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Michael Scully

Kellie Harrington says karaoke sessions help her deal with pre-fight butterflies

Kellie Harrington is happy to sing in the ring - but not necessarily for her supper.

Irish boxing's golden girl admits that karaoke sessions prepare her for the serious business of winning but says the prize money on offer is secondary to her hunger for more glory.

Harrington, a gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics last year, revealed she can suffer from nerves before big fights.

She says that her karaoke antics - she brings a karaoke machine into work at St Vincent's Hospital - have helped her to deal with the butterflies in her stomach.

"Some people, if you were to get them in for karaoke, they would be, ‘I’m not getting up, oh Jesus’," laughed the 32-year-old.

"They’d be absolutely in a bundle in the corner and you’re trying to drag them up.

"Sometimes you can feel like that getting into the ring - ‘Oh Jesus Christ, here I go again,’ type of thing.

"It’s really crazy – but I am really crazy after all – if you can get up and sing before a room of people that you know then you’re able to do anything really, aren’t you?

"I know that’s a really mad way to be looking at it but I think if I can do that in front of those people I can walk to the ring and not be as nervous."

Harrington got married to long time love Mandy Loughlin last Friday in Dublin - "a bloody amazing day", she smiled - but honeymoon plans are on hold.

She will fight for a second World Championship crown in Istanbul next month and the Europeans will quickly follow.

Her hospital work has been shelved for the time being due to a hectic period and Harrington admits she will put focus fully on boxing in 2023, an Olympic qualifying year.

"We're flat to the mat with boxing this year," said the 60k fighter, who has confirmed she will hang up her gloves after Paris 2024.

"Win, lose or draw, I'll know one way or another after the World Championships where I’m at, what I need to do, what to work on.

"I want to be really hungry for next year for the start of the Olympic qualification process. It's going to be a very tough year.

"I'm not going to be somebody completely different from what I have been already - but if I can be one or two percent better than I was I'll be happy with that."

Harrington complained after winning the Strandja tournament in February that opponents had used dirty tactics against her.

"I do use my feet and, basically, they're trying to stop me from using my feet," she said.

"I know that and I'm aware of that. So I just have to get better at using my feet, I suppose.

"At the moment it is kind of aggressive type of styles that are out there.

"I seem to be coming across a lot of forward and aggressive fighters.

"I'm not worried about who I meet or anything like that. I've always been the type of person who will just take it day by day and what will be will be."

Harrington picked up prize money for that victory and there will be €100,000 for every winner at the Worlds, €50,000 for silver and €25,000 for bronze.

“For some strange reason I thought the prize money was gone," she laughed. "In Strandja we boxed for prize money.

"Now it wasn’t anything like €100,000 or anything like that, let me tell you.

"I do think it will make people more determined but for me, the fact that there’s money involved, I just think it’s an amateur sport...it’s nice for some people to get money out of it.

"But it really doesn’t bother me. If there’s money there, great. If there’s no money there, you know…".

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