Athlete set to become the first Manx professional female boxer

A Commonwealth Games athlete is set to become the Isle of Man's first professional female boxer.

Jade Burden's bid for a licence has been approved by the British Boxing Board of Control, subject to a medical.

The 32-year-old is aiming to compete in the super featherweight category after amateur bouts at the Birmingham Games last year and in European contests.

Jade Burden said it would be a "life-changing" opportunity to "compete against the best".

Burden, who is known as "the grenade", also wants to inspire other women on the island who many want to take up boxing.

She said: "They might see me doing it and think well I can do that too."

Burden (second left) narrowly lost to Alessia Mesiano at the 2022 Algarve Box Cup

The boxer said she initially took up the sport for "a bit of extra fitness", but soon found "she absolutely loved it" and went on to have her first amateur fight in 2017.

"It made me more focused and determined because as soon as you have stepped into that ring with another person it's all down to who has worked hardest," she said.

The 32-year-old will split her time training between gyms in Liverpool and Douglas

After training at the Isle of Man Boxing Academy in Douglas with coach Peter Roberts, the 32-year-old was selected to box at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as part of the Manx squad.

She went out in the quarter-final of the lightweight class against England's Gemma Richardson, but said the experience inspired her to try and enter the professional ranks.

Burden said she then went on to fight in competitions in Portugal and Holland to "get another year of experience" before making her bid to go professional in July.

"It is a good time as women's boxing thriving at the minute and I want push myself, I want to compete against the best," she added.

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