Who is Carly Skelly? 20 Facts you need to know below
This Halloween, unbeaten bantamweight Carly Skelly (3-0) clashes with Amy Timlin (4-0) in the biggest fight of both their pro careers for the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title, live on Sky Sports Box Office, on the undercard of the huge Oleksandr Usyk vs Dereck Chisora heavyweight showdown.
Ahead of the Commonwealth championship clash, BBN decided to dig up some interesting facts about the inspirational Carly Skelly:
1. Born in Liverpool on November 4, 1986, Carly is currently 33-years-old and resides in Litherland, a town in the Metropoliton Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, about five miles north of Liverpool city centre. The Beatles played most of their early gigs in Litherland Town Hall, just minutes away from Carly's home.
2. As a teenager, Carly was always very sporty and used to represent her school in running events, in particular the 800m; 1500m; 100m; and hurdles. In her mid-20’s, she picked it up again and started to run in marathons to raise money for an Alzheimer’s charity after her beloved Nan had passed away. She also admits to being a bit of a Tomboy growing up and loved climbing until, aged 13, she fell from the roof of a youth centre and broke her leg!
3. As well as being a professional boxer, Carly has a Bachelor of science in nursing and works full-time at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool as a paediatric nurse.
4. After leaving school, the teen worked in her local Yates bar before nursing.
5. She has two sons with her long-term partner Paul, who were both meant to be married in June 2020, but the worldwide pandemic prevented that from happening.
6. As a southpaw herself, her favourite fighter of all-time is Joe Calzaghe, and she counts Calzaghe vs Jeff Lacey as her favourite fight.
7. She is trained by Sid Saidankey at North Mersey ABC, who was her partner’s trainer when he was an amateur boxer. It’s become a family tradition, as her 13-year-old son Ayden is now also boxing for the club, and their youngest son Thomas is training there too.
8. Astonishingly, she didn’t lace up her gloves until she was 29-years-old when she decided to take part in a charity boxing event. She used to watch her husband box in the amateurs, back when she was just 16, and although she enjoyed watching it, she never expected or had any ambition to be climbing through the ropes herself one day.
9. Her amateur achievements include reaching the ABA finals, being selected to box for England in the GB Championships, and winning silver at the Eindhoven International Box Cup. She left the amateurs with a respectable record or 15 wins and just five losses. She lost to Commonwealth Games gold medalist Lisa Whiteside in the flyweight final at the 2017 England Boxing National Elite Championships and still believes it was an unfair decision to this day.
10. She is nicknamed ‘Thumper’ for her punching power.
11. Currently 3-0 as a pro, she describes her boxing style as a ‘front-foot, pressure-fighter’.
12. Managed by Everton Red Triangle head coach, Paul Stevenson, she often visits her manager’s busy gym for sparring, with unbeaten super-flyweight Connor Butler and bantamweight Andrew Cain, who has six KOs from six fights! Paul’s group of eight fighters that he manages, including Skelly, are currently unbeaten in 41 bouts between them. They all agree that Carly is as tough as they come, trains hard, and that she doesn’t back off!
13. Carly has ambitions to fight at world level, listing the WBC green and gold belt as her favourite world title.
14. The female fighter is an Everton FC football fan, which is a little strange considering her husband and two boys are all ‘Reds’. One of her sons actually signed for Liverpool FC when he was nine, and Steven Gerrard was there for the contract signing.
15. Her favourite meal of choice is her dad’s sausage and mash, but she also likes a nice big burger and chips from Chicago Bar & Grill in Waterloo, Liverpool.
16. A fan of musicals, her favourite film is ‘The Greatest Showman’ and best song from the film is ‘A Million Dreams’.
17. The fearless fighter has a phobia of spiders.
18. The busy bantamweight believes she has a bit of an OCD and likes her life to be very organised with strict routines in place.
19. With such a hectic lifestyle, it’s no surprise that Carly is really into meditation and has even taken a few courses on it recently.
20. When Carly first turned pro in 2019, she listed her next opponent, Amy Timlin, as the person she would most like to fight.
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