Sam Lightfoot: “I’m going to make my mark and show people that I’m here to stay.”

Sam Lightfoot: “I’m going to make my mark and show people that I’m here to stay.”

“Boxing is my passion, and I want to make a living out of it,” Sam Lightfoot told me in February. A professional career was about to begin. Plans of making her debut in July were already in play. But Lightfoot was made to wait. And wait. But finally, her British Boxing Board of Control licence has been granted, and her boxing career can now finally move forward.

“It’s a big relief and a large weight off my shoulders,” Lightfoot told FightPost. “It might sound daft, but after I got the news last Monday, it’s the first time I have smiled properly in about five months. It’s been very hard at times. That’s how much it has affected me, not being able to fight and head spar. Also, the fact that there was a possibility that I might never box again.”

It’s been nine months of waiting. Of doubt. Thoughts of thinking her career was over before it had even started. “A failed brain scan was the delay,” Lightfoot added. “The British Boxing Board of Control emailed me, requiring me to see a specialist in order to see whether I could continue boxing. Due to the waiting times of the NHS, I had to go to a private specialist.”

As time passed, Lightfoot had those thoughts that her boxing life, which started when she was only 14, had now been taken away from her for good. “There were some doubts alongside trying to stay positive. My coaches and I were preparing ourselves for the worst outcome. Roger and Gary made sure I knew it could be a possibility, that it might never happen. But we stayed positive, and I kept showing up in the gym and making sure we got the right things done for the British Boxing Board of Control.

“But it has been unbelievably frustrating. Without sounding crazy, I love punching people in the face. Also, I thought at times I was falling behind, seeing everyone else achieving so much. But I kept reminding myself that this rough patch will be over soon.”

After waiting so long for her professional debut, Lightfoot wants to get it right when the time comes, with plans to make her maiden ring walk in 2026, and hopefully, be in the title picture before the year ends.

“All eyes on the new year now,” Lightfoot says. “You only get one debut, and I want to make sure it’s one to remember. I could be out in December, but there’s no rush. I trust in my coaches and my manager, Dave Allen, to make the right decisions for me.

“Even though there’s no rush, I want to be very active in 2026, and I’m looking to pick up my first title by the end of the year. I’m going to make my mark and show people that I’m here to stay.”

It’s been a difficult period for Sam Lightfoot. The passion for her craft never wavered during the long, dark nine months the process took to close out. But the new year brings renewed hope. A career that was once threatened can now start to flourish. At just 23, the Sheffield-born prospect has plenty of time on her side. A fighter fully intent on making up for that lost time.