Kellie Harrington returns to boxing with first fight back confirmed

MISSING THE RING: Kellie Harrington at the National Stadium. Pic ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington has come out of retirement and is set to box at the National Championships in January.

Harrington announced her retirement from the sport after winning gold for the second time at last year's Paris Games. However,  in an interview with the Irish Times, the 35-year-old now says a year out of the ring is enough.

Harrington said: "That’s the good thing about life, we’re allowed to make our minds up, we’re allowed to change them again and make it back up and change it again.

“I’ll be 36 in December. So, why not? I’m saying nothing about the Olympics or anything like that. Everybody knows me. I’ll never say anything about winning or going to the Olympics. I always look at one fight at a time, one competition at a time. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

“But I do just think, imagine if I didn’t give it another go. I’m fit, I’m kind of healthy. I have a few niggles at the moment but in general I’m healthy. So why wouldn’t I?”

She will return inside the ropes for the first time at an exhibition night in the Mansion House on December 2nd.

And she says she will return to fighting with a new perspective, having secured her legacy.

"If I step into the ring and I lose a fight, it’s fine because nobody has died. I’ll get out and I’ll still hopefully be healthy and it’s only a loss. The reason why I’m stepping back in is because I enjoy it. I enjoy moving, I enjoy sparring, I enjoy learning something new every day about boxing. And I don’t necessarily enjoy learning something new every day outside of boxing. Boxing is where I enjoy it. So why wouldn’t I do it?”

“I’ve had more than a year and I’ve had time to reflect on why I actually started boxing in the first place,” says Harrington. “It was to get me out of the hole, the wrong road that I was going down. And I’ve had time to reminisce on how I felt when I started boxing first and how I want that feeling again."