About Amanda

Biography:

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Born: 15/10 1982
Weight Division: 63 kg / 139 lbs
Began boxing: 1997
First fight October 1999
Record: 26-4
Club: Hartlepool Catholic Boxing Club
Trainer/Coach: Paul Allen

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Amanda Coulson, born on 15th October, 1982 in Hartlepool. She works full time at a police call centre in her hometown situated north east of England. She is considered the best female amateur boxer in England.

Coulson told WBAN that she has always loved sports. She has been involved in soccer, basketball before trying her hand at amateur boxing.

Her interest in boxing was ignited in 1997, when she read about Emma Brammer and Andrea Prime, both 13, who wanted to exercise their new won right to compete in a boxing match sanctioned by the Amateur Boxing Association of England. This caused plenty of controversy, with headlines such as “A BOUT OF MADNESS”, and the manager of Lennox Lewis describing it as a freak show. The bout was postponed twice before it finally took place without pre-announcement in March 1998.

The controversy didn’t discourage Amanda Coulson. Quite the opposite, it inspired her to have a go at it herself. She got out the Yellow Pages and began looking for a club that would accept female boxers. After a lot of “sorry, we don’t take women”. She finally found an open door to Hartlepool Catholic Boxing Club-----thanks to senior coach Paul Allen. He invited her to come and have a look before she started training.

She didn’t join the Hartlepool Catholic Boxing club with the intention of boxing in the ring. Her first priority was to learn the skills, and then considering options like boxing aerobics. But that only lasted until she started sparring, and she was - pardon the pun, "hooked."

Finding the gym was only the first hurdle. The next was, and to a certain extent, still is, to find opponents to box. In fact it took two years before she got the opportunity to show off the boxing skills, she had worked so hard to achieve. She made her ring debut in October 1999, at the Mayfair Centre in Hartlepool, supported by her whole family and half of Hartlepool. She passed her first test with flying colours, stopping her opponent within a minute of the first round. “Every punch just seemed to land, ” she recalls.

There were few and far between the British boxers who wanted to meet Amanda Coulson in the ring, the following years. She realised, that she had to go abroad to gain more ring experience, so she signed up for the Angered Box Cup in Sweden in 2002. By then she only had seven bouts under her belt, and belonged in the 5-10 bouts category in the tournament. However, when the organisers saw her box, they moved her up in the highest category. She went on to win the gold medal, and further honour was bestowed upon her as she also won the, "Best Female Boxer Award."

Women’s amateur boxing in England is still in it’s infancy. The first female novice boxing championships organised by the Amateur Boxing Association in conjunction with the Police Federation were held in May 2003. Unfortunately for Amanda, there was nobody for her to box in the Class A Category. The story repeated itself in May 2004, when ABA held it’s first female senior championship.

The ABA finally realised, that international competition against European top boxers was needed for their best female boxer to develop and gain experience. Coulson went to Hungary to box at the Witch Cup in 2004, and later that year she represented England at the European Championships in Italy.

In 2005, she took part in the European Championships in Norway. Coulson’s opponents at these top tournaments typically had twice her ring experience, so although she was very disappointed, it is hardly surprising that she had to travel back to England empty handed. However, she proved that she belongs in the top of her division in 2004, when she scored a win over the newly crowned European Champion Vinni Skovgaard only two weeks after losing to her at the Championships.

The ABA also selected Amanda Coulson to represent England at international matches against France and Italy in 2005. She thanked for the selection by winning over Amelie Blary of France as well as former Italian champion Elisa Masiero.

Amanda Coulson's latest triumph came at the all female MAJ BOX CUP 2006 held in Stockholm. She won the final against Swedish Champion Armine Sinabian by 22-13. Packing her suitcase for the homeward journey, she did not only have to make space for the gold medal, but also for a trophy for the best Senior A boxer in the tournament. This must be positive encouragement for a busy 2006 with EU Championships in Sardinia, European Championships in Poland and the World Championships in India on the agenda.

In the news

Amanda Coulson is the Million Dollar Baby

The blockbuster movie Million Dollar Baby has done the rounds and raised the profile of women's boxing, but with it come a few questions about whether it really is the sort of thing you would want your daughter or girlfriend to get up to. Amanda Coulson's mum and boyfriend have no such qualms, and today they will be cheering her on as she sets out on her quest to become the first Briton to win a title in the European Female Amateur Championships....

Click here for more

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