Beyond The Ropes: Charlie Sutton

Beyond The Ropes: Charlie Sutton

It was perhaps always inevitable that the Bristol-born Charlie Sutton would find her way into some kind of career in a fighting environment. There were brief flirtations in the world of dance. But her calling lay elsewhere.

“I started off with kickboxing when I was 4 years old,” Sutton told me. “I did kickboxing for quite a few years until I was about 12. Then, one day, I got offered a boxing fight, and I took it with no experience. After that fight, I decided to go into ABA boxing, where I could enter championships and be able to box most weekends.

“I was brought up in the fighting world. I started from such a young age that I didn’t really know anything else. My whole family and I would always train and work together to become the best we could. However, I did try ballet and tap dancing, but I was always attracted back to the fighting game. The adrenaline and the rush that boxing gives you words just couldn’t describe.”

“Boxing gets you fit and healthy,” Sutton adds when I ask her what the attraction of boxing is. “But it also helps with your mental mind state, stress relief, and self-confidence. If you’re struggling or have had a bad day, it’s always good to come to the gym as it helps you relieve so much stress and anger. It gets you away from the outside world and helps you concentrate on what matters right now, and that’s the harder you train, the easier fight day will be. After a training session, it always makes you feel so much better about yourself, physically and mentally.”

The initial entry into boxing was through the white collar route. A handful of fights on that unlicensed scene before she moved into the world of amateur boxing. Sutton had eleven amateur fights, a resume that included winning the Bristol Box Cup, the women’s Winter Cup, and the NSGB Nationals. The amateur run was relatively brief because of a desire to turn professional and to get more fights.

“I turned pro so I could challenge myself and to see how far my boxing career could go,” Sutton relayed to FightPost. “I also turned pro because in my weight category back in the amateurs there weren’t very many girls to fight and then you ended up fighting the same girl all the time and I just thought it was a bonus to do something you love and get paid for it.”

Sutton, who is inspired by the likes of Natasha Jonas and Oleksandr Usyk, is now five fights into her professional career. The 21-year-old has four wins. The only blemish on her record is a six-round points defeat to Vaida Masiokaite in her second fight. Three wins since that setback have got her career back on an upward trajectory. Boxrec has Sutton at number five on their super-lightweight rankings. “I’m slowly creeping up the rankings, and hopefully, one day I’ll make it to the top,” Sutton says of where her career is right now.

A win over Kerry Orton last June was followed by an extended absence. Sutton didn’t return to the ring until last month when she recorded a points victory over the Argentinian Erica Juana Gabriela Alvarez.

“I had a 9-month break since my last fight,” Sutton told me. “Unfortunately, towards the end of last year, so many shows kept getting cancelled, and it was hard to get out on a show. Then I became really ill around Christmas time, so I decided to take a little rest and enjoy Christmas with my friends and family.”

Sutton is at the embryonic stages of her boxing career. At 21, she has plenty of time, and Sutton understands there is no rush. “In the short term, I just want to just have some fun and see how many fights I can get in and just show people what I can do, but it’s just mainly about enjoying myself at the moment.

“But in the long term, I would love to make a statement and see just how far I can go. I would love to travel the world by fighting in different countries and hopefully become a world champion as well.”

Charlie Sutton is ambitious. The usual dreams of world titles are very much in her thoughts. But equally, she wants to inspire others. “My main goal is to encourage other girls to become the best they can in the boxing game. Taking risks and not turning anything down and hopefully becoming a world champion themselves.”