Hannah Baggaley: Britain’s Unluckiest Fighter

Hannah Baggaley: Britain’s Unluckiest Fighter

If ever a fighter deserves a change of luck, it is Hannah Baggaley.

While the boxing world will quite rightly be in celebration mode on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London. A big all-female card that will demonstrate everything that is good about the sport and the continued progress of women’s boxing. There is the other side of the sport that will be quickly forgotten.

When I spoke to Hannah last week, a fight date was locked in. October 15th, a supposed new beginning. This Saturday was supposed to be the grand relaunch of a career that has stalled for many reasons. Bad luck being the main one. Hannah should have fought on September 10th, but the Queen sadly passing away resulting in that date falling by the wayside. Her words in our interview were ones of despair but with hope, it has all been for a reason:

“It was especially gutting for me because since I turned professional I must have had around twenty fights cancelled, maybe fourteen in the last year or so, six before my debut. So it is very very frustrating. But hopefully, everything is for a reason.” But that hope has quickly evaporated. Yet again, lady luck hasn’t shined.

Hannah has suffered yet another late-notice opponent dropout. Fight week is seemingly never kind to her. Attempts to salvage her fight were thwarted by the British Boxing Board of Control. Four different opponents rejected. A former world champion was accepted, Hannah desperate to fight literally anyone, accepted the challenge. But as soon as hopes were raised, they were dashed almost immediately when the fighter priced herself out of the fight leaving Hannah kicking her heels in frustration once again.

I’m not ready to quit now and fall at the first hurdle. I have got so much more to give to the sport,” Hannah told me last week. That resilience will now be tested once again.

There is now a mindset that fights will not materialise. “I’ll believe the fight will happen when I have weighed in and I step through the ropes to fight.” Her words from last week that demonstrate perfectly how she feels.

The emotional side of the sport rarely gets printed. Fighters suffer mentally more than we think. As important as the financial side of boxing is, and Hannah knows this better than most, the mental side of repeated cancellations does add up.

Hannah, thankfully, or probably more accurately hopefully, has a new fight date already set. Not set in stone maybe, but it is something to cling to. The iconic York Hall on November 5th is the target. A bonfire night of fights that will have the sound and smell of fireworks in the air. Hannah just wants to fight, surely the unluckiest fighter in Britain will finally get lucky?