Kelsey make it's a hat-trick of professional wins

Kelsey Leonard made it three wins from three in her fledgling professional boxing career when she out pointed tough Hungarian National Champion, Beata Dudek, 60-54 over six rounds at the Bragging Rights Show in Devenish, Belfast on Saturday night.

The young Kildare boxer took the fight to her more experienced opponent from the off and was dominant throughout the fight. Speaking to the Kildare Nationalist after the fight Leonard expressed her delight at the result. 

“I’m really happy with my performance, to move to 3-0 and that the risk of taking a big step up so soon paid off. It was great to experience my first six rounds, I felt comfortable, in control and dominant for every round so I’m over the moon.” 

Kelsey started on the front foot and dominated, particularly for the first four rounds, which was part of the plan, as she explained. 

“The game plan was to be on the front foot, start fast and try to wear her down. I think I executed the game plan really well. My opponent is a very good back foot mover and if I let her move off it would have been a much trickier night for me. I was able to cut the ring off and get my shots off well.” 

The Hungarian was practically out on her feet in Round 4 but the Kildare boxer didn’t chase the stoppage. 

“I try not to go into a fight looking for the stoppage but during the first round I thought I could have come close. Dudek has never been stopped so it would have been nice to be the first one to stop her. Maybe if I had a bit of extra time in that round it would have happened but overall I’m really happy with the performance and the outcome,” she told us, Dudek recovered and made a fight of it which didn’t surprise the younger and less experienced Kildare boxer, “I always knew Dudek would be a tough opponent. She has a lot more experience than me. She has fought 10 rounds and she has fought in Las Vagas and elsewhere so I knew she was coming to win. I was always expecting her to be dangerous and I tried to anticipate everything while I was in the ring.” 

After going two rounds in stopping England’s Ciara Carter in her first fight, also in Belfast, Leonard then outpointed Hungarian Milak Zsannet over four rounds in the National Stadium and she comfortably managed the six rounds in beating Dudek on Saturday night. “I felt very comfortable keeping a high pace for all six rounds,” she explained. 

“I’m very grateful to Niall (Barrett) and all the team in UNIT 3 Health and Fitness in Naas for the conditioning we get there. I honestly believe it’s the best training in the world and I was able to show that on Saturday night. I’m very happy that all the hard work paid off,” she enthused.

What of the future, what might happen for the rest of the year, we asked? 

“If the opportunity is there, I would love to fight again before the end of the year,” was the quick response. “It would be great to finish on 4-0 and then take a break for Christmas. I won’t rush it but I would love to fight again in December to set up for a big 2026,” Kelsey concluded.