To make matters more interesting the British title was now vacant again meaning that the Docherty fight would be for the British and Commonwealth Super-Featherweight titles. The fight took place at the Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh and ended with Arthur knocking Docherty out in the 9th round. Arthur was once again a force to be reckoned with.^[11]

European Champion[link]

In order to fully seal his comeback Arthur's next fight was against the reigning European champion at super feather Boris Sinitsin. He managed to defeat the experienced Russian with a wide 12 round decision and so held the British, Commonwealth and European title belts at the same time.^[12] He put all three of them on the line in his next fight against fellow Scot Ricky Burns winning another 12 round decision.^[13] It was however the only time he would defend all three at once, his next two fights saw him only defend the European title against mandatory challenger Sergey Gulyakevich and Spain's Sergio Palomo.

WBO Champion[link]

On 21 July 2007 he stopped Koba Gogoladze in the tenth round to win the interim WBO super-featherweight title recognised as one of the 4 main 'World' belts. He made his first defence on 15 December 2007 against fellow Brit Steve Foster Jr. In what was supposed to be an easy tune up fight, Arthur struggled to win a close unanimous decision. It was a terrible start from the champion, for the first four rounds he was getting beaten to the punch and taking heavy blows from Foster. He regained his composure in the middle rounds and even knocked down his opponent in the 9th with a body shot. However two rounds later in round 11 Arthur got floored himself after taking a right hand that knocked him straight through the ropes. He managed to regain his composure and won a close decision.^[14]

Following the Foster win Arthur geared himself up to take on Dominican Joan Guzmán who held the full version of the title. However, Guzmán decided that he wanted to move up a weight division and chose not to compete against Arthur. This decision by Guzmán meant that the interim titleholder was now recognized as the organization's world champion.^[15]

Arthur however surrendered the title in his very next fight, losing a unanimous points decision to England's Nicky Cook at the MEN Arena in Manchester on 9 September 2008. Arthur claimed that he had been "robbed" he also added "It was three English judges - in England. A fighter knows in his heart if he has won or lost a fight and I really thought I had won",^[16] Other observers however thought that the decision was fair and that Cook fully deserved his win. .^{[17] [18]}

Second Comeback[link]

Since losing to Nicky Cook in 2008 Arthur went on to win against Mohamed Benbiou on 19 June 2009 via TKO in Round 1 at the Bellahouston Sports Centre in Glasgow, Arthur then lost on points to Nigel Wright on 5 December 2009 at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle. In 2010 Arthur had 2 back to back wins against Peter McDonagh on 4 September 2010 and Jay Morris on 4 December 2010 both in Glasgow.

Amazing Alex Arthur Promotions (2011-present)[link]

In 2011 Arthur went into promoting with his own AAA Promotions. His first event took place at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh on 27 August 2011 where Arthur fought Aleksander Vakhtangashvili and won via TKO in the fourth round. On 14 April 2012 AAA Promotions staged their second event again at the Meadowbank Stadium where Arthur faced Michael Frontin and won via points after 8 rounds.

See also[link]

• List of current world boxing champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Alex Arthur Promotions
• Alex Arthur Twitter Page
• Alex Arthur Facebook Page
• BoxRec Alex Arthur Boxer - Global ID 32930
• BoxRec Amazing Alex Arthur Promotions - Global ID 575672

Ricky Burns (born 13 April 1983) is a Scottish boxer from Coatbridge who fights in the lightweight division and is currently the WBO lightweight champion after Juan Manuel Marquez vacated his belt and moved up to light welterweight. He is also a former WBO Super-Featherweight champion, Commonwealth super featherweight champion and has previously challenged for both the British and European titles.^[1]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Burns first fight as a professional was a four round victory in October 2001 over Woody Greenaway at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. On 12 December 2004, following a string of seven wins over opponents including Jeff Thomas, Ernie Smith and Daniel Thorpe he was matched against fellow unbeaten prospect Colin Bain. The fight, at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow, resulted in a first career defeat for Bain as Burns won over the six round distance. For Burns, the win set him up for a journey south of the border to face the unbeaten British lightweight champion Graham Earl in a non-title fight. The fight with Earl took place at the Wembley Conference Center and Burns produced one of the upsets of the year when he scored a points victory to beat Earl over eight rounds.^[2]

Title fights[link]

