Summer Grigg: “I would love to be a world champion one day.”

Summer Grigg: “I would love to be a world champion one day.”

If women’s boxing is to thrive past this current golden generation, it will need a new wave of talent to come through the ranks and keep the momentum going in an upward trajectory. Summer Grigg could be one fighter who could do exactly that.

The 14-year-old from Birmingham has her whole life ahead of her. Her boxing career also.

“I have had a great upbringing with my supportive family, my mom, dad, and my two sisters,” Grigg relayed to FightPost. “My mom and dad are behind me every step of the way, and they sacrifice so much for me so I am able to chase my dreams. My dad has now taken up a coaching role in my gym, and he wants to be in my corner for every fight from now on. He loves the sport just as much as I do.”

“Not really, not until my dad got me into boxing aged 8 as I was a shy girl, and he wanted to boost my confidence,” Grigg answers when I ask her if she has always been into her sports. “I just automatically loved it. I felt like I was made for this sport.

“My dad thought it would be a good idea as I was really quiet and low on confidence. So I thought it would bring me out of my shell, which it did. I have had great coaches at my club, Second City ABC, they have always believed in me and pushed me to be better every day.”

“I love the feeling I get when I step into the ring,” Grigg says of what the sport gives her. “It gives me such a big buzz, and that feeling when I get my arm raised there’s no feeling like it. Also, the health side of it. I love how fit, strong, and healthy I feel every day. I love being a role model for younger girls getting into the sport. I’m always getting messages asking me for advice and tips on how to be a better boxer and how to get to the stage I am at now or when I’m at boxing events girls come up to me for photos and to just have a chat. I love it.

“It’s given me the opportunity to travel to different countries to meet so many different people and I have made many new friends. I love the whole boxing community where we all know and respect each other as we’re all in it for the same reason to be successful. Boxing gives me confidence, self-belief, and the determination to keep chasing my dreams.”

“Yes, I was 11 years old I felt very nervous as it was at a big venue in Cannock with lots of people watching,” Grigg told me about her very first fight. “But then it was over so fast I didn’t have time to think. It was a first-round stoppage.”

Summer Grigg is now twenty-two fights into her career. Only three defeats on her resume indicate what is to come. But Grigg has achieved plenty already. “I got my first National title at 12 years old. I was then selected to box for England in Slovenia in the European Championships, where I became a European silver medalist after losing to an Irish girl in the final. I then became a two-time National Champion when I was 13, and then I was picked to fight for England in the Tri-Nations, where I won my first gold medal for England after beating a Scottish girl.

“I was then selected for England again for the European Championships in Bosnia in August last year, where I had four fights in ten days and became a European gold medalist. 2024 was a great year for me. Most recently, I started a new year as a junior boxer, and I travelled to Sweden in February this year and became a Golden Girl Champion after beating two girls in two days. I’m currently training for the Junior Nationals in March.

“The highlight of my career so far is winning gold for England in Bosnia last year and becoming European Champion. I fought a Romanian first, an Irish girl in the quarters and a Russian in the semi-finals, and finally, an Azerbaijan girl in the final to win. I gave everything to make sure that gold medal was mine.”

Grigg is beyond ambitious. “I want to become a three-time National Champion in March and to compete in more Box Cups and keep winning gold medals and being successful in the sport I love.

“Yes, definitely at some stage,” Grigg says if she has ambitions of turning professional. “But I’m looking to have a great career in the amateurs first and build from that.

“I want to compete in the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics and become a full-time professional female boxer. I would love to be a world champion one day and fill out some of the biggest venues in the world.”