Jane Couch: Born Fighter

Jane Couch: Born Fighter

“It means the world. It feels weird after not being accepted for so long in my own country. It feels like argument over now with me being honoured with the MBE for my services to boxing, and now I’m going into the Hall of Fame. Case closed. I was right all along about women’s boxing.” Jane Couch

The only surprise that Jane Couch is to make her way into the International Boxing Hall of Fame is why did it take so long. In many ways, it has been a long time coming.

Couch gave everything to her craft. Too much. Fourteen years of pain, inside and outside of the ring, in many different ways, Jane Couch was a born fighter.

Couch retired from boxing in 2008. She had fought harder than most. It wasn’t just the fights. It was the right to fight. A long draining process that took away so much.

Times have changed, women’s boxing is not only accepted, it’s thriving. The likes of Katie Taylor, Chantelle Cameron, Natasha Jonas, and the rest of the new wave of talent owe Couch plenty. They might even owe her everything.

Couch paved the way for the stars of today. Denied her basic right, a sign of another discriminatory time, Couch took on the establishment and won.

The right to fight ended up in court, Couch took on the British Boxing Board of Control in 1998. Couch felt discriminated against. She was right. It was illegal for women to fight in Britain, the Board argued women’s hormones rendered them too emotional and fragile to box. It was an argument without merit. It was embarrassing. The time elapsed makes it look far worse than it did then. A time of shame.

Couch famously won her sexual discrimination case. But it came at an emotional cost. Even in victory, many in her sport still wanted her to fail. Winning in a courtroom was just the start of the battle. The press was brutal, labelling Couch a freak. A monster. Winning made her a villain. Still the outcast, all Couch wanted to do was fight.

The media wanted a piece of Couch. A month-long bombardment. She tried in vain to plead her case, but many had already made their minds up. Couch felt like a ‘puppet on a string.’ The coverage was unfair. It was harsh and brutal. It was wrong. Couch was ahead of her time. The sport and the wider public weren’t ready to accept her or change. It made too many people feel uncomfortable.

Her sport still didn’t want to know. Promoters of her time still largely turned their backs on her. Elsewhere in the world, women’s boxing found some semblance of acceptance. Couch had to travel to find hers. The fact that she achieved what she did highlights the incredible resilience of Jane Couch.

The early boxing career of Couch was hard, a story of broken promises, many times fighting for free. It was a sacrifice with little reward. With a dream, Couch left her hometown of Fleetwood, Bristol, her new base, an original fight camp. Life on a farm in the middle of nowhere was a lonely experience. Away from friends and family, it was work, it was home, it was isolation from a normal life.

Couch was there to train, for once she felt part of something, but at what cost. The early life in Fleetwood was where the fighting started. The streets with many stories to tell. Punches were thrown, Couch threw most of them. Searching for an identity, a meaning for life, Couch was heading on that long road to a wasted life. The rebel needed a cause. She found it.

The Fleetwood native eventually found her calling, watching a documentary on Christy Martin changed her life forever. The early fights with gloves were illegal, but it was a new beginning. The move to Bristol with a new fighting family was the supposed next step.

Training was her life, but it didn’t allow time for work or anything else. Couch tried to pretend everything was fine. But she was lonely and unhappy. Eventually, Couch went home. She stayed too long. The success came, but the money didn’t come with it. Food was a luxury, another basic right that she was denied. When she started out, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Many a fighter find that boxing isn’t a sport that is laced with untold riches.

Couch the innocent naïve young woman who just had a dream, she didn’t realise what the sport could do to the unsuspecting. The few get the riches. Many more are left in a very dark place. Couch was the latter.

After a handful of fights in the early days, Couch landed a world title shot in Denmark, and she returned a world champion. Couch expected a hero’s welcome on her return home. She would be disappointed. Nobody came. The trade paper Boxing News didn’t even deem it worthy of a mention. Couch deserved better. Much better.

The fights kept coming. Sometimes, Couch would be paid. Many times, she wouldn’t. A brave fighter who fought with heart, and no little skill, and one who would never give up. Against all odds, Couch achieved plenty in her career. She retired at 40, with five world title belts on her resume. The MBE she got in 2007 was the least Couch deserved for what she made possible. Not just for her, but for every single female fighter who followed her.

Boxing was hard on Couch. It left her damaged. A private funeral in a graveyard to bury her boxing life was needed to move on. A new start. A new life. A happier life. Couch, ever the fighter, won another important battle. Her most important one.

The Jane Couch story is told deeply and with honesty in her gripping must-read autobiography, The Final Round. Very soon, her journey will come to a new audience. The acclaimed actor Suranne Jones has picked up the TV rights to her story. Filming will begin next year.

Couch always deserved more. Finally, the recognition is coming. Not before time.

The importance of Couch to her sport can never be underestimated. She paved the way for the rest. The fight came at a cost, and it should never be forgotten. And neither should she.

Photo Credit: Getty Images