The Apprentice winner Marnie Swindells believes there is a desperate need for a woman to shake up the world of British boxing behind the scenes having made her first steps back into the sport.
Swindells, a former amateur champion boxer herself, secured investment to the tune of £250,000 from Lord Alan Sugar to help set up her Bronx boxing gym in Camberwell earlier this year.
Since hanging up her gloves, women’s boxing has undergone huge growth with 2022 a crowning year, featuring the all-female card led by Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano tearing the house down on a historic night in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
In the ring, the sport has taken on new life, with Taylor’s undisputed super-lightweight title rematch against Chantelle Cameron this weekend in Dublin serving as one of the biggest fights to see out 2023.
But outside of it, there is a lack of female figures at an administration level, as well as the promotional side of the game ruled by Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions in the UK.
Intent on building her own boxing gym empire to produce future world champions, Swindells also has an eye firmly on entering the world of boxing promotion, believing the sport is crying out for ‘a women’s perspective’ at the top table.
‘I have so much respect for the female pro boxers who have paved the way and been persistent,’ Swindells told Metro.co.uk in an exclusive interview.
‘From my perspective, there is still a huge gap in the market for a woman in boxing on the business side of things. When you look at the climate for promoters, managers and behind the scenes in the sport, there are no women on the business side of things. So I would like to bang on that door. The landscape has come on leaps and bounds but the more women involved, the more competitive things get, the more characters we have and the more fights we will see.
‘My ultimate goal is to open as many gyms as possible. But with that, there will come talented fighters and I will be damned if I sit back and watch them leave and go be with other managers and promoters.
‘I would eventually like to develop an inhouse pathway starting right at the bottom, bringing in amateurs and protecting them, pushing them up to the professional ranks and to put on professional shows as a promoter. I want people to know we have arrived.’
The landscape of boxing has undergone major changes with the rise of the influencer scene, spearheaded by KSI, Jake Paul and Tommy Fury and standalone promotions Misfits and Kingpyn Boxing.
Even compared to the wild west of professional boxing, its influencer and YouTuber alternative that attracts a huge following has drawn criticism. Out of control press conferences, bizarre match-ups and borderline dangerous fights have left the sport with a black eye at times with its traditional values of little concern to those looking to cash in ahead of others who have dedicated much of their lives to learning their trade.
Intent on growing her own stable of fighters, Swindells is eager to harness the best of both worlds, believing the traditional side of the game can learn something from its chaotic counterpart.
‘Professional boxing has a lot to learn from the likes of Misfits and what they do to build a fighter,’ Swindells said. ‘There is a lot of chaos but what they do around PR, branding, marketing, social media, that gets overlooked in the world of real boxing. There is a stigma there for real boxers who won’t recognise it as real. But what they do in terms of promoting themselves is incredible and I think pro boxing can take a leaf out of their book.
‘I think there is a little bit of jealousy there from the purists’ perspective,’ she continued. ‘I think they will see what the influencer boxers are doing and say, “hold on a minute, I’ve worked my a**e off all this time building an amateur career and I’m not getting anywhere near enough attention as these guys”.
‘Sometimes they do not appreciate the work that has gone into the marketing and that is where the influencer focus has been. That is where there is a bit of jealousy, where these guys are earning so much more than what a pro is earning for doing a very similar job.’
Swindells’ connection with boxing is not a recent development. After taking up the sport at the age of 17, she had a successful amateur run, winning the Haringey Box Cup while also coaching others before taking a new direction.
Her Bronx gym is growing, with the current premises in south London expanding with plans to add more sites in the near future. With some emerging young talent already working out the gym and a few ‘really interesting amateur prospects’ following suit, the aim remains to build a hybrid of the traditional gyms that have produced some of the country’s most decorated champions aligned with her own vision.
‘The ultimate thing for a boxer is training and what they do in the ring,’ she said. ‘I want them to have that at Bronx but also where all the other stuff is taken care for them too. We can pad everything else around them and that is not necessarily what you get at old school boxing clubs. While the coaching is unparalleled in those places, we can offer guidance and support from the business perspective to help shape their career.
‘A lot of fighters gets lost on the way up. A lot of talent gets lost because they can’t get the right the deals, they can’t make a genuine living out of it, they can’t get sponsorships.
‘I’ve watched so many great talents dwindle away into nothing because they are having to buy their own tickets, promoters on that small hall show level need their cut and the house needs to get paid. There is a huge weight on their shoulders and more promoters, more avenues and routes to the top can alleviate that.’
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