“She’s announced herself to the world and proved she has what it takes"
18-year-old Romany Gypsy boxer, Ivy-Jane Smith, has been tipped to make it on to Team GB at the next Olympics, after walking away with a silver medal at the AIBA Youth Women’s World Boxing Championships
Ivy-Jane Smith is the first boxer associated with Portsmouth to reach the last stage of a world competition and one of the first British female youth boxers to make it to a world championship final.
Ivy-Jane Smith told the Travellers’ Times:
“Winning Silver was an amazing achievement, all the hard work and dedication has paid off, the hope is to represent GB boxing in the Olympics and many more competitions, but we will just have to wait and see!”.
Her advice to any aspiring female boxers out there is: “Just don’t give up!”.
Q’ Shillingford MBE is head coach at Heart of Portsmouth Boxing Academy a Boxing Academy at the Centre of the community that caters for all genders, ages and abilities. He is also a GB Boxing Performance Coach, an England Boxing Talent Development Coach and an England Boxing Coach Educator.
‘Q’ was trained by the late Billy Pike, a member of the Travelling community in 1979 in Andover, Hampshire.
He added, “He taught me everything I know, he was my first male role model and I looked up to him like a father figure”.
By Lisa Smith/TT News