Lonsdale Lioness; Lauren Price is the Pride of Wales and GB

In only her fourth professional bout, Welsh fighter Lauren Price became the first woman boxer to win a coveted Lonsdale Belt, and her burning bright ambition is to one day win it outright, so it will take pride of place alongside her Olympic Gold Medal in her glittering trophy Case.

As an amateur star, southpaw Lauren swept the board winning golds in the Commonwealth, European plus World Championship and then Olympic triumph.  Olympic Gold was her dream ever since she was eight years old. Now in her own words she`s starting over, and she`s determined to climb the rungs of the pro ladder all the way to the top, in order to fulfill another long held ambition.

Lauren went to Birmingham, the hometown of opponent Kirstie Bavington a former European Champion and won a superb ten rounds UD to hold aloft the vacant British super-welterweight title and with it she made history,  by becoming the first woman to win a Lonsdale Belt. Charles Giles, the Chairman of the British Board of Boxing Control, who was ringside, saw the fight and presented Lauren with the famous old Belt, praised both fighters. He said that Lauren had won each of the ten rounds. But Kirstie never gave up and admirably kept coming forward, giving her absolute all.

Charles said that a single ribbon distinguishes the difference between the men and women’s Lonsdale Belt. He explained that it was felt that this was the ideal time to also make this historic belt available for women to contest and win, because during the last few years women`s boxing has come on leaps and bounds, and the weight divisions of female boxing contain ever more quality fighters.

The England women´s soccer team The Lionesses won the Euros Championship last year, defeating Germany 2-1 in extra time at Wembley, to become the pride of Great Britain and Charles says he hopes female boxers can attain similar fabulous feats in the boxing ring.

Lauren says that representing Britian in her amateur days with: “The lion on my kit” was great.  Now making history by winning the British Title Lonsdale Belt is: “Pretty special! It was a great night and I really enjoyed it.” Lauren stressed that she had the confidence to fight for this title early in her pro career, due to the extensive amateur experience she had built, and also because of her team around her who she implicitely trusts, led by Manager Rob McCracken.

She agrees with Charles Giles about the rapid development of women`s boxing during recent years, mentioning she herself was lucky enough to box on the undercard of Claressa Shields Vs Savannah Marshall, last year to a packed house of twenty thousand fans, at the O2 Stadium in Greenwich, London. Women`s boxing at its zenith!

Lauren´s career will accelerate into fast track, and she`s absolutely determined to go all the way. But she has a definite hankering to one day own the Lonsdale Belt outright. To achieve this, she will need to successfully defend it three times, including one mandatory. She discussed this with British Board of Boxing Control Secretary Robert Smith, who advised that she can come back to fight those defences in the future. Lauren said: “His words were that I can box for other titles and belts along the way and then come back, which would make sense.  That is something I would really want to do, because being the first ever woman to win it, I would obviously love to be able to earn the right to keep it.

“And like Charlie said there`s  no reason why we can`t have our very own Lionesses in Boxing. To win the Green and Gold WBC Belt, would be the icing on the cake for me. The best World Title out there!”