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Newspapers and Magazines written for include: The Observer |
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The Gloves are on. The Boxing world has some brand new contenders and they're not pulling any punches. Seth Linder reports on the women who are a spoiling for a fight. Seconds, away, round one…. Rock music thunders as the spotlight picks out the first of the boxers, threading her way through the packed hall in Fleetwood, Lancashire. People stand on their seats, greeting with a huge roar the arrival of Jane Couch, the local favourite. The promoter’s introductions are drowned out by the chants of “Couchie…Couchie”. If women’s boxing is still in its infancy, try telling this crowd that it lacks the excitement or intensity of men’s boxing. Of course, things are different. Apart from the small group of lads drinking near the bar, the hall has a family feel in keeping with this seaside town. Women of all ages sit, smiling as the round card is paraded – not by a leggy blonde, but by a young boy. Tonight’s contestants include a nursery school teacher, a sociology student, a schoolgirl and a pastry cook. But, from the moment Jane Couch opens the defence of her welterweight title with a savage flurry of punches, all expectations of a softer approach are confounded. One of the main focal points for this fast-growing sport is Casey’s, a small gym squeezed into the basement of a south London club. Here, a few days before the tournament in Fleetwood, Pauline Dickson, a top women’s coach and founder of the Association of Women Boxers, is putting four boxers through their final pre-match training session. An enthusiastic 30-year-old Scot, Dickson is convinced that women have the edge on men in terms of dedication and discipline and are rapidly acquiring the skills to match them in technique. Julia Shirley, 25, is probably the most advanced of Dickson’s protégés. She has been boxing for just one year and she seems too frail for the demands for such a tough sport. But appearances are very deceptive. Like many of the women, Shirley has come to the sport through kickboxing and other martial arts and she exudes an air of quiet assurance. Managed by her husband, Dave, she will be challenging for the vacant Super-Welterweight title in Fleetwood against European kickboxing champion, Fosteres Joseph. After training, Shirley sits at the bar with three other Casey’s hopefuls: Jo Brooks, a 23-year-old student: Tracey Reeves, who has taken up boxing in her thirties, and Karen Long, a 25-year-old teacher. Training is arduous and time-consuming (up to 30 hours a week for a championship contender) and, whatever has drawn these women to the sport, it isn’t money; if Shirley retains her title she’ll be lucky to meet her expenses for the trip. So, what’s the attraction? Reeves took up boxing to get fit but has found it has helped to focus her mentally too. : “If you lose concentration, you get hit,” she says. “You learn to channel your aggression, so that you’re in total control of your body.” Brooks has found that managing to keep her temper in the ring has helped her outside it. “Lose control and you lose the fight,” she says, “ I think I’m calmer now and a lot less stressed." "Letting your aggression out is an attraction,” says Reeves, “but you’re not concentrating on hurting someone, just on how well you can get a punch across.” Long agrees. “When you’re punching a sparring partner, you’re not thinking of what you’re doing to them, you just want to hit her before she hits you. “ None of these women see the sport as inherently masculine, pointing out that boxers move from the hips, an advantage for women. The main problem, though, is that women are conditioned not to react to violence. “It all depends on how you feel the first time someone punches you in the face,” says Reeves. “It’s harder for women to get over the initial shock. That moment decides whether you want to continue with boxing or not.” There’s camaraderie to women’s boxing, a sense of pulling together, that is noticeably absent from the male arena. Pauline Dickson sees these women as reclaiming the original sporting ethic in a boxing world tainted by exploitation. “We want everyone to get their chance,” she says, “regardless of their ability to sell tickets. Money is not the motivation.” Just as well, given the lack of it in the women’s boxing. Some women boxers receive nothing at all for their fights, others up to £200, depending on the level they’re fighting at. It’s true that things are slowly improving: a satellite TV station has expressed an interest in