Mae Astbury: “The last 18 months have been a journey of patience, hard work, and perseverance.”

Mae Astbury: “The last 18 months have been a journey of patience, hard work, and perseverance.”

It was a process that was well beyond the pale. A difficult and long application for a British Boxing Board of Control licence. It went on. And on. Until just a few weeks ago, Mae Astbury finally got the news that she had been waiting for.

Now that a lingering eye issue has been satisfactorily resolved and corrected, Astbury will finally make her long-awaited professional debut on March 29th at the Middleton Arena.

“I am beyond relieved,” Astbury told me. “After waiting for so long, I can finally get back to doing what I love and what I have been working so hard for. The last 18 months have been a journey of patience, hard work, and perseverance. The license process was tough, but it’s only fuelled my drive. Now, I’m ready to prove that all the waiting and sacrifices were worth it.

“The anticipation has been building up for months, and now that the day is almost here, I’m feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement. I’ve put in the work, and I can’t wait to step into the ring, show my skills, and start my journey.”

Despite that patience and undoubted resilience, even Astbury has had her doubts along the way. “It hasn’t been easy getting to this point,” Astbury says of the extended process. “There were times I when questioned whether it would ever happen, but the great people I have around me have meant that I never lost belief. The delays, the waiting, and the uncertainty pushed me to my limits, but each obstacle just made me more resilient. Now, I’m just focused on the fight ahead and ready to take on anything or anyone that is put in front of me.

“I am so grateful to everyone who has been in my corner throughout my journey so far. I can’t thank them enough. The support has kept me going when times have been tough, and I just hope I can make them all proud.”

After that long wait, Mae Astbury is finally ready to enter her new world. Twenty-four amateur fights and top-class sparring with the likes of the European flyweight champion Chloe Watson should be the perfect preparation for a successful professional career. There is the usual talk of world titles, and Astbury is incredibly ambitious as she eagerly awaits her entry into her new world. “By the time I am 28, I want to be at British, Commonwealth, or European level,” the Northwich fighter told me late last year. “I want to make those steps at the right time. By the end of my career, I want to have taken every single opportunity.”

That old saying of wanting to make up for lost time very much applies here.