The win against Earl meant he would land a shot at the big time when in February 2006, he took on reigning British, Commonwealth and European champion Alex Arthur. The fight took place in Edinburgh and ended in defeat for Burns, as Arthur retained on points. Burns who was still only a 12-fight novice at this stage took the fight to Arthur prompting the champion to heap praise on him; "Ricky Burns was in superb shape and he was up for the fight" said Arthur, "He's a brilliant boxer with a great future and he could be a world champion one day." Burns himself refused to be disappointed with the loss saying; "I don't count that as a loss. I'm just 22 and it was great experience for me".^[3]

Burns next had a crack at the British title almost exactly a year later when in February 2007, he met reigning champion Carl Johanneson at the Town Hall in Leeds. The fight ended once again in defeat with Burns losing a 12 round decision to the experienced champion. Johanneson intent on winning well before his home crowd hounded Burns throughout the fight and managed to knock Burns down three times.^[4]

New challenges[link]

After the defeat to Johanneson, Burns took the decision to leave his old boxing club in a bid to seek a new challenge. Burns had worked with Rab Bannan at the Barn Boxing Club for over 14 years, but the Johanneson defeat prompted a need for a change of direction. On telling his former mentor the news Burns said; "It was a nightmare having to tell him. It was really sad because I’ve been with him for 14 years. All my boxing life really. It was really hard but we left on good terms and we shook hands and I’m sure our paths will cross again." Burns moved to the Dalmarnock gym in Glasgow, where he could train alongside the likes of Willie Limond and Kenny Anderson.^[5]

Since the fight with Johanneson, Burns won eight fights in a row. A ten round win over Romanian Gheorghe Ghiompirica at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow gave him the lightly regarded British International Masters belt.^[6] Burns also spent time sparring former opponent Alex Arthur in preparation for Arthur's WBO Super-Featherweight title defence against Nicky Cook.^[7]

Commonwealth champion[link]

In September 2008, Burns was in line for a crack at the vacant Commonwealth title, a belt which had been given up by Londoner Kevin Mitchell. The challenge took place at the York Hall in Bethnal Green and saw Burns outpoint the Ghanaian Osumana Akaba over 12 rounds.^[8] The fight which was taken with only weeks notice after the original main event on the card was cancelled propelled Burns into the championship frame. Speaking of his future ambitions Burns said; "There is only one fight I want at the moment. That fight would be the current British champion Kevin Mitchell. He recently has been injured, and won't be back until December so we'll have to see what happens".^[9]

Burns defended his crown at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall soon afterwards in November 2008, against another Ghanaian, Yakubu Amidu. The African fighter had a record of 16-1-1, with all his victories coming by way of stoppage. Burns however was too much and his superior fitness levels showed as the referee stopped the contest in the seventh round handing victory to the Scotsman.^[10] Burns second defence took place in March 2009, and saw Burns halt former British champion Michael Gomez in the seventh round.^[11] On 20 June 2009, Burns made perhaps the toughest defence of his title yet with a hard fought 12 round win over Northern Ireland's Kevin O'Hara.^[12] with the assistance of the highly experienced trainer Billy Nelson and his Fighting Scots Gym in Stepps. Ricky became Billy's first world champion.

Super featherweight World champion[link]

Burns success in the ring had elevated him to the number one ranking with the World Boxing Organization's rankings. Burns' promoter Frank Warren tried to negotiate a match with the reigning champion Roman Martinez. The bout with the Puerto Rican champion had been subject to numerous delays with the fight scheduled for both Scotland and Puerto Rico at various intervals only for the fight never to materialise and for Martinez to make a voluntary defence of his title instead. The uncertainty for Burns meant that a proposed British title contest against Gary Sykes never happened with Sykes winning the title against Burns replacement Andy Morris and defending against the man Burns had defeated in his last Commonwealth title defence Kevin O'Hara.^[13] Finally after almost a year of frustration Burns re-entered the ring on 15 May 2010, on the undercard of Kevin Mitchell's world title shot against Michael Katsidis at the Boleyn Ground. Burns continued his winning streak and kept ticking over with an eight round win over journeyman and former foe Youssef Al Hamidi. Burns claimed after the fight that he hoped the fight with Román Martinez would materialise around July and that it would be in Glasgow.^[14]

