Frank Maloney

Kellie Maloney (born Francis Maloney, 23 January 1953) is an English boxing manager and promoter, and television personality. She managed Lennox Lewis between 1989 and 2001, who earned the title of undisputed heavyweight championship of the world under Maloney. This made Maloney the first Briton to manage a British heavyweight champion in almost a century, according to the BBC. In August 2014, Maloney announced that she wished to be known as "Kellie" and that she was undertaking gender reassignment. Maloney later appeared in the fourteenth series of ''Celebrity Big Brother'' in August 2014. She has been described as the most well-known transgender person in Britain.

Boxing promotion

Maloney was born in London to Irish Catholic emigrant parents, Maureen from County Wicklow and Thomas from Roscrea, County Tipperary. She was raised as one of three brothers in Peckham, south London. Maloney's father encouraged her to pursue boxing, and Maloney took part in her first match aged 11. However, Maloney's small stature put her at a disadvantage, leading her to work as a boxing manager instead. By the late 1970s, Maloney's experience training other boxers and organising amateur competitions had led her to a career as a professional trainer, working with promoter Frank Warren. After splitting with Warren in the 1980s, Maloney moved into management and began promoting professional fights, becoming Lennox Lewis's manager in 1989.

While best known as the promoter who took Lewis to the top, Maloney has also guided four other fighters to World Titles and has managed a string of British, European and Commonwealth Champions. In 2009, the 'Boxing Binman', Rendall Munroe, made his fifth successive defence of his European Super Bantamweight title and later thrice fought for a world title, twice on an interim basis, drawing once and losing twice.

On 14 September 2009 Maloney suffered a heart attack while watching John McDermott lose a contentious decision to Tyson Fury; significant heart damage was discovered when Maloney was admitted to hospital with shock after finding the body of client Darren Sutherland following his suicide. It was reported that Maloney was not welcome at Sutherland's funeral service, although reports circulated that her wife, Tracey, and mother, Maureen, attended. Some of the evidence heard in the inquest into Sutherland's death was critical of Maloney, who Sutherland was said to be frightened of.

Maloney announced the decision to retire from boxing in October 2013.

In April 2015, Maloney announced that, following the completion of her gender reassignment, she would be returning to boxing to promote again.

Other ventures

Following her gender transition, Maloney made a number of reality television appearances. In 2014 she appeared in reality TV series ''Celebrity Big Brother'', reportedly receiving the highest fee of any housemate at £400,000. She appeared in the 2019 series of Celebrity Masterchef. In June 2021, the first trailer for ''Knockout Blonde'', a five-part documentary series about Maloney, was released.

Politics

In the 2004 London mayoral election, Maloney was the UKIP candidate and was criticised for comments about lesbian and gay people. These included the explanation that a failure to campaign in Camden was because there were "too many gays".

Maloney later told the BBC
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