Jayne Bardauskas: “I want to box at world level. I reached that level as an amateur, so why can’t I do it as a pro.” 

Jayne Bardauskas: “I want to box at world level. I reached that level as an amateur, so why can’t I do it as a pro.”   

A career that only started in 2018 will now take the next logical step. The amateur star with multiple honours Jayne Bardauskas will be the next fighter to join the blossoming professional ranks.

Just a few days before the formal announcement of that professional debut, I connected with Bardauskas over Zoom. Her car was parked up. Another full shift as an aircraft maintenance technician had just been consumed by the gym session that followed the eight hours in her day job.

The Swinefleet native is another immensely talented addition to the professional scene.

“I have gone as far as I can as an amateur,” Bardauskas told me of why the time is now right to leave her amateur days behind. “I have been told that I have a pro-style throughout my amateur career. So I thought I’d test that out.”

With the future of boxing in the Olympics, in much doubt, after this year’s Paris Games, more and more amateur fighters are seeing that their future now lies elsewhere. Bardauskas is one of those fighters. A fighter who believes she has nothing else to prove or do in the amateur ranks.

“I’ve boxed in the World Championships, so that is kind of on the same calibre as the Olympics. So if boxing is gone from the Olympics, that is all they will have left, and I have already boxed in that.”

Bardauskas had thirty fights as an amateur. Twenty-two victories, including winning seven straight at the start of her boxing career.

A former National Youth Champion, National Junior Champion, and Haringey Box Cup Champion plus numerous other amateur honours, including representing England at the World Youth Championships and European level also, picking a stand-out moment was hard for a fighter with plenty of achievements to choose from.

“My biggest achievement is probably becoming a Two-Time National Champion and also boxing in the World Championships,” Bardauskas says of her proudest moment to date.

The often-long process of applying for a British Boxing Board of Control is now completed. Like many, it took time. And plenty of it. Six months waiting for her new journey to begin. But Bardauskas handled the situation better than most.

“I wasn’t in a rush. My coach said I have got a decent job. Just take it slow. When it comes, it comes.”

The confidence of Bardauskas is obvious. A fighter in a rush. But her lofty ambitions nevertheless come with a touch of realism.

“After ten fights, I think I’ll be having a British title fight,” Bardauskas says of her hopes for the embryonic stages of her new career.

The root to boxing was, like many before her, came via another sport.

“I was playing football, and one of the girls said boxing would be good for anger, aggression, and fitness. I said, “Go on then, that is right up my street.” Within the first ten minutes, I was there.” Bardauskas told FightPost of how she came into boxing in 2018.

“I can remember my first spar like it was yesterday,” Bardauskas added about those early days. “It was scary because I busted a girl’s nose. I had never hurt someone in that way before, and I was like, I’m so sorry, and I think I started crying.”

Bardauskas is a fighter who has a worthy hero. A Muhammad Ali tattoo on her wrist says plenty about who and what inspires her. But in the coming months, Bardauskas will set out to carve out her own legacy. She will look to do it in a division that is loaded with talent domestically and on the world stage.

“I am going to have my debut at super-bantamweight, but as my career goes, hopefully, I can drop down to bantamweight.”

The hope of a British title within ten fights is the early goal. With much more after that. The confidence oozes with what she hopes will come next.

“I want to box at world level. I reached that level as an amateur, so why can’t I do it as a pro.” The twenty-year-old says of her long-term aspirations.       

The professional career will soon begin. The amateur career indicates it could be some ride.