Louise Orton: “I was in a really bad place. I was having nightmares, and I couldn’t sleep properly. It got me really bad.”

Louise Orton: “I was in a really bad place. I was having nightmares, and I couldn’t sleep properly. It got me really bad.”

I last interviewed former amateur star Louise Orton back in October of last year. My opening words in the interview were:

‘You can label Louise Orton in many ways. Britain’s unluckiest fighter, British boxing’s best-kept secret, both would be more than reasonable.’

Back then Orton was still waiting for her professional debut. A debut literally years in the making. Having turned professional in 2019, endless bad luck with fights being pulled at the last minute had left a fighter bitterly frustrated by her lack of opportunities. The debut finally came in March, a routine six-round points victory over Flora Machela. Over Zoom, Orton told me they were valuable rounds in the bank for what was to come:

“It was a long time coming, I think I waited about 3 years for it. It was about 3 years to the day since I last boxed. I could easily have stopped her, but both my coaches said you need to shake the ring rust off and get the rounds under my belt. I did the 6 rounds, I am a bit disappointed because I knew I could have stopped her. It would have kind have helped my career if I had stopped her, but I understand where my coaches were coming from in getting the rounds in when I have been out of the ring for so long.”

The story of Orton is similar to many I hear. Having to sell enough tickets to warrant a place on a show and to pay for the fighter in the away corner, and hopefully, have a small amount left for themselves. Trust me, that isn’t always the case. It’s harder when fights are constantly being pulled, and then you have to convince friends and family to part ways with their hard-earned cash and then make them believe they will actually see a fight. But after her debut in March, Orton finally had hope that all her frustration would be over. But her story took a dark turn. Another fight scheduled for July didn’t happen, this time for entirely different reasons:

“I had another fight scheduled for June, but because I had had so many fights scheduled before my debut, it was getting difficult to sell tickets. They were getting cancelled on the scales, the day before the fight etc, and I think people were getting pissed off with so many fights being called off and so I was struggling to sell tickets, and they were saying is the fight really going to happen.

“I had gotten myself into a really shit situation. Basically, I met a guy who was going to sponsor me, he was really interested in helping to fund my boxing career, and help to take the pressure off. I explained the issue of selling tickets and the problems that I have had with so many fights being cancelled. He said he would cover all that, he seemed really keen, we had a couple of meetings. But it turned out, and this is why I have had a bit of a break, that he was a registered sex offender and he was grooming me. It really messed up my head because I had waited for so long for that chance for someone to support me so I could focus on my boxing, because I have to work as well. He was kind of promising all of this, but it turned out he was kind of grooming me and he was a registered sex offender. It was the door opening that I had been waiting for, and then to have it all taken away in such awful circumstances just made everything worse. Because it was an ongoing investigation I couldn’t say anything, but from what I understand from the police he has been arrested now, but it is still kind of all ongoing.

“That was why I pulled out of the fight in July, the week before the fight was when I found out and I had to be at the Police Station to give interviews. The police were down at my house the following day, I just wasn’t in any frame of mind to fight. And I hadn’t sold enough tickets so it would have cost me £1600 to fight, he was going to cover that, but it was all bullshit basically. I just didn’t have the money to be able to fight. Since then I have had a bit of a break to just get my head back together and focus on getting my strength back basically.”

Even in October, Orton was losing faith in boxing. Eight or nine times her debut had failed to materialise. Life was put on hold, the body abused and dehydrated for a dream that never happened. It was a hard listen back then. Even more so now, a year or so later. Losing faith in a sport seems the least of her problems. Orton has probably lost faith in life itself. Sometimes you can’t find the right words. Probably because there aren’t any. Sometimes you just have to listen:

“I went through a really bad phase because I had so many setbacks with fights being cancelled. What is really frustrating for me is watching people who I have beaten in the amateurs, I am not being big-headed because I know have got a lot to learn, getting all these massive opportunities. And it’s quite disheartening for me because I think why am I not getting these opportunities when I have beaten them. After all that had happened with that guy, I was in a really bad place. I was having nightmares, and I couldn’t sleep properly. It got me really bad. I went through a phase of hating boxing, I couldn’t even watch it on the TV. I was seeing people on TV who I had beaten and who hadn’t really done much. So that was like another massive kick in the teeth for me. And I’ll be honest I haven’t put on a pair of gloves since the day I pulled out of the fight. I’ve only just started back doing cardio, and slowly building my love for it again. Don’t get me wrong, I miss it so much, but it got to the point where it had become a negative thing for me and causing me so much stress. I was having to commute to London every day for training. It was taking me two hours to get there. I just think everything got too much and it was becoming unhealthy.”

The love for boxing is still there, but it is buried somewhere deep within. It might be an ongoing process. And a slow one. But Orton is getting there. Her fitness is being brought back to where it once was. In a week or two, the gloves will be back on. And tentative plans are already being made for her promising career to be relaunched early next year:

“Ideally, I want to be back in the ring around February or March. I want to put the feelers out to see what shows are available.”

Orton is still only 31, her prime still ahead. Her division of residence the super-featherweight will soon be opened up on the world stage. A year ago Orton talked confidently of beating the then world champion Terri Harper, and that prior to her professional debut. So many fighters have waxed lyrical about the talents of Orton. All she needs is a break. After what she has been through, that is the very least she deserves.