‘You don’t get girls doing that’ – Kevin Mitchell lauds Shaun O’Keefe’s ‘special’ power
Kevin Mitchell is confident Shauna O’Keefe will become boxing’s first KO Queen.
The Tipperary native proved that talk, she possesses one punch power is true, when she knocked the usually durable Angelika Oles out cold on McEleney Promotions’ debut show in Salthill on Saturday.
Her coach former World title challenger, Mitchell heralded the third-round win as a statement one and suggested the noise of Oles hitting the canvas will be heard around the division.
The Londoner points out nobody has ended the well-travelled away fighter in such a manner and he believes ‘The Irish Hammer’ brings power rarely seen in the female side of the sport to the ring.
“No one ever dealt with that girl like that before,” Mitchell told Irish-boxing.com.
“To deal with her the way she dealt with her is pretty special. I think it’s a big statement and a message to all the female boxers in the weight division.”
The West Ham-associated Mitchell also indicated the shot wasn’t a lucky one and said stoppages will be a common occurrence when the Munster woman is in the ring, making her a unique commodity in female boxing.
“She is a very entertaining female boxer. You could see that out there the crowd going mad. You don’t get girls doing that to girls, you rarely see girls knocking girls out cold. I’ve never seen it but she will do it on the regular.”
It’s not all fight and no flair when it comes to the National Elite title winner. O’Keefe has a solid amateur pedigree and the knockdown came via a very clever combination. That level of skill excited her trainer, who doesn’t want her to be solely reliant on power.
“For me as a coach I wanted her to do it in a calm manner and it was calm,” he adds.
“She was relaxed, she put her over in the first round, she looked at me in the corner I told her to play it calm and she came back she assessed the situation and when the third round came she said let’s do it,” he continues before predicting there is a lot more to come from the Clonmel fighter.
“Give her some time to settle in, seven or eight camps in and she’ll be a beast. She’s a beast now but she will be very good.”
