There is so much more at play for Lachlan O’Shea than the chance to be recognised as an Australian champion.
Forced to confront his diagnosis with a fatal condition, he faced a daunting test of will.
Lachlan O’Shea has endured a tumultuous path to get the chance to fight for glory.Credit: Lachlan Carroll/Combat Analytics
But ahead of the greatest fight of his career – for the nation’s welterweight title – the Queensland pugilist revealed a higher purpose fuelled his desire.
“I’m trying to do it for my dad,” says O’Shea, whose father’s suicide inspired his own perseverance.
“He always taught me to fight when I was little … I dedicate a lot of my fights to him. He’s not around with me to experience the journey, so I definitely do still take into consideration what he taught me.
“He definitely encouraged me to fight a lot, it was a lot more street fighting than boxing, but it played a big part in who I am.
“That mongrel people see come out of me is what he embedded in me as a young kid.”
O’Shea, whose boxing record sits at eight wins and three losses, still recalls the day he discovered he carried the gene for Huntington’s disease.
The condition causes nerve cells in the brain to break down, the symptoms typically beginning in a sufferer’s 30s or 40s, with an average life expectancy of 10 to 25 years from that point.
The shock engulfed him.
The moment was in contrast to the highs O’Shea experienced when he made his professional boxing debut, on the undercard of the Suncorp Stadium fight between Jeff Horn and Anthony Mundine, in which he defeated the former’s brother, Ben Horn.
It is the same inherited condition he has watched his mother battle each day.
Shoulder surgery just as he began plotting his comeback to the ring compounded his ordeal.
He “fell into a dark hole”. He was lost.
O’Shea will fight for the Australian Welterweight title.Credit: Lachlan Carroll/Combat Analytics
“I had to kiss [having a] family goodbye – realising I’d miss that chance, I’d spend my time doing other things and this was one of those things. If I’m in the bed I make, I may as well sleep in it properly,” O’Shea says.
“I went through a bit of ‘why bother’ when I got the diagnosis. I couldn’t even run properly and had a little breakdown, [but] thinking over my life, I thought I still had the opportunity to make the most of it.
“When I tore my shoulder, it was when I couldn’t fight … that’s when I realised ‘f---, that was the one big thing left I really wanted to do’.”
After countless hours of soul-searching, O’Shea emerged from his slump and set about orchestrating a miracle comeback.
Nearly three years on from his last bout, he returned to the ring in 2023.
While there was some initial rust in his first outing, losing in a split decision to Ken Aitken, he defeated Dimps Gillies in November and booked his Australian title clash with Joel Taylor on April 17 in Southport.
That triumph, that revelation he still had fight left in him – with his mother in the crowd – triggered a belief he could attain anything.
“I had mum sit in the front row. Normally, I try not to focus on the crowd, but that fight I appreciated having my mum and aunty there to watch as well,” O’Shea says.
“Mum’s happy for me, seeing me do something. She’s diagnosed herself, so she loves to see me still being active when I can.
“She’s been stoked for weeks and weeks [about this fight], she’s definitely going to be in the front row again.”
The Melbourne-based Taylor has lost just once from 11 outings, but O’Shea is “almost certain” he has what it takes and start challenging for world rankings.
O’Shea believes this will be his one chance to claim the national belt.Credit: Lachlan Carroll/Combat Analytics
O’Shea – fighting out of Matrix Boxing Gym on the Gold Coast – may not be a household name, but he is instilled with the hope that should he secure the belt, a world welterweight assault awaits.
It is the same division in which Terence Crawford reigns supreme. The same pathway Jeff Horn paved, delivering Australia one of its greatest champions.
O’Shea admits he has not looked too deeply into the man in the other corner, adamant the key to his success would be honing in on what he could accomplish across 10 rounds without the burden of tactical uncertainty.
This has to be his moment, O’Shea declares. This would be his only shot.
“If I don’t win I don’t get to fight for this belt again, so in knowing that I’ve enjoyed this camp the whole time. I’m getting on the older side, so it will be if I want to spend another two or three years working towards this again,” O’Shea says.
“I was originally just happy to get here, but as I’m getting here and doing this 100 per cent in this camp I feel like I’m realising my true potential.
“Tim Tszyu just lost his one [world title bout], so it’s a big jump there, but I’d be happy with some regional titles to start getting in and being in that top 10 ranking would be a massive achievement in itself.”