Harnessing Talent Athlete

Jane Couch - World Champion - Boxing

Biography:

Jane Couch became the first officially licensed British female boxer in 1998. In a 14-year professional career, she won five world titles and announced her retirement late 2008.

Jane’s teenage years were troublesome, including being expelled from school and living a life of alcohol, drugs and street fighting. At the age of 26 she saw a television documentary about women's boxing and decided to try it. In her first official fight, a Muay Thai match, she defeated a policewoman.

Her first major success occurred in 1996 when she won the WIBF Welterweight title. The British Boxing Board of Control initially refused to grant Couch a professional licence solely on the grounds that she was a woman, and argued that PMS made women too unstable to box. Claiming sexual discrimination and supported by the Equal Opportunities Commission, Couch managed to have this decision overturned by a tribunal in March 1998. However, some criticism followed as the British Medical Association called this result "a demented extension of equal opportunities".

Couch would later seek the right to fight a male opponent, but was unsuccessful. Couch was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours. Her last fight, against Anne Sophie Mathis on 8 December 2007, resulted in a loss by technical knockout. In 2008 Couch competed in the reincarnation of Superstars.

Click here to see his Competitive Record

Click here to see how Jane and DKH Legacy Trust are working together, and to find out about Jane's 'giving back to sport' activities.