Hanna Holden: “I want more than just titles, I want to ensure my success inspires.”

Hanna Holden: “I want more than just titles, I want to ensure my success inspires.”

Hanna Holden is only sixteen years old. But Holden has packed a lot into her young life. Born in the Philippines, before settling in the UK in 2016 after a spell in the United Arab Emirates. Holden found her way into boxing after finding karate too ‘boring’ for her. She is now dreaming of world and Olympic titles and more. But most of all, Hanna Holden wants to be remembered.

An interesting early period in her formative years, in many ways, paved the way for what lay ahead.

“I had a great childhood,” Holden told FightPost. “I spent my first few years growing up in the Philippines, living mainly with my grandparents as my mum had to work abroad. My life changed, however, when my mum – who was working in the UAE at the time – met and married the man who became my Dad. Once they married, my elder brother and sister, and I went to join them, and we lived there for a year. I don’t remember much, but we had a great apartment with a pool and a jet ski. But, when my younger brother came along in 2016, we moved to the UK because my Dad wanted to adopt me and my elder siblings. He said he wanted us to be one family with one name and one passport. The adoption came through in November 2017, and that’s when I became British. I’ve lived in the UK ever since and grew up in a large family. There are only four of us in the house now, as my elder siblings both joined the Royal Navy as they wanted to serve the flag of the country that adopted them.”

Holden is aware of the importance of a good education. “I’ve just finished my GCSEs, and I am planning to stay on at 6th form to study art, business, and psychology. Art is also a hobby of mine, and when I’ve got nothing to do, you can find me sketching something.”

“Yes,” Holden replied when I asked if she had always had an interest in sports. “When I lived in the Philippines, I didn’t do any formal sport, but I was always sporty, and our family is hyper competitive. When I moved to the UAE, my dad put us into karate, which over there was great as they were more into the fighting and less about the routines. Everything changed when we went to the UK. I swam, played football and hockey, and did gymnastics. I continued with karate, but it wasn’t the same.”

When her love for karate dwindled somewhat, boxing came into her life. “I got to Brown belt in karate and was training for my black belt, but I remember telling my dad I didn’t want to do it anymore because it was boring,” Holden told me. “He asked me why, and I simply said, “I just want to fight”. Because of that, he found me a local boxing club, which I went to once or twice a week, and loved it from the start. One by one, all the other sports stopped.

“Everything changed when I went to Portsmouth on holiday in 2021. I had my first scoring bout coming up, so my dad found a club I could train in while we were on holiday. The coach was Quinton Shillingford, and I spent hours there that week. Shortly after that holiday, we moved to a new club, PTSOB, in Middlesbrough under the Head Coach Craig Carney, where I’ve been ever since.”

For Holden, the attraction of boxing is the competitiveness. “I’m naturally competitive, and you can’t get more competitive than boxing. The one-on nature of the sport, with the winner taking everything and the loser having to console themselves with the opportunity to learn from their errors, is brutal, and I love it.

“It’s more than just competition, though. It’s the camaraderie. I don’t know if all clubs are the same, but PTSOB is like a second family. Training is hard, and we go through it together. We support each other and share in each other’s successes and support each other through losses. I didn’t come from a boxing family. I grew into it by my own participation, so it has become part of me because of me. My family is now a boxing family because of me.

“Boxing gives me purpose as well as meaning. I’m naturally competitive, so it gives me a channel to express that. Boxing shapes who I am and how I live my life. I train twice a day, Monday to Friday, and once on Saturday. I eat and live healthily not only to maintain weight but to remain in peak condition. I find that boxing is the best therapy as well. I’m convinced my mental well-being and resilience are strengthened by boxing.”

Hanna Holden just wants to fight, a fighter who wants a reward for all the hours spent in the gym. “The hardest part of boxing for me is the time between fights and the last-minute pull-outs, especially when you have prepared, sacrificed, and given your all.

“I’ve had seven fights so far in 2025, but the last one was in March. I’ve been entered in three more tournaments since then, but each time, the opponent has pulled out. You can accept if it’s for a genuine reason, but not if it’s simply to avoid you. In one tournament, the opponent pulled out as soon as my name went in.

