Maureen Shea (The Real Million Dollar Baby) boxer

Maureen Anne Shea Carranza (born January 11, 1981) is an American professional boxer of Irish and Mexican descent. She held the WBC interim female featherweight title in 2011 and the IFBA super bantamweight title from 2014 to 2015, and challenged once for the WBA female super featherweight title in 2009. She is known as the "Real Million Dollar Baby" because of her work as the main sparring partner for Hilary Swank in her preparation for the 2005 movie, Million Dollar Baby.Maureen was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. Born in 1981, she was raised by a strict Irish father, a now retired NYPD detective. Maureen's mother, of Mexican heritage, worked in the airline industry, allowing Maureen to frequently travel. Moe spent much of her youth growing up in the Bronx and in the Guadalajara, Mexico. In the amateurs, Maureen was known and respected for her boxing. First training out of NYBG with Luigi Olcese, she was eventually brought to Gleasons to train with well respected trainer Hector Roca. It was a gradual process in Shea's growth and preparation for the game of professional boxing.In 2004, when Hilary Swank came looking for Hector Roca to help her get ready for the movie Million Dollar Baby, Roca paired Swank with Maureen Shea. Maureen was Hilary's main sparring partner in preparation for Swank's award-winning role in the movie. When the international media found out that Swank attended all of Maureen's amateur bouts, Maureen was thrust into the spotlight. It was Maureen's boxing, however, that captured the attention.Her nicknames include "The Bronx Bombshell", "The Real Million Dollar Baby", and "Moe".Maureen Shea of the Bronx, New York, is the former IFBA Jr Featherweight World Champion, former NABF Festherweight Champion, former NABA Featherweight Champion and former Interim WBC Featherweight Champion. Shea is one of the top professional female boxers in the world.In February 2009, Maureen lost her first world title attempt to Kina Malpartida. This bout was held at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.