Shanell Dargan is set on further cementing her name into boxing history in what she promises will prove one of the best fights Australia has seen in a long time.
Dargan, 32, enters the ring with 35-fight veteran, former world champion and 'Queen of Australian boxing' Shannon O'Connell for the vacant IBF International Bantamweight title in a fortnight.
The former WBC Australasian and Asian champ comes into the 10-round bout set on Wanderer Promotion's No Mercy VII card in Sydney on Thursday, February 26.
Dargan's already added to her strong 12-month form to kick off 2026 bringing home the WIBA World Super Batamweight title with a win over India's Sushila Virat in Vietnam in January.
The Campbelltown-bred talent is still chasing the ultimate goal of a world championship with one of the four major boxing organisations - WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO.
A career in the sport was not in her wildest thoughts, Dargan admits, when she first walked into PCYC Campbelltown in 2019.
Dargan says boxing has been her "saviour" and a way of breaking the cycle of tougher parts of she and her and family's lives.
"It's always been me trying to play catch up a lot because so late and being as old as I was, it was difficult, but I persevered and just kept pushing.
"It's been a crazy journey."
Her claiming of the Australian Super Bantamweight title in 2023 made for the historic addition of the Aboriginal flag to the belt.
Over the journey, her young son and niece have been Dargan's inspiration, she said.
"I want to strive to be the best that I can be, and hopefully I can inspire my little boy, and other young Indigenous kids to do the same."
Paying credit where it's due, Dargan's happy to call her next opponent in O'Connell a pioneer of women's boxing, and their fight likely the biggest of her career.
Still, she's not training for nothing.
"I feel like it is my time," Dargan told National Indigenous Times.
"I'm more than capable, more than ready, and feel I get the win, and do it dominantly, to be honest."
A post shared by Shanell Dargan Willding (@shanelldargan)
The relative newcomer comes in rated 11th by IBF, in comparison to O'Connell at 6, though carries better recent form into the ring.
Dargan's 10-2-2 pro record includes one sole loss in the previous three years - wins in nine of her last 10 fights and five straight in the last 12 months.
"I'm tenacious. I have no quit in me, I have a massive heart, a massive will to win. And I feel like I carry my ancestors on my back. I use my pride in my aboriginality Ice heritage to push me through these fights," she said.
She added her IBF title bout "will be the best Australian women's boxing fight in a long, long time".
"Shannon's a great competitor. She's going to come to fight. And everyone knows that I come to fight as well.
"I'm going to leave it all in the ring. I'm ready to go the 10 rounds, if it goes to that. It's going to be fireworks.
"I'm very, very keen to just put on a great performance and really cement my name in Australian boxing."
