THE young woman who opens the door is small and fair and works by day as an art director in Lafayette, Louisiana. In the evening time she skips ropes, hits bags and busts noses. Tomorrow night in Las Vegas she fights on the same bill as Mike Tyson, live on pay-per-view, another attraction in the great Don King circus. So what's a nice woman from Drogheda doing in a tough town like this?
Deirdre Gogarty can hardly remember a time when boxing didn't fascinate her. She joined the local club in Drogheda when she was 17. Her slightly startled mother assumed Deirdre had a crush on one of the local pugs and paid little heed. Then two years later in 1991 Deirdre fought Anne Marie Griffin in Limerick, broke her first nose and became the Irish women's lightweight champion.
"People always assume there is some novelty about women boxing," says Deirdre. "My family have always supported me but I think they were surprised at first. With women's boxing seeing is believing. When they saw me fighting and working hard they knew it was what I wanted to do.
Looking for an arena where she might develop her boxing prowess led her to the gym of Beau Williford in Louisiana in 1992. She sent Beau a tape and a letter and the sight of Deirdre pummelling away on the tape shook any preconceived ideas about women's boxing right out of Beau's head.
"I'll tell you a story," says Beau. "She arrived in New Orleans which is a two hours drive from where I live. She was tired. Two days later she got in and sparred with one of my top junior welterweights, Kenny Weiss. Kenny was laughing a little. He came out with his face marked.
"I got her to take a rest for a little while. Not long afterwards on the same day Ray Ryan, a Golden Gloves champion, got in the ring with her. She was tired Ray kicked her ass.
"Two days later she comes to me, says she wants to fight Ray again. That was January 1993. She went four rounds with Ray, kicked him around like he owed her money. Ray didn't darken the door of our gym again for two years. Ray was wrong. No shame in losing to a fighter like Deirdre Gogarty.
So far Deirdre Gogarty's 15-fight record has yielded her 1O wins, three losses and two draws. Being an outsider she gets on the wrong end of quite a few hometown decisions.
"I've never won a fight on points in this country," she says ruefully. "All nine of my wins in America have been knockouts. I've lost some incredible decisions. That's the problem with women's boxing. Not enough people care yet." She's won some good ones though, including five first-round knockouts.
Tomorrow night she fights Christy Martin of Bluefield, West Virginia, the first female in Don King's outsized stable.
Getting a decision is tough when fighting on a Don King bill. Martin has a record of 34 wins, two losses and two draws. Twenty five of the wins have been knockouts.
"I guess I'll have to knock her out," says Deirdre in the accent which carries little trace of Drogheda now. "At least though if I win well and they take the decision from me, people everywhere will see what goes on. People will see how serious the game is and that we deserve better."
She can't put a finger on what makes her this way. She has a degree in graphic design and nothing in her family background suggested a life in the ring. Her father Dr George Gogarty is a pioneering oral surgeon, who invented transparent teeth braces. Her mother is a dentist in Dublin.
Among her three brothers and three sisters there is one farmer, one nurse, one engineer, one theatre director (in Vienna), one air hostess, one owner of an advertising agency. Plus Deirdre, the pro boxer, looking for the big time in a game which offers no easy breaks.
