Reporter MARION SAUVEBOIS talks to female boxer Bec Connolly, 32, on the trials of tribulations of being a devoted mother to four children, a personal trainer and soon-to-be professional fighter

IN LIFE, as in the ring, Bec Connolly pulls no punches.

Sitting at her kitchen table, occasionally rolling her eyes in amusement as her boisterous boys hurtle back and forth from the living room, she is the image of warmth and domesticity. But as the conversation shifts to her upcoming fight, her expression hardens with resolve and fearlessness.

Gone is the devoted mother; the soon-to-be pro boxer has entered the ring.

“People ask me if I worry about getting hurt; what will the kids do if I got seriously hurt?” she volunteers. “Of course I have thought about it. But the second you let that thought get hold you shouldn’t be fighting.

“I love the rawness of boxing. Once you climb through those ropes, that’s it. It’s war,” beams the 32-year-old from Gorse Hill. “Every ounce of heart in you is exposed and up for scrutiny. It’s a heady mixture of anxiety, adrenaline, composure, pressure and determination to triumph.

“My coach Paddy [Fitzpatrick] explains the ring as ‘life compacted’ and he’s right. Within the short minutes of rounds each fighter experiences the ups, the downs, the comebacks, the highs and the lows. It’s a concentrated reflection our everyday lives.

“There are risks in anything you do in life,” she pauses as her youngest son, four-year-old Reg, bursts through the door, clambering on the chair next to hers. “I hope my children become risk-takers in life.”

But the poised, single-minded woman was not always so confident in her ability or her and her family’s prospects. Until she stepped into Fitzpatrick’s Boxing Gym for the first time in 2012, with only vague memories of her teenage judo days and virtually no concept of boxing, Bec was a fragile mother of four children under five, determined to regain control and put an abusive marriage behind her.

Undeterred by her lack of natural aptitude she muddled along. Through sheer grit, discipline, relentless graft and a heavy dose of coach Paddy Fitzpatrick’s tough love approach, she steadily progressed.

“I’m relentless by nature and really disciplined; I knew I wanted to fight again,” she shrugs. “Paddy had only three rules: pay up, no swearing and be cool.”

A year later she was ready for her first white collar fight, in aid of Prospect Hospice. She won in the second round; there and then, she knew she had found her calling.

“I didn’t know what to expect, I had no experience – but I went in to win,” smiles the full-time personal trainer and nutrition coach. “People don’t realise how physically exhausting just a two-minute round can be. The emotions just drain you. It really is the toughest thing I’ve ever done.”

In 2014, she was invited by Paddy to join the amateur team. Last year, she headed on to the London prizefighter scene. Throughout, she juggled dawn and late-night training sessions, raising children alone – her little clan usually tagging along to the gym with her after school – and launching her personal training and nutrition business All Or Nothing Fitness, which she runs from Fitzpatrick’s.

“That year was a tough one,” she concedes. “We had to move house, the boys started school. I studied nutrition. I was trying to set up a new business full-time, keep up with my boxing training and fights and be a mum-of-four full-time. Even now there are days where I feel like Mary Poppins and others when they bring me to my knees and I think ‘have I taken on too much?’

“I’ve do the bulk of my training from 6am to 7am then I do the school run. I take my nutrition clients or train people for my business during the day, train with Paddy, then it’s the school run again and I cook dinner. The kids come with me to the gym at 5.30pm; I do an hour of fighting or sparring and then they go back to their babysitter’s and I condition boxers before my ladies’ fitness class. I do personal training until 9.30pm. It’s a long day.”

She is now preparing to join the likes of Swindon’s own Kelly Morgan as one of just six professional female boxers in the country.

While she is fit and healthy, at 32 she is aware she may not have many viable years left in the industry. But she is counting her blessings. Until just a short while ago, she would have been deemed too old to even consider competing; but the sport has relaxed its strict age limit and has grown more inclusive recently.

“I’m in good shape but I’m not naïve,” she smiles wistfully. “I’m hoping to have my debut next year but I know it’s not going to last forever. With the rise of Kelly Morgan to a world title shot at 36 years old, I think it’s opened a lot of eyes up to the fact that we are looking after ourselves better, we are still in top physical condition. She has done so much and it’s encouraging to see it. So I’ve got potentially four years at least to fight.”

For Bec, who still wrestles with nerves and pre-match anxiety, turning professional and facing some of Europe’s strongest fighters will no doubt prove her toughest challenge yet. But standing still, she adds without missing a beat, was never an option.

“Your comfort zone is the most dangerous place to stay in too long,” she reasons. “You stop growing; you stop developing and you stop persevering. When you actually have it okay, it’s difficult to risk it all on an idea: to give up the good and go for the great.”

While the American female pro arena is booming, she is under no illusion women in the UK will draw the same attention and buzz anytime soon. But she is hoping her willpower will inspire other women to join the scene and pave the way for a new era in female boxing, with greater exposure, momentum and sponsorships.

“I appreciate for a top coach such as Paddy the prospects with a female boxer are not an enticing proposition. But he says we’re fighters not women. Financially females do not make anywhere close to their male counterparts. It is time we all help change this. It’s worth fighting for.

“I have daughters coming on up through the ranks. One is already showing good athletic ability. Should she decide to make a life for herself in sports I would like to think she has the same opportunities available to her as my sons,” she says firmly.

As she edges closer to her goal, it is her family she continually goes back to who in turn adopt the gym as their second home without complaint.

. Boxing has been a transformative experience, not only for Bec but her children, who adopted the gym as their second home without complaint.

“I have promised the kids Mummy is going to be a professional athlete and that we’ll have a house by the sea in the sunshine eventually, so a professional athlete and house by the sea is exactly what those children are going to get.

“Everyone wants that one defining moment in life when they’ve done something great. What a story this will all be for the grandchildren one day.”

l Bec’s next fight is in Birmingham on September 2. Tickets are £35 from Fitzpatrick’s gym in Ferndale Road. Bec is looking for sponsors. Email her at Allornothingfitness@hotmail.com or call Fitzpatrick’s on 07917104000.