World Youth Champion among 185 England Boxing Women’s Winter Box Cup entrants
December 2, 2018 | by Matt Halfpenny
World and European Youth Champion Gemma Richardson is among 185 confirmed entries for next weekend’s inaugural England Boxing Women’s Winter Cup, which promises to serve up a fantastic feast of action.
The 17-year-old student from Scunthorpe Boxing Club lines up in the Youth A category, 64kg for the UK’s first all-female amateur boxing event, held over two days (Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th December) in Manchester.
Joining Richardson at the George H Carnall Centre in Urmston is a long list of talent, including the evergreen Nina Hughes (Chadwell St Mary ABC, 54kg, Elite A).
After retiring at the age of 32 and having two children, she has returned to the ring following the raising of the age limit from 34 to 40 to win the Elite National finals, GB Three Nations and Best Boxer Award at the Haringey Box Cup.
Team England member Kim Rowe (Downend Police ABC, 60kg, Elite A) will warm up for her trip to the North-West by taking on GB squad member Hannah Robinson at the GB Championships in Sheffield on Thursday before heading across the Pennines to compete again 48 hours later.
The same is true of fellow Team England member Simran Kaur (Kings Heath Boxing Club, 51 kg, Youth A) who will take on GB’s Chloe Watson in Yorkshire and then take her place in Saturday’s event.
Former National Elite Champion Shona Whitwell (St Ives Boxing Academy, 60kg, Elite A) makes a welcome return to action after a long-term injury suffered at the 2017 European Championships, where she claimed a bronze medal.
And there will be plenty of international interest, too, with 23 boxers travelling from outside the UK to test their skills.
Leading that challenge is a strong team of six from Ireland, while Spain, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Latvia, the Netherlands, Guernsey and Jersey are also represented.
In all, 18 weight divisions (from 44kg to 81kg+) will be contested across a two-ring set-up, with semi-finals held on the Saturday and finals on the Sunday.
Bouts will be spilt into junior (14-15), Youth (16-17) and Elite/Senior (18-40) age groups and will take place over two rounds of three minutes rounds or three rounds of three minutes, depending on each boxer’s age.
The England Boxing Women’s Winter Box Cup has been introduced by the sport’s national governing body in a bid to give women and girls more opportunity to box competitively, while also serving to inspire others to give boxing a go.
Coaches are asked to check that all information listed on their boxer is correct and should email lynsey.lockey@englandboxing.org is the case of any discrepancies.
You can go along to support the boxers on both days of competition, with doors for the spectators open from 10am. Admission is £15 for adults and £5 for concessions (under-5s are free).
Event weigh-in
Event weigh-in, registration and draw will take place from 6pm to 9pm on Friday 7th December.
England Boxing Women’s Winter Box Cup timetable (for both Saturday and Sunday)
8am – access available to the venue for boxers.
8am to 10am – all boxers to collect accreditations and complete medicals.
10am – doors to main hall open for spectators.
11am – session one commences.
2pm to 2.30pm – break in boxing.
2.30pm – session two commences.
