Punchy or smooth?

PEANUT butter-munching boxing champ Megan Gordon has been beaten to the punch by her coach – and banned from feasting on her favourite snack. “Princess Meg” from Elgin – Scotland’s first female Commonwealth boxer – was ordered off the scrummy spread by her dad Paul after feasting on jars of peanut butter. Megan, 17, has even named her dog Peanut after her favourite snack and is still allowed the odd binge when she’s not preparing for her next bout. Scottish Youth 48-52kg champion, Megan is just back from the Bahamas, where she got another unpalatable ban. She was selected for the Commonwealth Youth Games but her coaches ordered her to stay out of the sun. Megan said: “It was 10 days in the Bahamas, easily my best trip so far. “But I got put on a sun ban so I wasn’t allowed outside and I love the sun. “The sun can drain and dehydrate you so I was quite gutted. Fortunately it rained most of the time – I think it was monsoon season.” But Megan, who trains six days a week under the watchful eye of Paul, is serious about her sport and came home clutching a bronze medal.

That can partly be put down to strict diet and exercise, which means cutting out the peanut spread.

Megan added: “I’m addicted to peanut butter and I even named the family dog Peanut. I’ve had to lay off it because the amount I was getting through was not the healthiest.

“I’d have a spoonful of it or put it on bananas. I’ve had it with chicken, in my porridge, literally anything. I’ve even got my dog eating it now.”

Paul, who moved to Moray from Germany with the RAF a week before Megan was born, slapped a peanut butter ban on her.

But Megan said: “He’s kind of banned me but I’ll have a little blow out after a competition but then get straight back into training.”

Megan’s hard work and peanut ban clearly paid off in the Bahamas.

She said: “I won my first match against the Cayman Islands and then I lost the second on a split (decision) to New Zealand.

“The girl had double the experience I had but I did better than I expected against her.

“Granted I didn’t get as far as I wanted but I felt I did well.”

Despite her success, Megan, who works as a hotel waitress in Rothes, has no plans to turn professional.

She said: “I want to see how far I can go in the amateurs. There’s the Commonwealth Games coming up in Australia next year.

“I’m three-time Scottish champion and runner-up in the British, where I lost out again on a split decision.”

But there’s no knife-edge ruling when it comes to her choice of peanut butter. It’s crunchy – or should that be punchy?