'More of the real Jodie to witness'published at 17:40 British Summer Time 30 July 2022
Women's light middleweight
There was success for England at this afternoon's last 16 boxing sessions at the vast NEC complex.
Jodie Wilkinson, who would normally spend a Saturday working as a 999 call handler for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, beat Nigeria’s Bolanle Temitope Shogbamu by split decision (4-1) in the women’s light middleweight event.
The 27-year-old, who said she knew nothing about her Nigerian opponent before stepping into the ring today, will face Northern Ireland’s Eireann Nugent in the quarter-finals on Wednesday at 20:00 BST.
"I’m not happy but I got the win so I should be happy in some sense," said Wilkinson. "I only gave 30 or 40% of the real Jodie out there today.
"I always believe the hardest fight is the first fight in any competition, so I’ve got that out of the way and now I’m going for gold but there’s more of the real Jodie to witness in there."