An ‘Olympic Style Boxing’ event raised £1,000 to help a young County Durham boxing star in her battle against a “rare and aggressive” cancer.
At only 24-years-old, Georgia O’Connor is facing her biggest fight to date, after she was recently diagnosed with a form of cancer that doctors have labelled “incurable”.
A standout boxer from childhood, Georgia, from Durham, has represented England across the world, and even won gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017.
Last weekend, friends and supporters at her old boxing club rallied around her as they put on an evening of ‘Olympic Style’ matches to raise funds for Georgia and her family to seek alternative treatment and therapies not offered on the NHS.
Brandon Boxing Club held an 'Olympic-style' event to raise money for Georgia O'Connor. Back row, from left, Garry 'Dynamite' Dodds, Alex Oliver (MC for the day), former British European Commonwealth Featherweight Champion Billy Hardy, Gary 'Pure Silk' Hodgson, 'Prince' Nadeem Harabia, Liam 'The Duke' Daly (with belt), John 'TNT' Dixon, Ryan 'The Riot' Raine, George 'Georgey' Ellis, 'Dangerous' Dom Ulyatt, Stu 'Disco' Chaney, Simon 'The Force' Patterson. In front - the club's undefeated professional boxer who handed out the trophies at the event to the boxers - 'El Cannon' Callum Walton (Image: BRANDON BOXING CLUB) Alex Oliver, head coach at Brandon Boxing Club, called Georgia a “fighter” and said: “She’s a tough character, she’s got a lovely family and hopefully she can get through it.
“Her mam and dad reached out to us to let us know the situation, and we straight away went over to see her and said we’d help as much as we can.
“It’s frightening. You’d do anything you can to help your children in this sort of situation.
“We want to try to create as much awareness as possible to help her.”
The afternoon also saw a glove once owned by Tyson Fury auctioned off to raise money, bringing in £250, in addition to £150 for a jacket from his fight with Oleksandr Usyk and a Newcastle United top bringing in another £150.
In total, an impressive £1,000 was raised to support Georgia, from the sales of their programmes, auctioned items and raffle tickets.
Across 16 bouts at Meadowfields Sports Centre on Saturday, there were victories for Yazz ‘The Jazz’ Hawisa, ‘Lightning’ Lewis Patterson, Leo ‘The Lion’ McLean and Charlie ‘Junior Silk’ Hodgson in close contests.
Best Contest was awarded to the bout between Ryan ‘The Riot' Raine and Hayden Mitchell, while Nadeem Harbaia took a points decision to be awarded best Junior Boxer after fighting it out with High Fell’s Tommy Monaghan.
Competing for the 54kg Tyne Tees and Wear Development Belt, Liam ‘The Duke’ Daley came out on top against Shildon’s Alex Hubery, also winning the award for Best Senior Boxer.
There were narrow split decision defeats for ‘Big’ Ben Iley and Alan ‘do or’ Die, in entertaining bouts. John ‘TNT’ Dixon was on last and after a slow start boxed well to take a close decision against Newbiggin’s Nathan McEvoy.
The inspirational Chloe ‘The Hammer’ Hammond, who trains three times a week at the club, also displayed her skill in an exhibition with coach, ‘Dangerous’ Dom Ulyatt.
Chloe ‘The Hammer’ Hammond, displayed her skill in an exhibition with coach ‘Dangerous’ Dom Ulyatt (Image: BRANDON BOXING CLUB)
Georgia’s mum, Vicki Williams, set up a GoFundMe fundraiser page in February which has raised £27,935 to date.
She said: “If you know Georgia, you know she is a fighter—always has been, always will be. As a boxer, she has spent many years pushing herself beyond limits, proving that strength isn’t just physical—it’s in the heart, in the mind, in the refusal to give up. This is just another fight, and she is determined to win.
“She wants to use this battle not just to save her own life but to inspire others, to raise awareness, and to show the world that ‘incurable’ does not mean impossible.”
Georgia O'Connor is battling a rare form of cancer (Image: VICKI WILLIAMS)
She added: Right now, our only focus is Georgia—getting her what she needs - regardless of cost or location, or making sure she is never alone in this fight, and proving that she is so much more than a diagnosis.”
Most read:
On her Instagram page, Georgia shared her determination to overcome the biggest of fights.
“I’m young, I’m fit and I am stronger than they’ll ever f*cking understand.”, she said.
“Mentally. Physically. Every single way. I’m still smiling and that smile will NEVER fade, no matter what.”
If you would like to support Georgia in her fight against cancer, you can donate to her GoFundMe page here.
