Beyond The Ropes: Ebony Leigh Jones

Beyond The Ropes: Ebony Leigh Jones

The Barnsley-born Ebony Leigh Jones started in dance. A move to karate followed before she found boxing. Jones is now a two-weight National Champion and she competed in the 2022 World Youth Championships. There are thoughts of turning professional. At 19, it’s fair to say that she is only just getting started.

Jones, now living in Scunthorpe, comes from a very supportive family network.

“I’ve had a really good upbringing,” Jones told FightPost. “Although my parents split up, both my parents and their partners are very supportive of everything I do, and they have always pushed me to be like the best version of myself no matter what I do.”

“I have always been sporty,” Jones says of her early life.. “I was doing a bit of dance when I was a little girl and then moved onto karate, where I was an orange belt and then boxing, and I have stuck at boxing ever since.”

Boxing found Ebony Leigh Jones at an incredibly early age. “I started boxing at the age of about 10, and I was still doing karate at the time I started boxing. But I tried boxing because my younger brother was doing it and I went to watch him in his first skills bout where he then received a trophy and I just thought it was cooler than a colourful belt and wanted one for myself.”

It might have been a ‘cool’ trophy that formed part of the catalyst for the initial entry into boxing, but it now carries a deeper meaning for her.

“The attraction of it, I’d say, is that it is very therapeutic in a weird way,” Jones relayed to me. When I have had a bad day, I do a bit of boxing, and all of a sudden, I feel calm again. It gives me a lot of nerves leading up to fights. It gives me a lot of emotions, but it also brings me joy. I’m happy when I’m training, or competing or even when I am sparring. Obviously, like most people, I have my bad days in the ring, but I’ll watch it back and get that buzz again, wishing I could do it all over again.”

Ebony Leigh Jones is now thirty fights into her boxing journey, but those early ring moments are still fresh in her mind.

“My first skills bout I was dead excited,” Jones told me. “My whole family came, and it was just a chance for me to show everyone how much I loved it. Turning to my first bout I’ve never felt any nerves like it. Knowing how much I wanted to win, but there’s always a chance it won’t go your way. I unfortunately lost my first fight on a split, but results like that have made me into the boxer that I am today.”

Those thirty fights have brought much success, Jones relayed to FightPost.

“I have won the National Championships twice. I’ve won a European gold medal at the schools level, and a gold medal at the Tri-Nations. But I’ve also competed in the Youth World Championships back in 2022, where I was unfortunate to miss out on a medal to a really good girl who went and won it. I also competed in the Youth Europeans in 2022 and missed out on a medal to a German girl who I then went and beat and showed my skill in the World Championships. The highlight of my career so far would definitely be competing at the Youth World Championships and boxing the best girls at my weight.”

“I personally think the hardest part of boxing is the dieting and running, and I do not like running,” Jones adds when I ask what is the part of the sport she doesn’t like.

There is a life away from her sport. “Outside of boxing, I work at Starbucks as part of the management just to keep me going for the time being. I also do a little coaching trying to bring on aspiring boxers, usually doing one-to-one sessions with them to really help them where needed. I’m also trying to study an online university course doing sports science, which will hopefully come in handy for a future career.”

Even at 19, Jones has seemingly got her future already mapped out. “The short-term goal currently is to try to get onto the England senior performance pathway and push onto GB to get even more international experience. My long-term goal would definitely be to go pro, trying to follow in the footsteps of my club mate Gemma Richardson.”