AMATEURS
Valerian Spicer hangs up her gloves
Top female fighter hangs up her gloves
AFTER an amateur boxing career that has seen her compete in World championships and two editions of the Commonwealth Games, Valerian Spicer will hang up her gloves.
She finished her career at Gold Coast 2018, going to the prestigious multisport tournament remarkably soon after having a baby.
“It was always going to be the last thing I was going to do,” Valerian told Boxing News. “I had my son and thought I could squeeze in another Commonwealth Games.”
She explained, “It was really tough going, I was still training while I was pregnant but obviously it was very limited. Obviously I couldn’t spar, I couldn’t enter competitions. But I was still doing some boxing training, I was still doing some strength and conditioning. Then I had Hamish. It was a week I waited. Then I got back there again to start training. It was very gentle at first. I kept stepping it up and stepping it up. It was tough. The toughest bit was the sleep deprivation that was really, really difficult. But Hamish lived in a boxing gym for the first five months of his life.”
Making weight is demanding for any boxer, but especially so under these unique circumstances. “I made the decision I wanted to get back to my old weight division, which was 57kgs, for the Commonwealth Games. It was the first time [that category] had come into the major tournaments. I ended up losing 28 kilos, just to get down to the weight,” Spicer said.
She did her first competition just 12 weeks after her son was born. “I hadn’t boxed for nearly two years, so it was all quite fast tracked,” Valerian said. “It was the Golden Girls in Sweden, so I was still losing the weight at that point, I did it at 64kgs. I had three bouts out there, I got to the finals. I lost in the finals.”
She represented Dominica at the Commonwealths, but lost to Scotland in her first bout in Australia. “I set the goal of doing another Commonwealth Games, I made it happen basically. In hindsight there wasn’t enough time to get prepared. Five months wasn’t enough time to get to where I was for such a major tournament. I’m glad I went for it, I’ve got no regrets,” Spicer said. “Physically I got myself back again but it was more being comfortable back in the ring, the timing.”
An eventful amateur career saw her win her first international bout at Glasgow 2014 and, in only her third international contest, box Katie Taylor, the best female boxer ever. “I keep being thrown into the fire. It was a big deal for me at the time,” she said. “It was a great experience... I am going to miss competing. For eight years it’s been the focus of my life,” she concluded.
“I made the most of the opportunities and I’m proud when I look back at the things I have achieved.“
‘I’M PROUD WHEN I LOOK BACK AT THE THINGS I HAVE ACHIEVED’