History buff McAleer full of joy after a horrible Summer roller-coaster ride

Cathy McAleer [3(1)-0] is determined to still have her hands raised after a horrible Summer roller-coaster ride.

Having feared her chance to make history had passed for a second time, the Belfast fighter has again been handed the opportunity to become Ireland’s first ever female Commonwealth Champion.

Ireland’s oldest pro operator will turn the ‘He Who Dares’ card into ‘She Who Dares’ come main event time, as she fights Ellen Simwaka [7(5)-5-(2)-2] for the vacant super-bantamweight rainbow title.

Considering a fight for the bantamweight version of the strap was called of weeks before a rescheduled and re formatted shot at history fell through, the John Breen trained fighter is overjoyed to have finally nailed down her shot at history and the title.

“I am over the moon after the roller-coaster of Scottish opponent pulling out, then agreeing to go super bantam and then the promoter pulled the event,” McAleer told Irish-boxing.com.

“I had sold so many tickets and trained so hard for this title opportunity all summer. Sacrificing holidays and many other things as this was a great opportunity for me,” she adds before hinting she had a deep routed feeling things may have turned good.

“I was devastated, but something told me to not stop and continue as I was and thankfully Mickey Helliet came along and offered me and John the fight on his show on 25th October. John and I were so so pleased and so and so were all my supporters.”

McAleer is in a positive frame of mind now and it seems she tried to remain positive throughout the experience. However, she admits she was particularly gutted when after Simwaka had agreed to fill a Kristen Fraser sized hole the Europa Hotel show was pulled.

It was personally disappointing for the 41-year-old and left her feeling guilty.

“I cant explain how gutted I was ! My heart sank when heard Mark Dunlop decided to pull show. I had put my heart and sole into training , selling tickets and had such great support from fans my and sponsors.

“I felt that fans and sponsors had been let down. I knew I had sacrifice my summer holidays and that’s part of any sport, but I felt totally awful that my coach John Breen and his Wife Laura had postponed all their holidays to prepare me for this event. That was really hard and I felt so bad as John dedicates everyday to train and prepare me.”

Just like the Summer those bad time are now a thing of the past and McAleer can focus on exciting times ahead.

The ticket selling former karate, kick boxing and MMA competitor of note gets to top and stacked bill in a prestigious title fight- and she can’t wait.

“Mickey said I was headline event and I was so pleased. Even to finally get a promtoer to run the event we were over the moon. I can’t wait to 25th October and believe me the roof will be lifted by my normal noisy supporting crowd.”

When the fight was first announce the history element was not lost on the media or initial promoter Mark Dunlop- and it’s something McAleer, herself is clinging to.

The experienced combat sport campaigner isn’t playing the ‘just another fight’ card going into what promises to a massive occasion at the Devenish on October 25.

Indeed, the popular former Down footballer is something of a history buff and is proud to breaking new ground.

“It’s massive to make history. I was the first female professional in 18 years to fight in the Ulster Hall and now to be first female to fight for Commonwealth title, it’s a huge honour and certainly drives and motivates me even harder.”