Megan Payne: “I just want to do the best that I can and win a few belts. I want to push myself and go as far as I can.”

Megan Payne: “I just want to do the best that I can and win a few belts. I want to push myself and go as far as I can.”

Women’s boxing needs depth. It’s getting there. Not fast enough. But it’s getting there. For me, the more the merrier. On April 25th at the York Hall in London, another fighter will join the professional ranks of the female side of the sport.

Megan Payne will make her professional debut next month at the iconic theatre of small hall boxing. “I am excited for my debut,” Payne told FightPost. “It’s creeping up now, actually.”

“Turning pro was always something I wanted to do,” Payne added. “I just enjoy the way they train. I like the way it is all structured and thought out.”

Payne, who turns 19 this Saturday, lives a modest lifestyle. She lives out of the gym. Leaving the comforts of home to pursue her dream. “The gym is two hours away from home,” Payne told me. “I have moved up to London now. I am living in a caravan, so it isn’t too bad. I don’t have electricity, though.”

Payne works in a cafe to supplement her boxing. In simple terms, she finds a way to make it work. The 18-year-old started her combat journey from an early age. Like many, it was a family connection that gave way to the initial entry. “My dad has always been into martial arts, so he got me into karate at a really young age. I had a little break when I was about 10. But then I got on the pads with my dad, and he said if I was interested in it, he would take me down to the local club, and that’s what he did. I just kept going from there, really.”

The boxing journey started when she was just 14. Things have now significantly moved on. A pro debut now just a few weeks away. They say a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter; Megan Payne is seemingly in that domain. “I have got a good team around me now,” Payne says. “I have got Sam Gilley and Shannon Courtenay in the gym. It’s just how everyone bounces off one another.”

“I always like to know what I am doing,” Payne says of what boxing is to her. “It is good to have a bit of a structure.”

Payne is now sixteen fights into her boxing career. A relatively short run in the amateur ranks. In a perfect world, Payne would have preferred a few more fights in the unpaid ranks. “Where I live, there are not many amateur clubs, and I didn’t drive, so my dad was doing all the driving. So it didn’t work out, but I would have loved to have had a few more amateur fights.”

Payne will make her maiden ring walk next month at that hot, sweaty, spit and sawdust venue that has many untold stories. A venue that is very much part of boxing folklore. The early fights will serve a purpose for what potentially lies ahead.

“It’s about getting some experience and getting the rounds in,” Payne told me. “I haven’t fought for over a year now, so it will be nice to get in there again and get the first one out of the way. I want to carry on from there and keep the momentum going.”

Payne will fight in and around the bantamweight division. A weight class where fights won’t be hard to come by. A division that has depth. And opportunities.

There are lofty, but realistic ambitions. “I just want to do the best that I can and win a few belts. I want to push myself and go as far as I can. I want a classic belt, something like the WBC.”