Boxing legend Katie Taylor sends Olympic hero Kellie Harrington a message of support before big fight

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Boxing legend Katie Taylor sent Olympic hero Kellie Harrington a message of support before her big fight this morning.

The world pro champ sent a text to Dubliner Kellie telling her she believes she has what it takes to go all the way.

Proud dad Christy Harrington said Kellie was “blown away” by the
inspirational message the Co Bray native sent to her yesterday.

Olympic gold medallist Taylor told the 31-year-old she deserved to take the gold against Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in the lightweight final.

Speaking from the family’s home on Portland Row in Dublin’s north inner-city, Christy could hardly contain his emotions.

He told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Katie sent Kellie a text. She said good luck and told her she would go all the way and get the gold. It was a lovely thing to do.”

Christy welled up with tears when he spoke of his family’s joy at Kellie’s success in Tokyo.

Along with mum Yvonne, brother Joel and the boxer’s girlfriend Mandy Loughlin, the close-knit family cheered on the Dublin fighter from their home.



Kellie Harrington in Portland Row, Dublin

Christy admitted that, as with all of Kellie’s Olympic fights, he has had to relay the action to her mother as she is too nervous to watch.

He said: “She does be in bits. We relay it to her as she sits out the back.

“I have watched it through my fingers at times too. I have been up shouting at the TV like Davy Fitzgerald.”

And when it comes to Kellie’s other half Mandy, Christy said she’s the worst of them all when it comes to being anxious watching her fight.

He added: “She does be shattered completely. The two of them [Mandy and Kellie’s mother] do be out the back on chairs having a cup of tea with the dog.

“They can’t watch. I shout out how she’s getting on.”

Win, lose or draw at the Tokyo Games, Kellie has been a local hero for years thanks to her kind and charitable nature, neighbours revealed.

Just two years ago she auctioned off her 2015 National Elite belt and Irish boxing vest to raise money for a local family who lost their home in a fire.

And according to her former babysitter Chrissie Russell, she has always helped people out. She said: “I babysat Kellie when she was only a kid. She’s a beautiful girl, very respectful. You couldn’t meet a nicer young woman.



Childhood picture of Kellie Harrington

“She calls me Aunty Chrissie and when she sees me she always asks if I’m alright and makes sure I’m OK for crossing the road. She’s a lady if ever there was one. She’s a local hero who always helps people out.”

Christy added the family will throw their own small private party for Kellie rather than a big shindig when she returns due to Covid restrictions.

And when it comes to his girl’s new-found Olympic fame, he said she won’t let it go to her head as it’s not what she became a boxer for.

He added: “She wouldn’t think anything of her newfound fame. What she is probably thinking about now is Ireland as a nation, not the fame.

“There was no pressure on Kellie for the final. The pressure for her was to qualify and she did that. She feels she has delivered for us.

“Kellie is not just a boxer, she’s a great woman. Before Kellie was known as a boxer she would walk through town and everyone would know her anyway. That’s the kind of person she is. She’s just proud to be Irish.”

A tearful Christy said he can’t wait to wrap his arms around his only daughter, who has three brothers, when she returns.

He added: “I can’t stop crying. I can’t wait to give her a hug.”

The doting dad has planted five sunflowers which sit in a pot under the front window which he said represent the five Olympic rings.

When asked if he believes his daughter will follow Katie Taylor down the professional boxing route, he said he doesn’t believe it’s of any interest to Kellie.



He added: “There’s no need for Kellie to go professional, for what? She will be a world champion, an Olympian, she’s an amateur sportswoman.”

But when asked if the big money might lure Kellie, who worked on the Covid frontline in a Dublin hospital during the pandemic, he said: “I hope not. I can’t answer for Kellie but that’s what I believe.”

And when it comes to what she will do with her medal, Christy added he believes Kellie will pass it around for all to see.

He said: “Knowing Kellie she will come home and pass it up and
down the street and say, ‘Look at it and pass it around and give it back to me on the 27th’. It’s something like she would do.”

And he added she certainly doesn’t follow in his footsteps when it comes to fitness – as he has never even stepped foot in a gym.

“I have never been to a gym in my life. The only gym I have been in is my friend Jim’s house,” he joked. “There was one time where Kellie said, ‘Jump in the ring da’, and I said, ‘No way’, but they kept on at me saying, ‘Ah come on Christy’, so I did.

“I’m doing bits and pieces and then all of a sudden bang and she was punching the head off me, killing me.”

Christy said he reckons Kellie will take some time out when she returns to Ireland from Tokyo and enjoy some of her mother’s home-cooked meals.

He concluded: “She’s a savage, I don’t know how she makes weight. She loves her ma’s shepherd’s pie and Sunday dinner.” Neighbours on Portland Row, who decorated their homes with tricolour bunting and pictures of Kellie, said they are “so proud” of her.

David Boyle, 35, and his one-year-old son Henry, said the whole community are delighted for their local hero.

He added: “Kellie is great, she’s all about the local area, she’s just a lovely all around girl.

“She helps out and is often seen helping old people cross the road. She’s just a regular, down-to-earth girl who would help anybody.

“She will always be our golden girl.”

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