Lilyella Craw-Seaman: “I have missed fighting. There is no other feeling like it.”

Lilyella Craw-Seaman: “I have missed fighting. There is no other feeling like it.”

Lilyella Craw-Seaman last fought in late 2021. A third-round stoppage victory over Klaudia Vigh in Norwich moved Craw-Seaman to 2-0 in the professional ranks. The usual boxing politics have been in play since the win over Vigh, but finally, fight number three is on the horizon.

Craw-Seaman will make her return after an extended hiatus on November 29th, looking to reignite her promising career. “It’s been a little bit longer than I expected, but I am in a good place, and I am excited,” Craw-Seaman told FightPost over Zoom.

“It’s been four years since I last fought. There were fights that fell through. I had three fights where I trained, and the opponents then pulled out. There were some managerial issues as well, and I just fell away from the sport, to be honest. I decided to focus on a career outside of boxing, which I am doing really well in. I then moved to England from Scotland. But I have always trained. You know, when you love to do something, you need to do it. I just started boxing again, and I thought I was in a good headspace to fight again. I have been working really hard for about nine months.”

A Deputy Health and Safety Manager, outside of the gym attire, but inside a boxing ring, is where the heart truly lies. “I have missed fighting,” Craw-Seaman admits. “There is no other feeling like it, is there? I have enjoyed my time away from it, but I just feel I am 26 now, it’s now or never, to actually make this my life.”

A former elite swimmer for her native country before boxing gripped her almost from the start. A brief experience of the white-collar scene before an amateur run, that had fleeting thoughts of going to the Tokyo Olympics before Covid stopped everything in its tracks.

There is an undoubted passion for her craft. “I used to swim for Scotland before this. I have always been involved in sport. I don’t think I know how to function without sport or even a routine in general. Living a normal life isn’t always fun. It’s fun, it’s nice, but there is no other feeling like competing in something and having a purpose every single day and chasing a dream. I don’t ever feel that in normal life.”

Women’s boxing has certainly moved on since Lily Craw-Seaman last graced a boxing ring. The recent stagnation aside, the female side of the sport has certainly grown in many ways. Craw-Seaman has seen the progress from afar, and there are those thoughts of what could have been. “There is more exposure now, but it still isn’t really there yet,” Craw-Seaman told me.

“It’s definitely going in a good, slow trajectory. I look at people whom I know or have trained with, and even though they might have lost some fights, that could have been me winning titles and being in their position. But that’s what I want to do with my life. I want to fight people, I want to win and make a name for myself.”

Away from the bright lights, the comeback began to take shape many months ago as the boxing cobwebs were dusted away. Hours in the ring, shedding the ring rust accumulated in the four years since her last fight. “My coach will probably say I have gone from being useless to being a fully-fledged professional boxer again,” Craw-Seaman says of that process.

The ever-reliable Beccy Ferguson will be the first opponent on the road back. A sensible opening move for Craw-Seaman, who hopes she will eventually be challenging for titles at super-lightweight. Another fight in February is being lined up, and Craw-Seaman hopes to be in the hunt for domestic titles by the end of next year. The talented Hannah Robinson was mentioned as a possible future opponent. But Lilyella Craw-Seaman says she will fight anyone.

In a previous interview for FightPost in 2021, Craw-Seaman said that she wants to become a world champion. Nothing has changed on that front. “World titles are still the aim,” Craw-Seaman says. “Probably more than ever now. I don’t need to do this. I want to do this.”