Shelly Vincent is a retired junior featherweight from New London, Connecticut, who finished her career with a record of 27-2 (1 KO). BoxingScene had a chance to catch up with Vincent, 45, ahead of her induction into the Women’s International Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday at the Orleans Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas.

BoxingScene: What does being inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame mean to you?

Shelly Vincent: Being in the Hall of Fame is everything, especially for a kid like me. I don't know how much you know about my story as a kid who came from a tough background. I went through a lot. So to get any type of award or anything, it's just very humbling and it’s a very great feeling.

BS: How would you introduce your backstory to people?

Vincent: I was a child who lived through extreme trauma and abuse. My mom was abused. I was choked, I was hung from the walls. I was beaten every day. My mother had gasoline poured on her and was chased around the house … that type of abuse. Then, after that, I was sexually assaulted. I was very depressed, with a lot of mental health issues, PTSD and stuff like that. I got into boxing to try to defend myself if anything happened to me like that again. It just happened to become something bigger and got me out of a grave.

BS: When did you see boxing as transformative for your life?

Vincent: Immediately. I lost my mother to leukemia. She was diagnosed at 36 and died at 37. I was 17 or 18. I was young, my sisters were young, and all those people at the gym became like a family. So they became like my brothers, my sisters. We were orphans, pretty much. My middle sister was the one who was raising us, and the gym became a family that we all needed. Boxing was everything to me, and it gave me what I needed, I felt, to defend myself. It made me feel strong, it made me feel complete, and it gave me a family.

BS: When did you think you could be included in the Women’s Hall of Fame?

Vincent: I think probably when I was a huge ticket seller. I think when Heather [Hardy] and I had the major television fights, it became like a big rivalry. It was a pivotal moment. I don't think Heather and I get the respect that we deserved for that fight and how pivotal it was for women's boxing, and all the pressure and stuff that we had during that time, too. That was the first time, I believe, a major television network aired a women’s boxing match since Christy Martin. It was NBC and it was PBC. We were supposed to be the co-main event to Errol Spence. They ended up putting us on after Errol Spence because I sold half of the arena. I filled up busloads of people that came in. I had people flying in, and Heather sold out the other half of the arena.

BS: Was that the greatest rivalry of your career, against Heather Hardy?

Vincent: Yeah, because Heather and I hated each other. That's rare. That was real. That was not fake at all. It was real. The rivalry was real.

BS: Any career regrets?

Vincent: In the rematch, when I was fighting Heather, the doctor tried to stop the fight because of my hand. So when he tried to come over and stop it in the fourth round, I probably should have just let him stop it, because I completely stopped throwing my hand.

BS: Greatest memory of your career?

Vincent: The best part of my career was opening my gym and using what boxing gave me to give back to the next generation.

BS: Who is the best you ever sparred with?

Vincent: Probably Melissa Hernandez and Rashida Ellis.

BS: How would you summarize your career?

Vincent: Resilient. There were a lot of people telling me, "You're not going to do this. You're not going to do that. This is impossible." I did my best, tried my best, and I fought for women, for equality.

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.