Boxing: Hawick ace Rosie Swailes sees off top Canadian fighter as Scotland Select squad win overall team contest

The 14-year-old, a member of Hawick Boxing Club for the last seven years, stopped Canadian national youth champion Ava Fetts in round two of their 52kg contest at Cardenden’s Bowhill Community Centre as the hosts triumphed overall in the first ever all-female boxing show to be staged in Scotland, featuring 15 bouts for fighters aged 12 to 30.

The young Hawick boxing star told the Southern Reporter that she was pleased with the shots she landed on her opponent in Fife, leaving her with a bloodied nose and leading to a standing eight count.

Looking ahead, Rosie, also included in a squad representing Scotland at a British final last year, said: “One day I hope to go to the Commonwealth Games.

“There has been a big increase in the number of girls taking part in boxing in the last year or two.

“The Borders is big rugby country but there are not that many female teams in this area and boxing is easy to get into because you just turn up at the gym and get on with it.

“I got involved in boxing in the first place because my brother Mikey wanted to start it and I wanted to be just like him, so I followed him and enjoyed it.

“I specifically like the sparring and the training. I train five to six times a week.

“Mikey doesn’t box now but he did it for a good few years before he gave it up.”

The Princes Street club’s head coach, Andy Macfarlane, was impressed by the senior-three Hawick High School pupil’s performance in Fife as he watched from a ring corner.

“To me, it was Rosie’s best performance ever,” he said. “She’s never boxed to that standard before. It was immense.

“Everything she was asked to do she went out and did it. She executed the game-plan to perfection.

“I think I was more nervous than her. The only thing I had to say to Rosie during the fight was after the first round when I just told her not to let her level drop.

“The Canadian girl never really landed any telling punches because Rosie was that evasive, just managing to dodge out of the way, roll the punches and come back with her own.

“With her body shots, Rosie was pulling the girl’s hands down and then she could switch the attack to her head and that’s how it ended up getting stopped.

“It was just too much like one-way traffic for the referee.”

Macfarlane was also impressed by the fact the sport is now attracting so much interest from girls and women that Scotland was able to host its inaugural all-female boxing show.

“It was amazing to see,” he said. “They did a ring walk at the start, and just to see 30 girls walking into the ring when you normally only get one or two at a boxing show was good, and the standard was unbelievable.

“Right from the first bell and right through the night, the level of boxing was immense, really outstanding.

“Boxing for women’s come a long way. It’s really taken off and the standard is getting higher and higher every year, which is good to see.

“Every show we go to now, we see more and more young girls getting involved in sparring because they have female-only sparring days.

“It’s more attractive for girls to get into now because Sky TV are showing more women’s boxing, so I think girls can see it’s an alternative sport for them now.

“We have a junior section on a Wednesday night for beginners, kids between seven and 13 years old, and we must be getting a dozen girls in that every Wednesday night from 5.30pm.”

Rosie’s next fight will be at Galashiels Boxing Club’s home show, at the town’s volunteer hall, on Saturday, May 27, when she expects to be facing an English opponent.