Nicola Adams backs Women’s Winter Box Cup

DOUBLE Olympic gold medallist Nicola Adams has backed England Boxing’s Women’s Winter Box Cup to help uncover the next generation of world-class boxers.

The all-female boxing event is being held this coming weekend (8^th and 9^th December) at the George H Carnall Centre in Urmston, Manchester.

More than 180 women and girls of varying abilities have entered across 18 weight divisions, including boxers from Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Guernsey and Jersey.

Adams, who won the first Women’s Elite ABA Championships in 2003 at 54kg and clinched the title a further three times, is delighted to see measures being put in place to ensure the sport continues to grow from grassroots level up.

“I think the Box Cup will help massively for the development of the next generation coming through,” she said.

“I’m really pleased and happy to see that things are moving forwards in women’s boxing in England and that women and girls are starting to get just as many opportunities as the guys.

“We are already getting European and World medals, so I can only see things getting better and better from here with events like this.”

The popularity of boxing among women and girls continues to rise, with 1,560 female members of England Boxing in 2017, up from 1,287 in 2015.

The sport’s national governing body is keen to keep that momentum going and capitalise on the successes of Adams and others such as Caroline Dubois, who won a gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in October.

Terri Kelly, who sits on England Boxing’s Rules and Regulations sub-committee, has played a leading role in initiating the England Boxing’s Women’s Winter Cup.

Having also helped establish the mixed-gender Haringey Box Cup as one of the leading events on the national amateur circuit, she is confident the England Boxing Women’s Winter Box Cup can be a success.

She said: “Amateur women’s boxing has come a long way in the past few years, particularly with the exposure it has attracted through the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, and the standard and interest is improving all the time.

“One of my proudest moments was watching Nicola Adams, who was representing Haringey Boxing Club as well as England at the time, win the 2012 Olympics.

“There are a number of things we can do to continue to aid development and equity for women in the sport of boxing and this is a major step forward. Girls and women need to see their participation in boxing as ‘normal’; they are athletes, talented at a sport and must be respected as such.”