The WBO super-featherweight title showdown between Burns and Roman Martinez was eventually confirmed on 24 June 2010 and scheduled to take place at the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on 4 September. Speaking at the announcement of the fight Burns said; "this has been dragging on a bit..it is the biggest fight of my career but I'm more than confident that I can beat him".^[15] Finally on 4 September, Burns entered the ring at Kelvin Hall to face the WBO's unbeaten reigning world champion Roman Martinez. Martinez had held the title for over a year winning it from Englishman Nicky Cook and defending twice against Colombian Feider Viloria and Argentinian Gonzalo Munguia.^[16] Despite suffering a knockdown in the first round, Burns took the fight to the champion winning on all three judges scorecards 115-112, 115-112 and 115-113 to inflict a career first defeat on Martinez and finally winning the world title.^[17]

Speaking of the fight, Burns promoter Frank Warren said; "this was the best night I've ever had in Scotland and I've had some great shows with Scott Harrison and Alex Arthur as well as bringing Nigel Benn and Frank Bruno up here." Describing the atmosphere at the Kelvin Hall as "electric" he went on to praise Burns, who in winning the title had become Scotland's 12th world champion, saying Scotland had a new "sporting hero" and that the win would lead to a renaissance in Scottish boxing. It also transpired that before the fight the manager of Celtic, Neil Lennon had called to wish Burns the best and sent him a Celtic strip signed by the whole of the first team as a good luck present.^[18]

Title defences[link]

On 4 December 2010, Burns defended his title for the first time against Norwegian boxer Andreas Evensen who held the WBO inter-continental belt at featherweight. The fight, at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, resulted in another unanimous points win for Burns with the Scotsman also scoring a knockdown in the first round.^[19] On 12 March 2011, Burns made his second defence again at the Braehead Arena. His opponent the Ghanaian boxer Joseph Laryea had won the WBO Inter-Continental title win a victory over Scotsman Paul Appleby on the same night that Burns beat Evenson. The fight was stopped in the 7th round after Laryea withdrew citing a broken knuckle with Burns ahead in the fight.^[20] Burns next defence was scheduled for 16 July 2011 and against former WBO Champion Nicky Cook, in Liverpool's Echo Arena.^[21] The fight resulted in a 93 second stoppage for Burns as Cook's corner threw in the towel following an injury to his back. After only six seconds a punch from Burns resulted in Cook receiving a count and complaining of back trouble. Cook was sent to the canvas twice more before his corner retired the boxer handing a third straight defence of the title to Burns who said that he would like to fight the South African boxer Mzonke Fana next.^[22]

Burns was next scheduled to meet mandatory challenger, and Boxrec #1 rated Super featherweight, Adrien Broner, but announced on 22 September 2011 that he would be relinquishing his WBO Super featherweight title and moving up to compete at lightweight. Burns said that the move up a weight division would ease the pressure of having to control his weight saying "the last couple of fights it was getting harder and harder for me to do it."^[23] Adrien Broner commented on the situation, saying, "You vacated the title talking about you couldn't make weight no more. But you just fought four times and defended this title," Broner further said, "But everyone knows boxing is a game where you can duck fighters... and I guess he felt like running away was best for his career."^[24]

Move to Lightweight[link]

In his first fight at the weight it was announced that Burns would fight Australian Michael Katsidis in London for the WBO interim lightweight title. Speaking of the fight Burns said that it would definitely be the toughest of his career saying "I don't think they could have got me a harder fight if they tried, he's been in with the best of the weight, he's proved himself, obviously he's one of the best in the division and it's a great chance to get out there and show what I can do." On the 5th November 2011, Burns took on Katsidis for the WBO interim lightweight championship and despite being the slight underdog went on to win the fight by unanimous decision.^[23] After the fight Burns claimed to have "proved a lot of people wrong" as some people "thought Michael would walk all over me". Speaking of the fight he added "Michael didn't give me a minute, he kept coming forward but I'd prepared for that. I'm doing my job and that's the way I always look at it."^[25]

On 26 January 2012, Burns was installed as WBO Lightweight champion after former champion Juan Manuel Márquez moved up a division to Welterweight. Ricky defended his WBO Lightweight title against Namibian fighter Paulus Moses. He will have the homefield advantage with the fight being held in Braehead Arena, Glasgow. Burns said, “It’s great news about the title but it’s back to reality and training hard for what will be a tough title defence against Moses in my homecoming in Scotland. “For the last 10 years I’ve been grafting away in my career. But in the last couple of years it has really taken off with me beating Roman Martinez and then beating a great warrior like Katsidis to put me up there with the best in the world.”

