First Highland female professional boxer aims to inspire more women into the sport
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LORNA Redfern is set to make history as the first female boxer from the Highlands to compete as a professional fighter.
She will enter the ring at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness on Saturday, October 14 and compete as a professional boxer for the first time.
She is no stranger to boxing, having had major success as an amateur fighter previously in her career.
But now with women’s boxing enjoying its highest ever profile, she hopes she can lead the way and inspire other women in the north to take up the sport and follow their dreams.
“I want to show women and girls that if they are talented enough, that they can come through and compete in boxing professionally,” she said.
“I want to lead the way for other women in the Highlands.
“I want to show they can go down the line and be good enough to win a title.
“If I can manage to do that, then I feel like that I will have done my bit.”
Redfern couldn’t get better guidance for helping her through her boxing career, both amateur and professionally, than from her father.
Legendary boxing coach Laurie Redfern is the head coach and owner of Inverness City Boxing Club based in Grant Street.
She says throughout her life she has been following her dad in the gym and at shows.
She says it was inevitable that she too would eventually get into the ring and want to compete herself.
“My love for boxing came from when I was born,” she admitted.
“My dad has always had the boxing gym and it became second nature for me to be in there.
“Whether it was sitting on the sidelines, watching or putting the gloves on and hitting the bag, I loved it.
“Sometimes as a kid, I went to different places with him and stood with him in the corner.
“It has always been part of my life and a natural progression to want to take part in boxing and do it competitively.
“Through him, I have had opportunities to train at major gyms.
"I trained at Vauxhall Motors under Peter Whelan. St Paul’s in Hull under Mike Bromby and sparring in Bolton in Amir Khan’s gym.
“My dad has always been supportive of me boxing and said that if i’m going to do it, wanted to make sure I have the full skill set to do it.”
Redfern's first earned notable success in boxing when she was serving in the army with the Royal Artillery. She joined the army straight after leaving Inverness High School.
She was part of the army boxing team when she was crowned Army Boxing Association champion.
During her army career, she went to Afghanistan and also spent time being based in England working as a personal training instructor.
Redfern also made history competing at the Diamonds in the Ring event, which took place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool in 2014. It was the first tournament which billed only top female fighters in the country.
Redfern says in the last decade, women’s boxing is now enjoying a bigger stage and more respect in the sport than it has ever done before.
She says before that, it wasn’t the case and spoke of her frustration of trying to get fights of any kind during the early years of her career.
“It was a problem in Scotland and throughout the UK as there was not really any women in boxing.
“I was in the gym and there were boys who were training and getting a fight after a couple of months.
“Where I was training for years in the gym and not getting the chance of a fight.
“It was frustrating, but times have now changed and there are more women involved in boxing than there was before.
“I have been lucky with boxing and been involved in a number of firsts and being the first professional female boxer from the Highlands will be a first in itself.”
As well as boxing, Redfern is an accomplished horse rider and also competes in equestrian events.
She says from a young age, she has always been naturally competitive and took part in a number of sports.
For Redfern, the prospect of entering a boxing ring, is far less daunting than riding into competition with a horse.
“I actually feel more comfortable going into a boxing ring rather than a show ring with a horse, that’s the way I grew up. But I wouldn’t go into competition with a horse if I didn’t have confidence in it.
“I enjoy both boxing and equestrian and I am competitive when it comes to sport.
“I have always had enthusiasm for sport. There is not so much pressure with boxing. But when you go into competition with a horse, you don’t want to let the horse down, that is the difference.
“I remember competing at the Horse of the Year Show and entering the show ring to the Rocky theme tune, I thought that was great due to being a boxer too.
"I like to compete and focussing a lot on horses.
“And I want to box professionally and by competing next weekend, hopefully it leads the way for other females in the Highlands that they can go professional too and it is not limited to men.”
Redfern is now putting in final preparations for her first professional fight next Saturday at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness.
It is the same event as fellow Inverness City Boxing Club athlete Calum Turnbull will be competing for the Scottish Super Bantamweight Championship against Bellshill boxer Dylan Arbuckle.
She says she is confident that she can get the job done next Saturday.
She says with the help she is getting at Inverness City Boxing Club from her dad and other boxers at the gym, will put her in the right shape.
“It has been good preparation, I am quite lucky with the boys that are at the gym to help me with training.”
