Ex-pro Bradley Skeete, now the trainer of Fran Hennessy among others, thinks his charge will revel in tonight’s bill-topping opportunity on the BBC and DAZN.
Skeete was a slicker junior middleweight when he boxed, and he knows the sport well.
In Hennessy, he has a 21-year-old prospect with a lot of expectation on her shoulders.
“She’s made for this,” Skeete told BoxingScene. “You’ve seen from the ring walks and from her debut she’s set for the big stage and yeah, it’s unfortunate for Adam [Azim who had to withdraw] to obviously get an injury, but it’s fortunate for Fran. Now she’s headlining her first show at 21 years old and she’s made for this. She puts in the work, she’s a pleasure to train and she’s gonna shine on Saturday.”
One of the things Hennessy has become known for is her ringwalks, and Skeete knows the pressure boxers are under walking to the ring to fight.
“That’s just her, you see from her debut to Saturday you’re gonna see she loves it,” said her coach. “She’s made for the big time, she absolutely loves it and she’s dancing away, smiling away as always and that’s her in her element. Obviously, the nerves will be there, but that’s how she probably deals with them and when she’s dancing and smiling and joking around that’s when she's at her best.”
Hennessy is 7-0 (1 KO) and has dreams of becoming the youngest undisputed women’s champion.
Skeete says there is plenty of room for growth.
“I wouldn’t put percentage on it but she’s got so much more to give and you just see with each fight she’s developing and she’s a seasoned pro now, she’s got the experience now, she’s been pro three years now so last time out being out the ring for eight months, that's a long time out the ring for a young girl and the performance she put in was I think was her best performance to date beating an ex-world champion [Fabiana Bytyqi] every round and you’re only going to see Fran perform better and better. It was straight back into camp and the momentum now she’s got, I've seen stuff she’s been doing in the gym and I’m really excited for her to show it on Saturday.”
For all of Skeete’s positivity, he is well aware that Hennessy has her detractors. How they cope with them is something they talk about.
“We were only having this conversation yesterday,” Skeete explained. “We were talking, I said obviously when I was boxing, social media was around but it wasn't as much as it is now but she’s just gone from strength to strength with it and you're going to get negative people and anything positive and negative she just blocks it out. She’s so strong-minded and she’s young at 21 but she’s mature. She’s very mature and she’s got a good family, she’s got good people around her and that’s what she needs.”
