{"id":437372,"date":"2026-01-25T22:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437372\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T22:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:46:08","slug":"from-retirement-thoughts-to-renewed-fire-walsh-targets-international-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437372\/","title":{"rendered":"From Retirement Thoughts to Renewed Fire: Walsh Targets International Return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Having weighed up retirement in recent months, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irish-boxing.com\/?s=michaela+Walsh\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michaela Walsh<\/a> has now reignited her international ambitions following a 14th Irish Elite title win in Dublin at the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The Belfast featherweight, who increased her National Elite Championships record with victory in the National Stadium earlier this month, admits she condidered hanging them up post the Paris Olympics. <\/p>\n<p>However, having reginiting her passion for the sport and cementing her domestic dominance the record breaking Irish star has set her sights on making an international impact again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was going to walk away from boxing [but] I think I\u2019ve found a way to enjoy it,\u201d she said after defeating Sarah Cunningham in the featherweight final.<\/p>\n<p>The win extended remarkable domestic record and now serves as the launchpad for a renewed international push.<\/p>\n<p>The three time Commonwealth Games medal winner\u2019s focus has shifted back to major tournaments, with the aim of ending a two-year wait for an international medal and adding a ninth to her collection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t won an international medal now in two years, so this year I really want to set my mark on the international scene. I still believe I have a lot left and I don\u2019t want to walk away from amateur boxing until I know I\u2019ve reached my full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decorated Belfast boxer\u2019s international brilliance doesn\u2019t always get the adjulation it deserves outside of the boxing fraternity. Not making an Olympic podium plays a part in that, but is determined to ensure a successful career isn\u2019t defined by the one tournament. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not focusing on Olympics, Olympics, Olympics. Before, I think I always set my mind that I have to be an Olympic champion. Then, if you don\u2019t reach that, you feel worthless in a way. That\u2019s not what life\u2019s about.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to live in the moment, take it fight by fight. If I achieve something at that level, I do achieve it. I\u2019m proud of my career, no matter what. If I won [Saturday night], got my 14th title, or didn\u2019t and won 13 Irish Elite titles, it\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having weighed up retirement in recent months, Michaela Walsh has now reignited her international ambitions following a 14th&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,222099,85],"class_list":["post-437372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-michaela-walsh","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}