Ginny Fuchs: A New Beginning

Ginny Fuchs: A New Beginning

A cold January weekend in Liverpool. Ginny Fuchs had crossed the ocean not to fight but to support her partner in crime Mikaela Mayer.

Mayer was on UK soil once again to try and wrest the IBF world welterweight title from the tight grip of the hometown hero Natasha Jonas.

Fuchs cut a frustrated figure in Liverpool. A fighter who just wanted to fight. There had been talk of a fight. There was talk of something happening in the coming months. But I wondered if the sport was just passing her by. A beyond talented fighter. A former Olympian who didn’t have time to waste. Fuchs wanted to fight in Liverpool on the undercard. It seemed an obvious call. Fellow flyweight Nicola Hopewell was ringside for Jonas/Mayer. Boxxer could have had a nice little flyweight contest on their show. Sometimes, the obvious is missed.

There was a Team Combat League gig in the offering. A new team-based format that kept Fuchs and fighters like her busy and earned them a few dollars while something more satisfying materialised. Fuchs enjoyed her team experience, but you always sensed she wanted more. Something with a little bit more substance.

Fuchs expected her career to blossom quickly when she turned professional in 2022. But it didn’t quite happen for her. Potential fight dates came and went without reward. Fuchs kept training but had little to show for her efforts.

It’s been over two years since Fuchs left her amateur days behind. A debut in April 2022 was only followed by two more fights. Three fights are hardly worthwhile rewards for the hard work and undoubted talent that she has.

Fuchs danced on the Boxxer all-female card in London in October 2022. She impressed in the preliminaries. A good win over the tough Gemma Ruegg promised plenty. But it was eight months before she fought again. Fuchs hasn’t fought since her win over Indeya Smith last June.

But hopefully, Ginny Fuchs will now get her new beginning. She will head to Los Angeles to challenge the unbeaten Adelaida Ruiz for her WBC interim super-flyweight bauble. A fight that could change everything for Fuchs. At 36, it is an opportunity that just needed to happen.

Time was against her. The sport was seemingly putting up walls to continually frustrate her. Nothing was happening for her. You sensed it was a case of now or never for her. But it’s finally happened for Ginny Fuchs. And not before time.

Ruiz is unbeaten in seventeen fights. The only minor blemish on her resume is a technical draw against Sonia Osorio in 2021. But when they met the following year with the WBC interim super-flyweight title on the line, Ruiz won a unanimous decision. Boxrec rate Ruiz the best fighter on the planet in her division.

Fuchs has waited a long time for this kind of opportunity. She would have thought many times if it would ever come. But now it has finally arrived, Fuchs, you feel won’t waste it.