Undefeated British boxer Georgia O’Connor has died, months after receiving a cancer diagnosis and just two weeks after getting married. She was 25.
Her tragic passing was confirmed by her promoter, Ben Shalom, on Thursday.
“Georgia was an inspirational person and one I’ll never forget,” he wrote on social media. “So sorry for her family and all her friends. Truly heartbreaking.
O’Connor revealed in late January that she had been diagnosed with cancer after feeling debilitating pain since October. She said she knew “deep down something was seriously wrong,” citing her ulcerative colitis and chronic liver disease PSC — “two diseases that dramatically increase the chances” of getting cancer.
“I KNOW how high my risk is and they do too. They always did. But not one doctor f—ing listened to me,” she wrote on Instagram. “Instead, they dismissed me. They gaslit me, told me it was nothing, made me feel like I was overreacting. They refused to scan me. They refused to investigate. They REFUSED to listen. One even told me that it’s ‘all in my head.’ And now? Now the cancer has spread.”
Less than three weeks later, she revealed she had suffered a miscarriage shortly before her diagnosis. She later said she nearly died from sepsis in March.
O’Connor celebrated a bright spot amid her ongoing struggles when she tied the knot with longtime partner Adriano Cardinali on May 9.
O’Connor, a native of Durham, England, won gold at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, a silver at the 2017 Youth World Championships and a bronze at the 2018 Youth World Championships. She made her professional debut in 2021 and was 3-0.
