The Day I...
became a world champion boxer
Igrew up on a hill farm with my mum, Clare, dad, Andrew, and two younger sisters Emma, now 27, and Alice, 26. There were a lot of sheep on our farm. Every summer, my parents sheared them so we couldn’t go away on holidays. Instead I used to roll the newly shorn fleeces. It taught me a really good work ethic from a young age. It was an idyllic childhood. My mum was musical and we were all encouraged to do music. She had us young and we were best friends. I had a special connection with my mum through music. I played piano and flute, and then bassoon. I got a place at the Junior Academy at The Conservatoire for the bassoon and went there on Saturdays. I was 16. From there I went on to study a Bachelor of Music with Honours at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow followed by a Masters degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London. But at the end of my first term I went home for Christmas to find that my mum was ill. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and, six months later, she passed away. I was 22. It was a really difficult time for the whole family. My dad had to hold everything together at home and my sisters were living in Australia.They came home when mum got sick but she wouldn’t let me come to stay with her. She said I had to focus on university. At that point I was learning to box for fitness and had told my mum about it. She used to do kick boxing for fun and fitness when she was younger. I did my first white-collar fight in 2014 for charity but got to the point where I didn’t have any opponents. I was getting frustrated. My coach, Noel Callan, said I could go down the amateur route and work towards the Olympic team or I could go down the professional route. I went professional. Noel took me to spar with some professional female boxers such as Mikaela Lauren, who is a six-times world champion just retired – someone who I view as my big sister in the sport.
I did well in sparring but it was hard work. I got my butt kicked at first, but I had the bug by that point. I won the World Boxing Council Silver Middleweight title – my first big title win at home in Scotland in Paisley last June. It turned out to be a lucky venue for me. Then in August, I went to New York for a Super Middleweight title fight – two weight classes above what I normally box. I fought Alicia Napoleon. It was meant to be on Fox Sports but the fight wasn’t shown, which was shocking.They turned off the cameras because they thought no one would want to watch women’s boxing. It was dubbed “the best fight that you never saw”. It was a great fight, but I lost on points. The next was in November in Kansas with Claressa Shields – one of the top female boxers in the world. It was for the Unified Middleweight Champion of the World title, which I also lost on points. But then last Sunday – a year to the day since I won the WBC Silver Middleweight title, and at the same venue in Paisley – I took the International Boxing Organisation’s Super Welterweight World title. It was my 10th fight and my third attempt to win a world title, but my first in my true weight class. It felt absolutely amazing to become Scotland’s first female world boxing champion. It was special to make a bit of history for my country and I was really proud. I owe a lot to boxing, to Noel my coach and Sam Kynock, my manager. Boxing helped me when my mum was sick. It was a great way for me to switch off from all the stresses. After my mum passed away it was an outlet for all the frustration and anger, but it was also great to have such a strong team of people supporting me at the gym. My mum was 43 when we lost her. She did not see me graduate from my Masters or take the world title in boxing. But I am sure she would be really proud of me and my sisters.We are all working in male dominated areas – my sisters in farming and me in boxing. I also teach music and work freelance in orchestras. My wind quintet, the Coriolis, works with Live Music Now, taking music to schools and care homes for people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s. It is so rewarding to see how it affects their lives. And every time I walk out for my fights, I know my mum is there. I wanted to win the world title for her and it was a chance to win it at home in Scotland.
After mum passed, boxing was an outlet for all my frustration and anger