Jade Pearce: “I just want to get going and show people what I can do.”

Jade Pearce: “I just want to get going and show people what I can do.”

“Everyone who I had spoken to before it was as if they were trying to sell themselves. But Carl was just straight to the point. There was no bullshit from Carl.” The opening words of Jade Pearce as we discussed why the former amateur star has turned professional under the guidance of Carl Greaves.

“We are trying to get my licence and medical sorted for Christmas, and we are hoping to have my debut in January,” Pearce told me over Zoom. “I am that eager to fight. I will literally fight anywhere. I’m not bothered about where or the finer details, I just want to get going and show people what I can do. It’s being realistic, and right now, it’s just about getting in the ring and fighting regardless and showing people what is to come.”

Pearce, 28, will look to fight in and around the super-featherweight ranks. She might go even lower than that. But she doesn’t want to lose one of her greatest strengths, Pearce told me.

“My strength is my strength. I spar with bigger girls all the time. My best asset is being really strong for being smaller. So I think we will play around with things at first and ensure I don’t lose my best asset in trying to make a weight.”

Injuries cut short her amateur career somewhat. But Pearce is a great believer that everything happens for a reason. Philosophical that if she had landed on Team GB, the doors to turning professional might not have opened. But there are still certain regrets that she didn’t match or surpass what her father achieved in the unpaid ranks.

“The end goal was always to emulate what my dad did. But I’ll never get the opportunity to achieve what my dad did as an amateur. But I can achieve all those things that he regrets not achieving as a pro.”

Her father John boxed in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and came home with a gold medal. The exploits of her father, an obvious inspiration to her, were clearly visible in the background. Mounted on the wall were numerous accolades. A proud daughter looking to take inspiration from what her father achieved in the sport.

“Middlesbrough is a very small town. It’s not a place where people get many opportunities,” Pearce told FightPost. “I’m sat here surrounded by all his medals and trophies as I’m speaking to you. Sometimes I train here, and if I’m having a tough day I look at all the trophies and think if that little lad from the Boro from the council estate who barely went to school can do it, and that was a massive underachievement for him, then anything is possible.”

Boxing is incredibly hard, both physically and mentally. A recent Top Rank interview with the now-retired Seniesa Estrada epitomises that better than anything I have previously seen. But there is something about the sport, despite its brutality at times, that is so addictive. A sport that grabs hold and won’t let go. Many fighters say boxing makes them. It gives them something that they struggle to find elsewhere.

Pearce has had her struggles, but she gets plenty from the sport also.

“It’s hard, but at the same time, there is some form of release from it. I’m a shy person, and I struggle to talk. But when I am in the gym and have my boxing boots on, it’s like I have got this whole new lease of life. Even if I have got a killer session or if I am injured, I still want to get in there. Even though it’s a lonely sport, when you are in the ring, you are on your own. But you create a little family and an environment around that can get you through anything.”   

Pearce has been matched tough in her boxing career. She boxed future world title challenger
Ramla Ali in just her third fight. The likes of Shannon Courtenay and Emma Dolan also reside on her resume. Hard fights that were heavily weighted against her. Pearce says they were fights to get her to the end goal. Learning fights in many ways. For balance, an impressive win over Raven Chapman shows her potential.

But a new chapter now awaits Jade Pearce. The process of turning professional is now well underway. With her debut intended for early in the new year, Pearce intends to hit the ground running. You sense all those frustrations from her amateur career, where she didn’t achieve what her talents merited, will drive her on to make up for lost time in the professional ranks.