Boxing chief ready to talk if Kellie Harrington wants back in the ring

Irish boxing’s High Performance chief Jon Mackey will sit down with Kellie Harrington at the year’s end to discuss her plans.

Kellie Harrington, 2025 Coca-Cola Thank You Fund ambassador, pictured at the launch of this year’s Fund. Photographer: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

Irish boxing’s High Performance chief Jon Mackey will sit down with Kellie Harrington at the year’s end to discuss what plans, if any, the two-time Olympic champion has when it comes to the ring.

Harrington announced her retirement after retaining her lightweight title in Paris last summer, but the Dubliner is still training in Irish boxing’s elite training centre at the Sports Ireland Campus in Abbotstown.

The multiple major medallist, who had suggested she might fight domestically post-Olympics, was announced as part of the High Performance team in January, after which she insisted there were no plans to target LA in 2028 or a shot at the pros.

IABA Performance Director Jon Mackey poses for a portrait during an Olympic Federation of Ireland media briefing at Olympic House on the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Mackey, who is mere weeks out now from a World Boxing Championships in Liverpool which will see Ireland represented by 17 other boxers, is happy to accommodate the 35-year old whatever her path.

“Kellie always has a plan. Any questions around Kelly not retiring from boxing are questions for Kellie. What I can say is that she's training away. She's on an individualised training programme for her on the back of Paris. She's still active.

“She's still very much part of what we do in the high-performance unit. I've no doubt Kellie will be watching the World Championships and willing everybody on and wishing everybody the best, including the 60-kilo boxer Zara Breslin, who was selected for this year.

“And we'll have a conversation with Kellie towards the end of the year to see what next year looks like. At the moment, I'm not sure, other than to say I'm happy to see her continuously and consistently training and keeping herself in good spirits.” 

Mackey explained how, as is par for the course, Harrington is supported by Sport Ireland and the boxing federation for 12 months as she “tapers” down post-Games. This allows her to work with former teammates and engage with the coaching teams.

Harrington has sparred with boxers who will step into the ring in Liverpool between September 4-14 for what is the first senior global competition organised by the nascent World Boxing federation and not the International Boxing Association (IBA).

“We've been really focused on Liverpool and Kelly knows this,” said Mackey. “If she has any ambition to box again next year, we'll have those conversations with her in October or November this year, I'm sure.” 

Over 550 boxers from 65 countries will compete in England, 17 of them Olympic medallists from Paris 2024. The Ireland team is currently in Sheffield at a multi-nation training camp with the likes of the UK, USA, India, Germany and Kazakhstan.

Though a youthful collection it will have elite experience with the likes of Jack Marley, Michaela Walsh, Daina Moorhouse, Dean Clancy and Jenny Lehane all bringing Olympic experience to the M&S Bank Arena.