Professional boxing record[link]

34 Wins (9 knockouts, 24 decisions), 2 loss(s), 0 Draw, 0 No Contest
Res.	Record	Opponnent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	34-2	Paulus Moses	UD	12 (12)	2012-03-10	Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	Retained WBO Lightweight World Title.
Win	33-2	Michael Katsidis	UD	12 (12)	2011-11-05	Wembley Stadium, London	for WBO Interim Lightweight World Title.
Win	32-2	Nicky Cook	TKO	1 (12)	2011-07-16	Echo Arena, Liverpool, Merseyside	Retained WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win	31-2	Joseph Laryea	RTD	7 (12)	2011-03-12	Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	Retained WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win	30-2	Andreas Evensen	UD	12	2010-12-04	Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	Retained WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win	29-2	Roman Martinez	UD	12	2010-09-04	Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland	Won WBO Super Featherweight World Title.
Win	28-2	Youssef Al Hamidi	PTS	8	2010-05-15	Upton Park, West Ham, London
Win	27-2	Kevin O'Hara	UD	12	2009-06-19	Bellahouston Sports Centre, Glasgow, Scotland	Retained Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win	26-2	Michael Gomez	TKO	7 (12)	2009-03-27	Bellahouston Sports Centre, Glasgow, Scotland	Retained Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win	25-2	Yakubu Amidu	TKO	7 (12)	2008-11-14	Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland	Retained Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win	24-2	Osumanu Akaba	UD	12	2008-09-26	York Hall, Bethnal Green, London	Won vacant Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Title.
Win	23-2	Gheorghe Ghiompirica	PTS	10	2008-05-17	Thistle Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	22-2	Billy Smith	PTS	4	2008-03-22	International Arena, Cardiff, Wales
Win	21-2	Silence Saheed	TKO	3 (6)	2008-02-22	Dalziel Park Hotel & Conference Centre, Motherwell, Scotland
Win	20-2	Billy Smith	PTS	6	2007-12-15	Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland
Win	19-2	Youssef Al Hamidi	PTS	6	2007-11-03	Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales
Win	18-2	Ben Odamattey	PTS	8	2007-10-26	SeeWoo Restaurant, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	17-2	Frederic Bonifai	TKO	5 (8)	2007-10-13	York Hall, Bethnal Green, London
Win	16-2	Ernie Smith	PTS	6	2007-09-15	Linwood Leisure Centre, Paisley, Scotland
Loss	15-2	Carl Johanneson	UD	12	2007-02-09	Town Hall, Leeds, England	For British Super Featherweight Title.
Win	15-1	Wladimir Borov	PTS	8	2006-11-04	Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	14-1	Adolphe Avadja	TKO	5 (8)	2006-04-01	York Hall, Bethnal Green, London
Loss	13-1	Alex Arthur	UD	12	2006-02-18	Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland	For British, European (EBU) and Commonwealth (British Empire) Super Featherweight Titles.
Win	13-0	Alan Temple	PTS	4	2005-07-23	Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland
Win	12-0	Haider Ali	PTS	8	2005-06-17	Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	11-0	Buster Dennis	PTS	6	2005-04-08	Meadowbank Sports Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland
Win	10-0	Graham Earl	PTS	8	2005-02-25	Conference Centre Wembley, London, England
Win	9-0	Colin Bain	PTS	6	2004-12-12	Marriott Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	8-0	Jeff Thomas	PTS	4	2004-10-29	Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	7-0	Daniel Thorpe	PTS	6	2004-10-08	Marriott Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	6-0	Nono Junior	PTS	8	2002-12-08	Thistle Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	5-0	Neil Murray	TKO	2 (4)	2002-10-19	Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	4-0	Ernie Smith	PTS	6	2002-09-06	Thistle Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	3-0	Gary Harrison	TKO	1 (4)	2002-06-08	Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	2-0	Peter Allen	PTS	6	2002-03-15	Thistle Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland
Win	1-0	Woody Greenaway	PTS	4	2001-10-20	Thistle Hotel, Glasgow, Scotland

References[link]

^[26]

[1]

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Henry Fisk Janes (October 10, 1792 - June 6, 1879) was a U.S. Representative from Vermont.

Born in Brimfield, Massachusetts, Janes moved with his parents to Calais, Vermont, where he pursued an academic course. He served in the War of 1812 and participated in the Battle of Plattsburgh. He studied law in Montpelier, Vermont and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Waterbury, Vermont, in 1817 and was Postmaster from 1820-1830. He went on to serve as member of the State legislative council for the years 1830-1834.

