| No Stopping the “Moe” Show
 Maureen “Moe” Shea bounced back and forth on her toes, with her eyes
transfixed on the ring. It was a good three hours before her bout
against the 126-pound Canadian bruiser Olga Heron, but already Shea was
on the main-event floor getting loose. She fielded reporters’ questions
and photographers’ requests while continuing to dance right and left.
When asked if she was nervous about the night’s fight, she replied with
a smile, “I don’t get nervous. I get anxious [to fight].”
Shea, the twenty-five-year-old Super Featherweight, is known for her
role as Hilary Swank’s sparring partner in preparation for the
Oscar-winning movie Million Dollar Baby. However, she is much more than
just a celebrity trainer. Shea is an incredibly skillful boxer with
talent and determination, with a 6-0 record that speaks for itself. On
July 20, 2006, under the lights of the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom,
Shea came into town and conquered once more.
Shea, a Bronx native and daughter of an ex NYPD cop, began boxing as an
outlet. “As a child, I had a lot of energy and as I got older I faced a
fork in the road and had a lot of negative energy. I didn’t really know
what to do with it until I found boxing. It basically saved my life. I
found myself in an abusive relationship for three years. Boxing really
helped me to get out of it and really helped me focus. I was kicked out
of high school my junior year and boxing gave me discipline. It turned
my life around,” she explains.
Shea has been training under the watchful eye of Hector Roca at the
famed Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, New York, and it certainly showed in
her Broadway Boxing bout against Heron.
Displaying controlled aggression and superior technique, Shea had
control of this fight but did take a little punishment from Heron, who
stood her ground and traded well. At the end it went to the judges’
cards, and although Shea didn’t get another KO, they gave her a
well-deserved unanimous decision.
Next for Shea is a bout on the undercard of the John Duddy/Yori Boy
Campos fight on September 29 at Madison Square Garden, which will
provide her with an unusual dilemma. Shea, who is half-Irish and
half-Mexican, won’t know who to shout for in the main event!
– Liam Moriarty |