televising the sport and promoters are beginning to see its commercial potential, but there is still a long way to go. The day of the tournament arrives. Outside the dome-topped Marine Hall in Fleetwood, families stroll in the sun. Inside, nerves are taut. The boxers sit in the sparse dressing rooms or amble along to the weigh-in. The boxers from Casey’s drove up the day before and started their preparations with a walk on the beach. Brooks, who is to fight 15-year-old Madeleine Davies in an exhibition match, tries to calm her opponent. “It’s not me you’re frightened of, is it?” Ringside, Davies’ father waits. It’s his daughter’s first match. He believes boxing has matured her quickly and bolstered her confidence. He’s quick to insist that she’s lost none of her femininity. “She’s never been a cuddly-toy-sort-of-girl,” he says. “But she’s soft to talk to and concerned for other people. As long as she doesn’t become overly aggressive, the boxing doesn’t worry me.” All the same, he quietly hopes that other things will come along before his daughter gets a chance to achieve her championship ambitions. He may be disappointed. She may have been shaking as she walked to the ring, but Davies looks all too comfortable in it. As an exhibition bout, it’s meant to be a restrained affair but the punching, largely from Davies, is fast and furious. The crowd cheer her on and Brooks, whose role is to contain, momentarily loses control as combination punches knock her head back. When the fight ends and the cheers die down, both boxers are unscathed and Davies’ father, who hardly drew breath during rounds, sinks back in relief. The next fight is a more savage affair. Michelle Hushion, a gym instructor from Manchester, and Louise Tuppen, a life-guard from Hove, are both novices, but neither lack skill. The power and speed of the punches are a shock. Halfway through the third round, Tuppen sinks beneath a barrage of blows to the face and the fight is stopped. Afterwards, Hushion likens her pre-match nerves to waiting to go on a fast ride at the fair. “The adrenalin is burning,” she says. “You’re terrified inside but you still want to do it.” The match between Julia Shirley and Fosteres Joseph is more even. Shirley, considerably taller and more skilful, relies on defensive techniques as her dreadlocked opponent begins a furious onslaught that doesn’t let up until the end of round eight. Shirley winces in pain at a low blow (women boxers don’t have to wear groin protectors and few choose to wear chest protectors). Joseph has a point deducted. Shirley scores with body shots but begins to tire beneath the ceaseless attack. Her husband frantically fans her face with a towel beneath rounds. Pauline Dickson advises strategy, but to no avail. The match and title go to Joseph. Back in her dressing room, Joseph is still buzzing. A tutor in child development, she had encouraged herself with the words of Jamaican hero, Marcus Garvey: “I will not be defeated, I will not be whipped.” She sees herself as a role model, teaching her two children to respect the “strong woman”, and a trail-blazer for the right of women to be whatever they want. “We’re fighting a society that says women should be in the house with the children,” she says. “We can have our father’s genes as men have their mother’s. Men can work on their feminine side, so why shouldn’t we box? I love romance and flowery dresses too, but I’m asserting my femininity by being true to my nature.” Down at the ring, Jane Couch is also being true to her nature. As 500 people roar her on, Couch’s Aunt Marge, who sits in the third row, turns her face at every blow. “Jane has a lovely nature,” Aunt Marge confides, “but don’t cross her. Mind you, she’s calmed down a lot since she took up boxing. It’s a good way to get the aggression out.” Aunt Marge, who suffers with angina, has to leave the hall in the middle of the third round, but returns in time to see the fight stopped in the fourth, as Couch’s opponent suffers a sprained ankle. At the party afterwards, held in a local football club, the boxers mix with the locals and swap judgements on the fights. Shirley, unhappy at the result of her fight, embraces Joseph and talks of a re-match. Despite the ferocity of the punches, not a single face is marked. Davies left a while ago – it’s another schoolday tomorrow. She’s already looking forward to her first ‘real’ fight and dreaming of a time when she’s world champion and women’s boxing is right up there with the men’s. |
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The following article appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine.