Nina Hughes
\n ISLAMABAD
\nEven by the standards of women\u2019s boxing, Nina Hughes\u2019 rise to the top has been supercharged.
\nShe became WBA bantamweight champion in November last year by outpointing Jamie Mitchell in Dubai, in just her fifth professional fight.
\nThis is made more remarkable by Hughes being a 41-year-old mother of two who still works a part-time secretarial job to help support her young children.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d she tells BBC Sport. \u201cFive fights and I become world champion, it has happened all so quickly.\u201d
\nYet not quite as quickly as it might first appear. Hughes has been boxing for more than 15 years. She has been written off plenty of times, not least by herself.
\nHughes, from Grays in Essex, began boxercise classes at the age of 25. She had no intention of stepping into the ring competitively.
\n\u201cI was purely enjoying the fitness, but I got talked into it by my coach,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I started sparring, then he said \u2018you\u2019re ready to box\u2019.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t think I was good, the boys kept beating me up!\u201d
\nHowever, after moving her training to a women\u2019s gym and realising her capability, Hughes began an amateur career which proved so fruitful it earned her a place in the British squad.
\nShe travelled the world for tournaments alongside fighters including Nicola Adams, who fought in the same weight class. When it came to selection for London 2012 – the first Olympics in which women\u2019s boxing was a medal event – Adams was selected while Hughes missed out.
\nAdams famously won gold in London – and in Rio four years later – and became a household name.
\nMeanwhile, Hughes felt she had hit her limit in boxing, with limited opportunities for females to turn professional.
\nShe quit the sport and had two children, only boxing as a hobby in order to lose weight.
\n\u201cIt was only me and Nicola left at our weight, but I was too inexperienced,\u201d Hughes says of the London 2012 disappointment. \u201cThe decision was right, she won two golds.
\n\u201cIt was obviously very gutting because my age went against me even then – if I was younger they would have kept me on for Rio, but I was coming on for 30.
\n\u201cAfter training full time it was hard to go back to work, it was a big change. It was heartbreaking. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d get back into it.\u201d
\nDespite her setbacks, Hughes\u2019 passion for boxing never dimmed. She was back in the gym just three weeks after her second child was born, although there were no thoughts of fighting competitively again until the 2020 coronavirus lockdown.
\n\u201cThe gyms were shut for so long, I did think it was time to retire, but I missed it,\u201d she says.
\n\u201cThey were showing a lot of female fights on TV, and I thought \u2018if I don\u2019t try it, I\u2019ll never know\u2019.\u201d
\nHughes joined the professional Newlands gym in Wickford – and the rest is boxing history still in the making.
\nShe had her first professional fight in December 2021, before taking three fights in six months through 2022 from which she picked up two stoppage victories.
\nThis led to the bout with reigning bantamweight champion Mitchell, for which she was the underdog. But Hughes earned a unanimous points victory, after which the American admitted \u201cshe was tougher than I thought\u201d.
\nHughes never doubted her ability – even if the speed of her rise has surprised even her.
\n\u201cWe were pushing, aiming to be world champion in two years,\u201d she says. \u201cI always knew I would be good enough, but I didn\u2019t think I would get an opportunity.
\n\u201cShe [Mitchell] thought she would walk through me, but that was good for me. I wouldn\u2019t have got a chance otherwise.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a good feeling [to be champion], really satisfying. With my age they laugh at me, they never give me a chance. Now I\u2019ve got the belt, everyone wants to fight.\u201d
\nHughes wants former WBA bantamweight world champion Shannon Courtenay for her next fight, with a summer date, possibly June, being targeted.
\nWhether that fight happens Hughes, having signed with Matchroom, is looking to a bright future in which her age is irrelevant.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t feel my age, you are only as old as you feel,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think I should be discriminated against because I\u2019m 41.
\n\u201cI\u2019ll know when my body is telling me I have had enough. If I started when I was 12, my body would be a lot more worn.
\n\u201cI\u2019m making up for lost time, definitely. Boxers often get nurtured through the pro ranks, but I wanted to push on quickly.\u201d
\nAs well as her age and the prejudice that can bring, Hughes has had to balance her boxing career with her family life.
\nHaving separated from her partner, she now spends much of her time looking after her children, aged six and eight, as well as working three days a week in London as a personal assistant.
\n\u201cI think people wrote me off, because they look at my lack of professional experience and age, but it has been a 15-year journey to get here,\u201d she says.
\n\u201cIt was all a dream, then finally a dream come true. I can\u2019t believe I actually did it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nina Hughes ISLAMABAD Even by the standards of women\u2019s boxing, Nina Hughes\u2019 rise to the top has been supercharged. She became WBA bantamweight champion in November last year by outpointing Jamie Mitchell in Dubai, in just her fifth professional fight. This is made more remarkable by Hughes being a 41-year-old mother of two who still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-324381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n