Rachel Ball, Welcome addition to Women's Professional Boxing
Rachel Ball
welcome addition to Women's Professional Boxing
Rachel Ball is a Super Bantamweight/Featherweight professional boxer from Aldridge Walsall . Ball (26) is a 5 foot 9 Orthodox Boxer and made her professional debut at Bescott stadium (Walsall fc ground) in December 2017 winning in convincing manner on points. Rachel is no new comer to the squared circle as she is a former three times World Kickboxing Champion.
Ball fights out of Trojan MA gym and is trained by Gavin Burrows with her favorite boxer being the Irish queen of boxing Katie Taylor, Rachel told the Column "its because of her work rate and strength she is phenomenal. I think that she is one of the most exciting boxers their out at the moment and I don’t see anyone beating her at her weight, the movement that she demonstrated in her last fight was world class and I don’t think she can be considered anything other than that, world class!" Ball continued by saying "It’s women like Katie Taylor and Nicola Adams that have made everyone respect female boxers and made it excel so quickly compared to that of other women’s sport, football for example".
When Ball was asked what has been the best fight she has seen? Rachel told me "I haven’t got a single fight that I can pin point as my favourite fight. I’ve watched many fights across different disciplines, with my previous fighting styles I’ve got an appreciation of Muay Thai, K1, Boxing and MMA too but for me you can’t beat a good knock out when something has connected".
My Next question was how long have you been boxing? Rachel informed me "I’ve had four White Collar boxing fights over the past 2 and a half years alongside kickboxing and K1 fights. It has been since I fought in Malta, May 2017 that myself and Gavin decided that turning Professional at Boxing and that it is the right decision for me rather than the amateurs. I’ve been training boxing for several years now as it forms a lot of training for other styles of fighting at Trojan MA. It is now just solely hands for me and has been since the summer in preparation for my transition into Boxing".
I then asked the former world champ what inspired you to take up Boxing? Ball told me "I started Karate when I was 7, I achieved my second Dan Black belt by the time I was 16 and progressed into Kickboxing where I also did K1 and Boxing. 2017 was the year that myself and Gavin decided that we were no longer going to compete in the kickboxing World and that we were either going to pursue K1 with hopes to get into Glory or Professional Boxing. Since transitioning into Boxing, it is like learning my trade all over again and I like it, I’ve learned so much already and it’s just the start. Rachel continued "I’m really excited to see what 2018 brings and to see how much I have progressed".
My final question to Ball was, what has been your hardest fight? Rachel told me "My second World Title fight in New York was a really tough fight, my opponent was relentless in coming forward and I had to fight with everything I had to get the win. My corner were pushing me so hard because they knew I was the away fighter and could so easily loose and to be honest I thought that I wasn’t going to get the win because I thought that I was doing badly because they were going crazy at me, but it obviously got me to do what I needed to do. The head of the association had to speak to the judges because they had been too bias to the home fighter, so it was a difficult fight because of the home bias too. inspirational".
Rachel finished by saying "Trojan MA does have another coach, Todd Harrison who is my boyfriend of seven years. He is a qualified ABA boxing instructor and is looking into becoming a Pro Boxing Second in 2018, he has always been in my corner and couldn’t be in my debut as he’s not registered to be so I’m looking forward to having him in my corner again in 2018".
Dexter's Thoughts
Another Kickboxer turning to the noble art and what a welcome addition to the female ranks, Rachel Ball got off to a impressive points victory at Walsall football club in December 2017 against a veteran female fighter. I could not be at the show due to work commitments but saw the fight on a live stream and was very impressed. Her movement and shot selection were very good against a fighter who came to hold and spoil her work. Deepak one of the columns correspondences who was reporting on the show and like myself was very impressed. Rachel is a very welcome addition to the ever growing women's boxing stable in Birmingham and the Black Country. With the likes of female professional fighter Lauren "Blackwidow" Johnson leading the way in the Midlands and with Katie Taylor and Nicola Adams doing it on the world level, female boxing is looking good. Their are a lot of boxing clubs now doing female only and mixed sessions and a lot of females are now taking up the noble art. In the amateur ranks you have Bartley Green ABC, Eastside ABC, Pat Benson boxing academy, Hall Green ABC, Second city ABC, Wayne Ellcocks gym all these welcome females into there ranks as do most amateur clubs. Their are also women only nights at a lot of these clubs, I myself helped start a women's only boxing night at Narrna's gym Bartley Green over seven years ago on a Wednesday and it is still going strong. I have also reffed quite a few white collar shows when females have boxed and have got to say that some of the female boxers are of a better standard than the lads. Female Boxing is here to stay and I welcome it and will be looking forward to seeing Rachel box in 2018 and for women's boxing to progress.