Emma Dolan:  “I might not be the most glamorous person or posting on Instagram 24/7 – but the quality is there in my boxing. If I just keep on chipping away, then I have to get noticed.”

Emma Dolan:  “I might not be the most glamorous person or posting on Instagram 24/7 – but the quality is there in my boxing. If I just keep on chipping away, then I have to get noticed.”

By Garry White

Emma Dolan is seeking to take inspiration from Liam Cameron’s Lazarus-like return to boxing prominence. The Sheffield light-heavyweight had suffered every degradation possible whilst serving out a lengthy ban from the sport for a failed drug test. Alcoholism, depression, bereavement, and obesity became his unwanted bedfellows as they cruelly usurped his identity and earlier successes in the ring. But since shedding more than six stones in weight, returning to the sport and embarrassing cocksure Ben Whittaker in Riyadh, suddenly his name is all over social media and on everyone’s lips. It has been a journey that has taken ‘Cannonball’ from darkness, through fire, into the blazing light, and has culminated in a newly minted promotional deal with Frank Warren. This is something that the reigning British and Commonwealth super-flyweight champion, who is still mostly competing in the shadows, sources some comfort from.

“I get on well with Liam [Cameron]. It’s been great to see him get his big moment and come on so well from it. He has really seized his opportunity, and it just shows you what can happen with the right platform” says Dolan. Still seeking a big promotional deal, herself, despite winning the British title back in June with an eye-catching victory over Shannon Ryan, it is easy to see why she takes some inspiration from Cameron’s unlikely return to prominence. “I’ve just got to keep chipping away,” she reveals. “I might not be the most glamorous person or posting on Instagram 24/7 – but the quality is there in my boxing. If I just keep on chipping away, then I have to get noticed, eventually. That’s my motivation; to just keep moving forward.”

The latest step towards that goal was meant to be taking place at York Hall this weekend. In what would have been Dolan’s first appearance at the East London boxing Mecca, she was due to be defending her Commonwealth 115lbs belt against Wiltshire’s unbeaten Megan Redstall. However, a persistent chest infection caused Dolan to withdraw from the bout earlier in the week and forgo the opportunity to headline on the Warren Boxing Management show. “It’s really disappointing,” says Dolan, not surprisingly. “But hopefully, we can get it rescheduled early next year.”

Interestingly, only the Commonwealth belt was due to be on the line, with the Board stopping short of sanctioning a defence of Dolan’s British title. This was likely due to Redstall only having had four pro contests and previously never having fought over more than six rounds. Still, with Dolan keen to win the belt outright, it does provide her with a challenge when it comes to identifying acceptable opponents. “They’re [the BBBofC] really not giving me much in the way of options to defend it. How am I meant to do it?” Questions, Dolan. “With so few British girls out there in my weight class, it will be difficult to get three defences in. There’s really only Shannon [Ryan] and Lauren Parker who are options for the British.”

A return fight against Ryan would be a popular choice and a worthy supporting act for any televised card. When they met in Birmingham earlier in the year on the undercard of Tyler Denny vs. Felix Cash, it was Ryan who had the sponsors, promotional backing, and the bookmakers behind her. With plenty of genuine pre-fight needle, Dolan asserted her dominance from the first bell, dropping Ryan in the second and collecting the verdict following ten highly entertaining rounds. The split decision on the judge’s cards was too narrow for many, but the Newark-based fighter is sanguine about it. “I thought I won it by seven rounds, to be honest,” she says. “When they started reading out the scores, it was a bit of a worry. But at the same time, I was thinking that if they do rob me, at least it’s on a big television show, and everybody will have seen it and know what I did.”

Mercifully, the more deserving fighter won in this instance, but it is concerning that boxers who lack promotional muscle or routinely find themselves on the road are compelled into thinking like this. It perhaps also speaks volumes for Dolan’s faster-than-expected start back at the Resorts World Arena. “When I was walking to the ring, I was saying to myself: ‘These first two rounds are going to be vital. Just get through them, and you’ll be away.’ To be honest, I thought those early rounds were going to be a lot harder,” she says.

“But I set a decent enough pace, and when I hurt her, I was desperate to get her down. I knew if I could get a knockdown, that would really help me on the cards. I thought I would probably need that. I reckon it also knocked her confidence a bit as well. From then on, I was able to box her head off.”

Dolan, originally from Norfolk and now based in Notts following her signing with Carl Greaves back in 2022, is looking forward to an eventful 2025. She states that she would, “Love a rematch with Shannon [Ryan]” and with the rescheduled fight with Redstall still on the cards. Surely, she already has enough to keep her busy? However, with her number three rating with the IBF, she is keen to push onwards for a shot at Irma Garcia’s championship belt. With 29 fights to her name, the Mexican champion would be a steep upgrade in terms of pedigree and experience, but Dolan has no doubt that she is ready to extend herself further. “That’s the fight we really want. We really want to get in a position to challenge for it,” she reveals. “I’d love to fight for that but also any of the belts I am up for. Challenging Lauren Parker for the European belt would also be great.”

That is quite a wish list for the year ahead. But when it comes exclusively to Christmas, Dolan has more modest aspirations. “It’s all about the food. Especially the sausage rolls!” she says excitedly. “I’m lucky that I always make weight fine. So, I don’t have to worry about being one of these people who’ll suddenly go up by four stones.”

But if she could have a Christmas wish to change anything in the sport or more pertinently in the women’s game, what would it be?

“Three-minute rounds,” she says without pausing to think. “I am a big advocate for that change. Some girls just aren’t fit. When I fought Shannon, she was blowing even with a minute’s rest every two minutes. You know, that’s half your round time. How can you not be that fit? A move to three minutes would sort out those who aren’t properly conditioned and would provide way more excitement and knockouts.”

Dolan might well be on to something there. But perhaps this is a present that the big fella in the red suit isn’t quite ready to place under the tree just yet.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing