Between The Rounds Official

"To master the amateur landscape, you have to watch elite amateur contenders in live tournament brackets because that’s where the real technical evolution is happening." In this episode of Between the Rounds , Sarah Cunningham delivers a masterclass on modern amateur boxing strategy. Drawing from her ringside research at the World Boxing Cup in China, Sarah highlights the vital differences between...

Host Sarah Cunningham breaks down an absolute fight-of-the-year contender at the Barclays Center between Jaron "Boots" Ennis and Xander Zayas. From Zayas’ aggressive game plan and the shocking Round 3 moment that saw Boots wobbled, to the ultimate round 7 stoppage by the corner towel, we look at the technical shifts, true heart, and post-fight fallout. Plus, a breakdown of Ben Whitaker’s dominant...

Both men are risking their undefeated records when neither had to—this is what boxing greatness looks like. Host Sarah Cunningham delivers a comprehensive technical breakdown of the massive June 27th clash at the Barclays Center between unified champion Xander Zayas and Jaron "Boots" Ennis. Going beyond the promoter hype, Sarah analyzes the precise ring mechanics, stance-switching tactics, and def...

Jon Mackey took on the Performance Director role at Boxing Ireland twelve months ago. What he's built since is a programme with three World Championship medals and a clear road to LA 2028. We sit down inside the HP unit to talk about what he inherited, the philosophy behind the changes, why exposure to international competition matters more than any simulator, and his message to young fighters cha...

Breaking down every title fight from MVPW-03 in El Paso. Han retains over Holm by majority decision in a fight the boxing world can't agree on. Serrano ties the all-time KO record in two rounds but says she's happy fighting mandatories in her final year. Juarez schools Valle with matador-level distance management and drops her in the tenth. Robinson shuts out Spencer while battling illness — 100-9...

Four world title fights. All women. All on ESPN. All in three-minute rounds. MVPW-03 is live from El Paso County Coliseum on May 30 — and every champion on this card has something unfinished. Han vs Holm II: A WBA lightweight rematch that a headbutt interrupted in round seven. Serrano vs Hanson: Amanda Serrano chases the all-time KO record against Germany's Cheyenne Hanson. Juarez vs Valle: Two ch...

: Shauna Browne: The Comeback That Wasn't Supposed to Happen Description: Shauna Browne lost six and a half years to injuries and addiction. Five operations. Three arm surgeries. A surgeon who told her she'd never box again. She came back, got sober, won the Irish Elite National Championship, and turned pro at 30. She's sparred Katie Taylor for the last two Serrano fights and worked with Terri Har...

My Final Week in Team Ireland HP — The Season Finale The Inside Camp season finale. My last week in the Boxing Ireland High Performance programme before heading back to New York. I came back from Poland with a list of things to sharpen. Then I rolled my ankle in the final session. We adapted. Tailored pads. Bag work. Stretched the rules a little. This was the first week the full squad was back tog...

Felix Stamm 2026 boxing tournament — Team Ireland competing in Radom, Poland. Two fights. Two very different stories. One clear truth — performance isn't decided by scorecards. Week 9 of Inside Camp covers the Felix Stamm tournament in Poland, international sparring with Poland and Great Britain, corner work with the Head Coach, and what it means to level up without always getting the win. Between...

At some point, you have to stop digging and trust what's underneath". Eight weeks into the High Performance program, I’ve been selected to represent Team Ireland in the Felix Stamm Tournament in Poland. In this episode, I talk about the decision to evict the imposter and protect my energy. I break down high-intensity sparring sessions where I stopped surviving and started thinking —including a tec...

I sat down with my own club coach for the first time on Between the Rounds. Steven O'Rourke has coached fighters for over 30 years out of O'Rourke's Gym in Inchicore, Dublin. In this conversation he reveals how he reads a fighter's mental state before they know something's wrong, the coded combination system he uses mid-fight, why he builds trust before technique, and how he's kept the father-coac...

The clock isn't something I can negotiate with. So the question becomes — what can I build with the time I have? Not what's missing. What's possible. Seven weeks into Boxing Ireland's HP camp. Decision-making is sharper. Pattern recognition is building. But experience can't be compressed into a single camp cycle. Inside Camp is a weekly series documenting the real work behind international competi...

