Beyond The Ropes: Louise Orton

Beyond The Ropes: Louise Orton

Louise Orton could have walked away from boxing many times. Nobody would have blamed her. Orton turned professional in 2019 with big expectations. An elite amateur who had aspirations of being a world champion. But the pro debut was years in the making. Fight after fight fell through. Some literally, at the last minute.

Thankfully, Orton is now up and running. Three fights. Three wins. But that is nowhere near enough ring activity to satisfy her ambitions. In many ways, talent wasted. A career that should have been more. Much more.

Orton has now found some semblance of momentum. But even in recent times, the same old story still lingers.

“I was supposed to fight for a title, but the fight before that fell through, and the Board wouldn’t approve me fight for a title,” Orton told me about her latest extended absence from the ring. “I ended up fighting Amy Greatorex for nothing instead of fighting for a title. For this next fight, Johnny (Clarke) was trying to get me an English or a British title fight, and even the Southern Area, but even they said no because I had to have had at least five fights. Johnny was trying to argue, saying, look at her history, what she did in the amateurs, and that they let Nina Hughes fight for a world title after just four fights. But they still said no, and Johnny told me that I would need at least five fights before I would even get a Southern Area title fight.

“So I knew that I was in a situation where I knew I would be starting my Masters knowing that it would be a very intense course. So I was thinking, have I got enough time to have another three or four fights and then gamble that the Board would let me fight for a title? Realistically, my second year of my Masters is when I start my medical prescribing. That is something I can’t mess up, and it is not something you can blag your way through. It’s really hard, and so many people fail it. I need to fully dedicate myself to that when that starts, which is next September. When I signed on to do this course, I knew that I would have to give up boxing by next September. I have to focus on my career because boxing doesn’t pay my bills. So I said, “Do I have enough time to do all these fights that they need me to do before next September so that I can fight for a title?” I just thought sod it, I am not doing it. All my medicals were due as well, and that was going to cost me a grand in total. Even if I get that money back, what do I get back? I am literally risking my life just to break even. I told my partner, who is also my coach, to tell Johnny to pull me out of the fight. I didn’t want to go through this fight and then be told I still needed to have even more fights before I got a title fight. With limited time, what was the point in carrying on.”

Johnny Clark of Top Tier Promotions is fighting for Orton. He knows all the history. My previous interviews have told her story in all its brutality. Clark is a promoter who genuinely wants to help. He thinks he can deliver where others have failed. He already has. A title fight in December is next. A long-awaited and hard-earned opportunity for Orton. Katie Smith, an unbeaten fighter is next up with a belt on the line. “Johnny told me not to give up. He said after this fight he thinks he could get me an English or a British title.

“Johnny said I have got to start selling the fight with Harli (Whitwell). I said, “Fine, tell me what I have to do.” I said to him that if he was confident of getting me a title fight, then I would stick it out because that is what I am in it for. I know realistically I won’t make world level, even though that was always my goal. I know time-wise it is not going to happen. But I said if I could walk away with something, then it hasn’t been all for nothing. Johnny then rang me again and told me he could get me the Commonwealth Silver for December, and I could literally have cried. He also said the next fight after that could be the Commonwealth, which is held by Kirsty Hill. I beat Kirsty in the amateurs, and it is a fight I know that I can win. So basically, I have got between now and September to achieve as much as I can.”

There has long been a desire to have a family with her partner. Orton will be 34 in March. She’s been putting that side of her life off. Boxing is primarily the reason for that. But enough is enough. Orton has accepted many things. The day job and that desire to start a family with her partner will now be her future. After next September, boxing will be gone from her life.

“I’m doing advanced clinical practice at university,” Orton told FightPost. “I’m a mental health nurse by profession, and my current role is within the patient safety team conducting reviews of clinical care for patients who have died in our care. My reports are used in the inquests at the coroners court and to improve our service to learn from incidents.” The day job is important to Orton. But something even more important has now taken even more importance.

“I have had to accept that I won’t achieve what I wanted to achieve at world level. But I have told myself that I will accept a British or a Commonwealth title. At some point, I have to put other people first and my future first. Even if I got a world title shot, boxing won’t pay the bills for the rest of my life. It’s a risk to life sport. It’s a question of what will I regret more. Will I regret not winning a world title, or would I regret not having kids more? I do worry that, because of my age, the longer I leave it, the less likely it is that I will be able to have kids. It’s not just about me. It’s about my family as well.

“I would never forgive myself if I messed up my Masters and failed it and also leaving it too long and not being able to have kids. I think I would struggle more with that rather than just walking away from boxing.

“It’s taken a long time for me to accept what’s happened. Everything I have been through, all the fights being cancelled, and the fake sponsor. It’s taken so much strength to keep picking myself up and carrying on. But I have got to the point of acceptance now. I have accepted that if I can walk away with a British or a Commonwealth, even though it’s not what I set out to do, It’s still more than what a lot of others have even come close to achieving. It’s still something for me to be proud of. And that’s why I can’t just walk away.”

Boxing has formed a major part of the life of Louise Orton. It has taken so much from her. It very nearly took everything. But at times, it’s like a drug. An addition that despite everything it throws at you, you just can’t let go. An habit that you just can’t kick. In truth, boxing has thrown everything at Louise Orton. It’s a modern-day miracle that she is still here. That she still wants to be here. Boxing is ingrained in Orton. But she knows that she has to let it go. The end is now firmly in view.

“I do struggle without boxing. It is so addictive. I think who am I without boxing? I am boxing, and boxing is me. I have given so much to boxing, and without it, there is so much space in my life. Space in my life is not a good thing because that is when my mental health starts to deteriorate. The more I have got going on, the better I am because I have got something to distract me. In the morning I wake up, from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed, I know I have got to work, study and train and that is where I am at my best because those other thoughts don’t come into my brain.”

Orton is now writing the final chapters of her boxing life. Next September is the cut-off date. After that, boxing will be gone. A definitive ending to her time in the sport. Time that hasn’t always served her well. The hope is that Orton finally finds a bit of luck. A title or two before Orton leaves the sport for good would go a long way to make all her struggles worthwhile. At least to a point. Surely, Louise Orton deserves that, at the very least.