“The hardest of all is that I’ve been denied the opportunity to represent England at the Tri-Nations for no other reason than Scotland and Wales have never put anyone in against my weight for the three years I’ve been eligible to fight, and it’s not because they don’t have anyone at my weight. They do. I see my teammates all claiming they are British champions. A title I’ve been denied.”

“I remember them all,” Holden says when I ask if she can remember her very first fight. “My first skills fight was in my old club and was against a girl from Legions in York. It was their home show at the Mercure Hotel, and I remember being very nervous. I remember the home crowd booing and the announcer having to tell them to stop, reminding the Legion’s home crowd that I was only eleven.

“I also remember my first scoring bout when I was at PTSOB. I stopped the girl in forty-five seconds in the first round. It was funny because my dad’s friend went to the toilet before the bout and had missed it by the time he came back.”

The boxing career of Hanna Holden is in its embryonic stages. Nevertheless, it is progressing quite nicely. “I’ve had thirty-three scoring fights in total and won twenty-nine of them. Two of my four losses have been at the European championships, one against Turkey in 2022, which I avenged in 2023, and one against Russia in the finals in 2024. The others were domestic losses, one of which I avenged in the 2024 National finals, and the other I’ll have to wait until I turn professional, as the girl turned pro at sixteen. But I’m patient, so I will wait for that rematch.”

“So far, I have won the National Championships four times in a row and have won a bronze، Silver and gold for England at the European championships. I’ve won two further golds for England; once at Boxam in Spain and again at the Nations Box Cup in Serbia. I also won the Winter Women’s Box Cup in 2024 and the Golden Girls Box Cup in Sweden in 2025, not to mention the Angel of the North Box Cup.”

“I’ve got so many,” Holden adds when I ask what the highlight of her career is so far. “But representing England is always a highlight as there is no better accolade than to represent one’s country, and it is my way of giving back to the country that adopted me. Winning the European championships in 2023 was also a highlight. I’ll never get bored with the opportunity to travel, as boxing has taken me to so many places.

“Also, boxing has given me the opportunity to spar with some great talent, which for me has included the likes of Jade Pearce, Hannah Robinson and Commonwealth medalist Gemma Richardson, and I’m lucky to have had the opportunity to share the ring with Skye Nicolson on three separate occasions.”

At 16, Holden has her entire career ahead of her, but already, she has ambitions, both short-term and beyond. “My immediate goal is to represent England at the 2025 European Championships, making it four in a row so I can bring back my second gold,” Holden relays to me. “My short-term goals are to continue on the England Performance Pathway, retain my streak of national titles by winning the Youth’s next year, and then represent England at the Europeans, Youth Olympics and World championships.

“Like most amateur boxers, representing one’s country at the highest levels is the ultimate amateur goal, which, for me, realistically would be the 2032 Olympics. That would make me twenty-three. So, I have plenty of time.”

“100%,” Holden adds when I ask if she has any aspirations of turning professional in the coming years. “In an ideal world, I’d like my pro career to follow on from reaching my amateur goals but watching the likes of Tiah-Mai Ayton secure a good contract with Matchroom at only nineteen, shows anything is possible, and so like many others I have my sights on Matchroom, Queensbury or even MVP now they’ve entered the game. So, I’m keen to show the likes of Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, and Jake Paul/Nakisa Badarian that I can not only win fights but that I can build a following.”

Hanna Holden has big plans. Big aspirations. They include major titles. Fighting on the biggest platform. But Holden wants her career to be even more than that. “Obviously, as a boxer, I want to secure a legacy that inspires the next generation of female boxers, so whether it is the Olympics or the unified world champion, I want to make sure my name is remembered.

“But I want more than just titles; I want to ensure my success inspires, and I’d like to associate myself with brands that share the idea of empowering women.

“I also recognise that boxing is a sport that can do good for communities, probably more than any other sport, because of its strong roots at the grassroots level. I’ve been fortunate to associate with the “Combat Sport Initiative” that amplified the “weapons down, gloves up” message, and this is something I am keen to get more involved in, as I know how important it is to help young people make positive choices.

“I also recognise that I owe so much to PTSOB, which sits in the heart of Middlesbrough and next door to the Riverside Stadium. If I’m fortunate enough to be successful, I want to make sure that Middlesbrough benefits as well.”