{"id":9606,"date":"2023-12-25T10:58:48","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T15:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/jane-couch-pioneer-of-womens-boxing-to-be-inducted-into-hall-of-fame\/25\/12\/2023\/"},"modified":"2023-12-25T10:58:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T15:58:48","slug":"jane-couch-pioneer-of-womens-boxing-to-be-inducted-into-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/jane-couch-pioneer-of-womens-boxing-to-be-inducted-into-hall-of-fame\/25\/12\/2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Couch: Pioneer of women’s boxing to be inducted into Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

\n
<\/span><\/span>
Jane Couch finished her career with 28 wins and 11 losses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jane Couch was just 27 years old when she took on the British boxing world for the right to fight in the professional ranks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Couch was already a world champion by then and would go on to win more belts, two of them on British soil. <\/span><\/p>\n

She <\/span>paved the way for the stars of today,<\/span><\/a> and in June 2024 will officially be inducted into the International Hall of Fame, joining the likes of Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather and George Foreman.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Fleetwood fighter is the first British woman to be inducted and just the 10th on the ‘modern’ list.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’ve got a habit of being the first, haven’t I?” Couch told BBC Sport. <\/span><\/p>\n

When Couch was originally told she would be inducted, she was sure it was a scam with a New York phone number calling her out of the blue. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Really?” was her first response, but she realised how serious the caller, organiser Ed Brophy, was.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a bit surreal really. I mean there’s Ali, Frazier in there. It takes a while to sink in. When you look at women’s boxing in the UK, well I suppose I did do it [have a huge impact],” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I just realised how hard I did work and had to travel abroad to do it as well. A lot of the decisions that could have gone my way if I was at home. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I was a bit of a warrior. Stubborn. I just wanted to make a difference and I certainly did that. <\/span><\/p>\n

“But 39 pro fights, five world titles, the MBE and now the Hall of Fame – wow.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Surreal is an appropriate description for the life Couch has lived. She was ridiculed and verbally beaten down as a freakshow when she first pushed to box in the UK. <\/span><\/p>\n

Women’s boxing was banned in the UK until 1998 and until 2001 in Ireland.<\/span><\/p>\n

Couch would beat those naysayers in court, compete in 39 professional fights and be awarded an MBE in 2007 for her services to sport. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even now, as she pays tribute to the women who inspired her like American Christy Martin and Ireland’s own trailblazer Deirdre Gogarty, she is dropping off a voucher for a woman who was the victim of a dog attack in Fleetwood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Couch intervened to help and was left with 16 stitches in her leg. <\/span><\/p>\n

When she is officially inducted into the Hall of Fame it will be in Canastota in New York. She will travel with fellow inductee and long-time friend Ricky Hatton. <\/span><\/p>\n

The British Boxing Board of Control said it was a “great achievement for both”.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Split<\/span><\/span>
Couch’s historic court case changed the trajectory of women’s boxing in the UK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seven-weight world champion Amanda Serrano was one of the first people to congratulate Couch. <\/span><\/p>\n

Puerto Rican Serrano called Couch a “true pioneer”, saying “without this gem of a woman there would be no us”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Couch will stay at the Turning Stone Casino, about a four-hour drive from Foxwoods Casino where she fought three times and won her last title, the IWBF light-welterweight belt.<\/span><\/p>\n

She considers the Hall of Fame induction a bigger honour than her MBE, and bigger than the belts she won as a professional.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s pinching yourself when you read the list. It’s really, really an honour – an absolute honour,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s quite a big thing. In a way, the hard time I had with the British Board to get recognised, it sort of ends the argument. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Don’t it? I don’t really need to say any more about it. <\/span><\/p>\n

“They fought to keep me out and to keep women out and now I’m in the Hall of Fame. They must be thinking, maybe we were wrong?”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jane Couch finished her career with 28 wins and 11 losses Jane Couch was just 27 years old when she took on