Harli Whitwell: “In the beginning, it was just a bit of fun, but I was in there every night after school and it just became life for me.”

Harli Whitwell: “In the beginning, it was just a bit of fun, but I was in there every night after school and it just became life for me.”

Some years ago when I decided to focus more on the women’s side of boxing, I was in truth, scratching about looking for fighters to interview, certainly fighters from the British Isles. But in a changing, and much-needed sign of the times, everything has thankfully changed. The sport is booming, and more and more fighters are leaving the amateur code and joining the ongoing revolution in women’s boxing. At times, it is extremely difficult keeping with the new recruits to the sport.

It was by chance, by virtue of glancing at a fight poster for an upcoming show at the iconic York Hall in London, that I noticed the latest addition to the world of professional boxing. I have been aware of Harli Whitwell for some time, but somehow I had missed the news that Harli had decided to leave the amateur ranks behind and turn professional. The professional debut will happen on October 29th in London on a show promoted by Lee Eaton. Over Zoom, the excitement couldn’t be hidden:

“I’m really looking forward to it. Obviously, it’s a massive change for me, but we’ve been preparing this fight for what feels like forever now. I was originally going to box at the end of August but I’ve had a few issues with my shoulder so we just pushed it back a little. So I’ve been training a while for my pro debut so it will be good when it actually comes around.”

Boxing is very firmly in the family. Training at the family gym in St Ives in Cambridgeshire, coached by her dad Steve, with a sister, Shona, who is flying high on Team GB. The entry into the sport is similar to how her sister started her journey in the Noble Art. Begging to be allowed to join the party, Harli eventually got her way she told me:

“I’ve been boxing since I was about six, obviously, it’s my dad’s gym which he started in 2004. I always begged my dad to let me come down, so when I was six he finally let me. In the beginning, it was just a bit of fun, but I was in there every night after school and it just became life for me.”

Shona, one-half of the fighting sisters, is doing the family proud on Team GB, currently on European Championship duty and is undoubtedly a star for the future in both codes. Harli has also experienced England honours, a more than decent amateur, but like many, it wasn’t for her. The lifestyle can be hard, opportunities are limited, and fights rare because of it. It was perhaps a decision that was always coming. But in those deep horrible times of Covid and enforced time at home, Harli realised there was a new path ahead:

“I went down the England Talent Pathway route, my sister was already on it and that kind of opened some doors for me which was great. It just didn’t really suit me with me working and me constantly being at my dad’s gym in St Ives and it didn’t really work with my lifestyle. I had a few close fights for England, close fights but they didn’t go my way. It is sort of in their hands what you can do, you’ve got to be selected to go to these tournaments. But boxing for yourself, you decide, your future is in your own hands rather than in the hands of someone else.

“It wasn’t until Lockdown that I decided to turn pro. All I was doing was training constantly. I always sort of doubted myself, I wasn’t sure the professional life was for me, so we didn’t really think about it and me and my dad didn’t really have those conversations. But it was when we were in Lockdown and we were constantly training and sparring with girls who had already turned over and I thought I am actually more suited to more rounds. When I boxed in championships as an amateur I was only just getting warmed up in the 3rd round. The fights were over far too soon. I just think the pro’s are far more suited to me and my style. I’m just really looking forward to getting the show on the road.”

The amateur side of the sport can be an unforgiving and often an unrewarding experience. Always having to be on or near fighting weight, fights can come at any time. Often, they never come. Fighters are sometimes just a pawn in a very long game without due reward. But the professional side seems better suited to Harli. Her style, she believes is better equipped for more rounds and more minutes in the ring. Having that specific fight date ahead is something Harli is looking forward to having as her career advances:

“When you are an amateur you are always in the gym, always training, and you always have to stay ready because you can get called out any weekend. But as a pro, you only have to get ready for one night, one fight. So it is better for me, I can plan a training plan for my weight and my strength and conditioning so I can get where I need to be because you have got that date to work towards. I’m really lucky because I have got really good sponsors so I can cut my work down from full to part-time.”

Records can be deceiving, Harli has such a resume. Taking fights against practically anyone, at any weight, isn’t good for the superficial look of wins against losses. Decisions could have gone either way, they usually went one way. Life on the boxing road is like that. Who wins a fight on paper is just the start of the story. But despite this, Harli is proud of her amateur career:

“I did well as an amateur, I was around 50/50 in terms of wins and losses. I would take any fight, fighting the top girls in the country, but other people would turn them down. For me it was hard to get fights because I was so strong at my weight and I had done quite well as a junior, so I would always take what fight I could, I’d move up a weight, I’d move down a weight. It was all for the experience really, I might have lost half of my fights but they were brilliant fights and all really close as well, some decisions I could have got but I didn’t.”

Her sister told me in February her desire to one day join the professional ranks, and you sense that is a matter of when Shona will join Harli in punching for pay. In doing so, they could create a little bit of history:

“Shona is doing really on the amateur scene and hopefully, she will join us on the pro side soon. I think we would be the first two sisters in Britain to be professional boxers. That would be amazing after all the things she has done as an amateur and hopefully, when she does turn over, I will have done the same as a professional and made a bit of a name for myself. I know my dad is really proud of us. It’s funny because I have two brothers and neither of them does boxing.”

A boxer and trainer’s relationships are often frayed at times, probably more so when it is a family affair. But the partnership between father and daughter seems to be working, and in a sport that takes few prisoners, and many vultures circling, Harli would appear to be in safe hands:

“I think my dad thrives off it. He’s always screaming and losing his voice when he is in my corner. When I was boxing for England he wasn’t in my corner. I definitely felt half the time that was why I was losing not having him there. It is interesting having my dad on my side. He is my dad, my coach and my manager. In training for this fight, I thought we might have had a few more arguments, but no, we are a really good team. The professional scene is much more a business, and having my dad as my manager he knows what’s best for me. I know going into each fight I will know it is the right fight for me at the right time. You do get fighters that are pushed into fights a little too early. I’m only 22 and I have got my whole career ahead of me, we want to start by building me up slowly.”

Harli will settle in and around the lightweight and super-featherweight divisions as her career develops. Those ranks are deep in talent and Harli shouldn’t have issues getting fights. The Polish fighter Bojana Libiszewska is first up in a few weeks. Libiszewska is no stranger to fights on British soil, a regular test for up-and-coming fighters. When an opponent is needed, her phone often rings. For her it is likely to be just another payday on the road, for Harli, it is the start of something more. A talented amateur who deserved better is now on the hunt for glory on the professional circuit. The family bond is tight, and in a few years, Shona and Harli could very well be appearing on the same show. There is every chance there will be titles on the line when they do so.