Friday, February 14, 2025
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Balancing titles and parenthood

Being a single mother is a full-time job where your kids are your top priority, all while managing the day to days of a busy life.

Now imagine throwing in a rigorous training regime in preparation for a world title fight, and then four weeks out you fracture your foot.

All that happened to Meadowbrook’s own Desley Robinson in November last year leading up to her December IBF World Middleweight Championship fight – which she won.

The 35-year-old mother of three exemplified resilience leading up to the fight, where a doctor ordered her to pull out of the fight due to the injury.

“I had to fight, there were no thoughts on pulling out,” she said.

“Opportunities like this don’t come around all the time, and if I were to have pulled out, I may have never gotten it again.”

Training under Chris McCullen at Logan Boxing Team, Ms Robinson adjusted her training to accommodate her injury.

“I couldn’t run, so I focused on rowing machines, assault bikes, and stationary sparring in a moon boot with heavyweight male fighters,” she said.

“During my rest times, my friend would drive me to Brisbane for electrotherapy and then we would head back home in time to grab the kids from daycare.”

Ms Robinson couldn’t even do her own shopping in case word got out on her injury.

Ms Robinson’s dedication paid off when she claimed the world title and claimed redemption against an opponent who previously defeated her earlier last year.

“It felt so surreal, and I am still in a bit of shock to be honest,” she said.

“Fighting on basically one foot and have my hand raised—it’s unthinkable.”

Ms Robinson plans to defend her title in Melbourne this April, with an opponent in the works and she’s hoping it can be a unification title fight.

“We’re working hard to find the right opponent for me to grow as a boxer and challenge myself,” she said.

“The team and I are also looking at taking offers from overseas fighters.”

Currently, Ms Robinson and her team have done all this work without a promoter, relying on her sponsors to help her achieve her goal.

“I am a free agent at the moment and I am super grateful for my sponsors but we’re definitely looking for a big promoter to jump on board and get behind us to help with achieving those big fights,” she said.

“Hopefully over the next few months someone will discover us, see what we’re doing, hopefully like my fighting and then go from there.”

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