Two MVPW cards. Two massive upsets. Six world title fights. And a fighter who's been in camp with both sides breaks it all down. Shauna Browne — Katie Taylor's lead sparring partner for the Serrano trilogy and Terri Harper's main sparring partner ahead of Dubois — joins Sarah Cunningham to recap every major women's boxing fight from April 2026. We cover:  🥊 Lauren Price vs Pineiro Aquino — blood,...

Week 6 of camp brought a change of pace. After being sidelined by illness , Sarah explores the "entry fee" of boxing—the grueling work required to close the distance and land clean shots. In this episode, we dive into: The Mastery of Adjustment: Why coaches with decades of experience are still evolving alongside their fighters. Don't Step Back: The common instinct to retreat after a success and wh...

“Speeding up doesn’t mean you’re improving. Sometimes it means you’re neglecting the detail.” Week 5. Halfway through camp. The urge to prove progress is real — but it leads to noise, not technique. This episode covers the deliberate choice to slow down. Patience isn’t passive. It’s the most deliberate, conscious, disciplined choice you can make. Follow the journey: Instagram: @betweentherounds Su...

BTR's first in-person episode. Ryan O'Rourke (13-0) opens up about growing up in the gym with his father Steven, turning pro during COVID, fighting in hostile backyard shows across five countries, and the business side of boxing nobody warns you about. Now he's heading to MSG on April 17 on ESPN — the biggest stage of his career so far. We talk the 140lb division, Terence Crawford's influence, men...

Full breakdown of every title fight at MVPW-01 from Olympia London. Dubois drops Harper, Scotney goes undisputed, Cameron dominates at 154, and Garcia shocks Dolan. Timestamps below. #BetweenTheRounds #MVPW01 #WomensBoxing

Three prelim fights from MVP's women's card at Olympia London — and each one told a different story. Elizabeth Oshoba proved levels are levels with a third-round stoppage. Teresa Mäkinen showed 86 amateur fights worth of craft to edge Chloe Watson on the cards. And Shannon Courtenay dominated Sasha Booker, but a head clash muddied the finish. This is Between the Rounds — post-fight analysis from t...

The best fighters in the world share one quality. It's not power. It's not speed. Week 4 inside Boxing Ireland's HP camp — observing what separates the best, how feedback shapes fighters who can think for themselves, and why the last question of the day might be the most important one.

In the third week of high-performance training camp in Ireland, the greatest challenge isn't physical fitness or technical skill—it’s the mind. This episode explores the concept of Anticipatory Paralysis: the mental overload that occurs when you try to prioritize too many adjustments at once, causing you to freeze in high-pressure moments. Whether you are in a boxing ring or a high-stakes board me...

"Deep water isn’t a metaphor for exhaustion; it’s a psychological state." Fresh off week two of intensive training camp with Team Ireland, I’m sharing the four mental shifts that changed everything for me this week. We dive into the "honest life" of a training camp, where every partner is a riddle to solve and every drill is a task in intentionality. In this episode: Why you must force yourself in...

“ Nobody Truly Knows Who They Are Until They Step in the Ring" | Coach Rich Stephenson  Coach Rich Stephenson is a 15-year Army veteran, Bronze Star recipient, and USA Boxing High Performance Team coach. He built a championship programme at West Point, founded Breathing Boxing Club at NYAC, and has quietly shaped some of the best amateur fighters in the country. In this episode, Rich breaks down w...

Walking into an elite squad comes with an invisible weight. You find yourself scanning the room and reading the temperature, asking a question that takes up more energy than people realize: "Do I belong here?"

What happens when a successful amateur career meets the complicated reality of the professional boxing business? Today, we’re joined by Stacia Suttles, a four-time Team USA boxer and 2024 Olympic alternate who is now carving out her own space as a pro athlete and advocate. While the Olympics only became a clear goal later in her career, Stacia has spent years mastering her craft and now serves as...

I just touched down in Dublin from NYC and the "MVPW" announcement is everywhere. A multi-year deal with ESPN through 2028 is historic on paper—but what does it mean for the architecture of the sport? In this solo ep I do a deep dive on MVPs gamble. If we say there is "no functional difference" between male and female athletes, why are we building a separate brand? Is this a launchpad, or a silo t...