Janes was elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Benjamin F. Deming and was reelected to the Twenty-fourth Congress and served from December 2, 1834, to March 3, 1837 but was an unsuccessful Anti-Masonic candidate for reelection in 1836. He was the state treasurer 1838-1841, and served as member of the state council of censors in 1848. Janes was a town representative in 1854, 1861, and 1862 and also served as member of the State house of representatives in 1855. He died in Waterbury, Vermont, June 6, 1879 and was interred in the Village Cemetery.

Source[link]

• Henry Fisk Janes at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Maureen Carranza Shea (born January 11, 1981) is an American female professional boxer of Irish and Mexican descent.^[1] Maureen is a former NABF and current Interim WBC Featherweight Champion.^[2] Shea is known as the "Real Million Dollar Baby" because of her work as the main sparring partner for Hilary Swank in her preparation for the 2005 movie, Million Dollar Baby.^[3]

Early life[link]

Some people call her "The Bronx Bombshell" Some call her "The Real Million Dollar Baby" others Just call her "Moe". The Iona College Senior, 18-2 (11ko's) was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Born in 1981, she was raised by a strict Irish father, a now retired NYPD Detective.^[4] Maureen’s mother, of Mexican heritage, worked in the airline industry and this afforded ample travel to Maureen. Moe spent much of her youth growing up in the Bronx and in the Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico. In the amateurs, Maureen was known and respected for her boxing. First training out of NYBG with Luigi Olcese, she was eventually brought to Gleasons to train with well respected trainer Hector Roca. It was a gradual process in Shea’s growth and preparation for the game of professional boxing.^[5]

In 2004, when Hilary Swank came looking for Hector Roca to help her get ready for the movie Million Dollar Baby, Roca paired Swank with Maureen Shea. Maureen was Hilary’s main sparring partner in preparation for Swank’s award winning role in the movie. When the international media found out that Swank attended all of Maureen’s amateur bouts, Maureen was thrust into the spotlight. It was Maureen’s boxing, however, that captured the attention.^[6]

Professional career[link]

Maureen Shea of the Bronx, New York, is the current Interim WBC Featherweight Champion and one of the top professional female boxers in the world.^[7]

WBA Super Featherweight Championship[link]

In February 2009, Maureen lost her first world title attempt to Kina Malpartida. This bout was held at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.^[8]

Interim WBC Featherweight Championship[link]

On December 12, 2011 Shea beat Colombian Diana Ayala to win the Interim WBC Featherweight Champion.^[9] This bout was held at the Estadio Centenario in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.^[10]

Maureen has fought as a professional at Madison Square Garden three times, under such distinguished promoters such as Top Rank, Star Boxing, and was the first female to fight on Lou Dibella’s Broadway Boxing series. Her fights have been televised on Pay Per View, Azteca Television, Telemundo, Madison Square Garden Network, and SNY.^[11]

Personal life[link]

She has overcome many obstacles, including being the victim of abuse, to achieve her current success. Of Irish and Mexican descent, Maureen has a huge fan base of both ethnicities and is a crowd favorite.^[12]

Million Dollar Baby[link]

Highly recognized for her work as Hillary Swank’s main sparring partner for her award winning role in “Million Dollar Baby”, Maureen has utilized her ring success and become successful in mainstream media.^[13]

In 2008, Maureen was nominated by MTV as one of their “2008 Toughest Coaches”, for her role in their hour long season opening episode of “Made”. In that show, Maureen guided a young lady who had no boxing experience; and in six weeks, prepared her for her first competitive amateur bout with a decision win. Later that year she was also nominated by PETA for their Sexiest Vegetarian award.^[14]

Maureen has successfully translated her ring experience to ringside, having worked as a boxing analyst alongside highly respected commentators Al Bernstein, and Rich Marotta, on Top Rank "Latin Fury" PPV. She has also guest commentated on the MSG Network during the 2006 NY Golden Gloves, and currently hosts her own live TV show, "Shea’s Corner" on Bronx Net Television. Shea is passionate and recognized for her work as President of Pandora Promotions, Motivational/Inspirational speaker, journalist (8Countnews.com),TV/radio personality, Boxing Commentator.

Team Shea[link]

Advisor Luigi Olcese

Head Trainer Joseph "Hoss" Janik

Cutman Danny Milano

Nutritionist Robert Ferguson

Strength/Conditioning Lauren West

See also[link]

• List of current world boxing champions
• List of featherweight boxing champions
• List of WBC world champions
• List of NABF boxing champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Maureen Shea official blog
• Robert Ferguson's official website
• Maureen Shea on Twitter
• Maureen Shea on Facebook
• Professional boxing record for Maureen Shea from BoxRec