You couldn’t pick a better time to be coming through in women’s boxing. With every month that passes, there’s another undisputed championship fight, or yet another milestone has been reached.
Unbeaten super flyweight Shannon Ryan was a fighter long before she took up boxing. The Watford-based prospect was a martial artist and competition fighter, competing in both kickboxing and taekwondo, and she was very gifted.
And while she can no longer use her legs as direct weapons against the opposition, Ryan has benefitted from having a strong background in combat sports.
“I was at such a high level [in kickboxing] where you’ve got the crowds behind you,” said Ryan in an interview with The Sporting News. “I know what it’s like to walk onto the matted area, so I know what the nerves feel like, and just being able to hold your own, fight, and have the heart to win and try to be the best.
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“It’s been challenging at times because when I was doing kickboxing and taekwondo — well, certainly with kickboxing — you can’t knock [opponents] out, so we’ve had to work a lot on sitting down on the punches, building a base, and working on power. In the five years I’ve been in boxing, I’ve shown that through consistency, hard work,…
