Katie Taylor looks to make history on Saturday night when she challenges Chantelle Cameron for the undisputed light-welterweight championship of the world at a sold out 3Arena.

The Bray boxer is a household name in Ireland whose path to becoming one of the biggest stars in the sport globally has been paved with Olympic and world title gold.

Taylor regularly cites Deirdre Gogarty as an inspiration for her own career, yet the Drogheda native's story isn’t widely known outside of boxing circles - despite blazing a trail in the 90s when boxing in Ireland was illegal for women.

"You could say the term you 'missed the boat’ but the boat wasn't even in the dock for me," Gogarty tells Katie Hannon in an in-depth interview on the latest episode of Upfront: The Podcast.

Deirdre Gogarty, the daughter of two dentists, became the first Irish woman to win a boxing world championship title, beating Bonnie Canino in Louisiana in 1997.

Back at home women were still banned from the sport and her success went unnoticed by many.

"I dreamed and my dream was to be able to represent Ireland. Sometimes I'm like, 'I wish that was me, I wish I had that opportunity.'"

Sport initially became a refuge for Gogarty from a rocky family life.

"I grew up in a difficult home and my mother suffered a lot from depression and probably bipolarism. She was very moody and unstable. My father was a drinker. They were wonderful people but it made life very unstable and unpredictable.

"I was born with this love of boxing. It took me out of all of that and into a different world. People in boxing are very open and honest and down to earth."

Gogarty's boxing coaches Pat McCormack and Beau Williford provided her with a reliable support network.

"They were very protective of me, and I needed a strong coach in my life to feel protected because I always felt so vulnerable."

Boxing gave her purpose but with women's boxing outlawed in Ireland until 2001, boxers were forced to either compete in unlicensed fights or move abroad to pursue their sporting ambitions.

After having her one and only fight in Ireland in 1991, an unsanctioned bout in Limerick, Gogarty left for London and eventually the United States where she teamed up with her coach and manager Beau Williford in Louisiana.

The most high-profile fight of her career was against 'The Coal Miner’s Daughter’ Christy Martin on the undercard of Mike Tyson’s rematch with Frank Bruno for the Heavyweight Championship at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in 1996.

The fight with Martin was watched by over one million people on Pay Per View and is widely credited with introducing women’s boxing into the mainstream.

"It was a great fight for women's boxing. I started to get better paid. There was a lot of coverage in the boxing outlets. It [women’s boxing] became an actual headline article in boxing magazines. That was a big compliment."

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Gogarty lost against Martin but her performance and fighting style endeared her to fans.

"I would say my style was very anxious and I was always out to stop or knock out the opponent. I was very aggressive and always looking to hurt the opponent."

She was eventually inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015 giving her well-deserved recognition within her sport.

"To be remembered, it's special because you go through so much, so many ups and downs and so much hell and sacrifice. It really boosted me. I was kind of low after Beau [Williford] passed away because he was my voice in boxing."

Recognition for her achievements in boxing has been slower to come by closer to home.

That is set to change though with the Deirdre Gogarty Legacy Committee having been set up to raise money for the creation and erection of a statue in her honour in Drogheda.

"I wonder did people not appreciate what went before and maybe people didn't see the big picture, but now they're seeing the big picture because of Katie's success. It doesn't get any bigger than a statue being put up of you."

That recognition eventually extended to her family too, with her mother fully supporting her chosen career by the time she passed away.

"The last time I was in Ireland was seven years ago when she passed away. She really was a wonderful person and taught me a lot of things about being a strong, independent woman. That carried me through and in the end, she was very supportive of the boxing and she felt, you have to let people be who they want to be."

The Deirdre Gogarty Legacy Committee is hosting a fundraiser for the statue at the Crescent Concert Hall, Fair Green, Drogheda at 7.30pm on May 19th.

All episodes of 'Upfront: The Podcast' can be found here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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