Olivia Holmes: “I want to get as many titles as possible.”

Olivia Holmes: “I want to get as many titles as possible.”

After a somewhat slow start to her professional journey, Olivia Holmes is seemingly on the brink of regular ring activity as her promising career moves forward. “I fight next on the 15th August, and then I have another one in line for September,” Holmes told me over Zoom. “It has been a slow start. But I hope to have three fights before the end of the year.”

The Liverpool fighter is currently 2-0, and will have fight number three in Wigan next month. Holmes announced she would leave her highly successful amateur career behind her and turn professional in 2024. But the professional debut didn’t materialise until late 2025, a six-round points victory over Rajwant Kaur. “I had a bit of time to get used to the pros,” Holmes says. “I was training for about six months before I had my debut.”

After spending significant time on the GB setup in Sheffield and having the luxury of a living wage, life in the pro ranks is a bit of a culture shock for the 24-year-old.

“It is very different being a professional fighter,” Holmes admitted. “Especially when you do it full time. Boxing is my full-time job. I rely on sponsorship. When I was on GB, I had an income. So that was easier for me to live off. And now that has been taken away, it is a lot harder. I thought I would get signed to a big promoter, and then you realise just how hard it is working yourself up.”

The amateur career was incredibly successful. An eight-time national champion and a medalist on the international stage, Holmes left the relative comforts of the amateur world after around sixty fights and turned professional.

“I didn’t think I would turn pro this soon,” Holmes says. “I always had dreams and aspirations of going to the Olympics. But I got to a point where I wasn’t enjoying it. It started to affect my performances when I was on GB. I just think the pro game suits me a lot more. I didn’t like the point scoring, and to be honest, I prefer the two-minute rounds.”

“It is hard on your body with all the weight-making,” Holmes added about her time in Sheffield. “Every week, it seems like you have a competition, or you have sparring and the track. It is so draining. But that is just part of it.”

With that amateur pedigree behind her, Holmes will likely be advanced quickly in the pro ranks. “You see people after three or four fights, and they are fighting for a title,” Holmes says. “I want to be moved fast, and the team around me want the same. After I have had a few more fights this year, I want to fight for a title early next year. That’s my short-term goal. But down the line, I want to get as many titles as possible. A future aspiration is to become a world champion.”

Holmes has been in her sport for around 14 years now. A passion that started after watching a fellow British fighter win a gold medal. “I properly started boxing when I was 10 after watching Nicola Adams in the 2012 Olympics in London. I didn’t even know my dad or my brother had boxed. I watched it and asked my dad to take me to a boxing gym. He took me to a boxing gym that was five minutes away. It was a rough area. I won a national title with them. I was their first-ever national champion. But I would turn up, and I would literally be waiting at the doors, because nobody had turned up, waiting for the gym to open. My dad said I need to make a change if I want to go further. I went to the Rotunda when I was about 15, and I just started winning national titles with them. I stayed with them. I had a really good relationship with my coach. He brought me on to the GB Pathway. He got me there, really.”

Boxing carries a deeper meaning for Holmes. It’s not just about trophies and titles. “It gives me structure every day. A lot of people have to work alongside their boxing, but I am lucky to be in a position where I can do it full-time. If I didn’t have that, I feel as though I wouldn’t have a life. I know what time I need to be at the gym in the morning. It gets me out of bed. It plans my week out for me.”

Olivia Holmes is part of that flourishing Stephen Smith stable, training alongside the likes of Jade Jones and others. Hopes are high that Holmes can replicate that amateur success in the pro ranks. There are the usual ambitions of major titles, but she wants a little more out of her boxing career.

“I want to be financially stable,” Holmes told me. “I want to build myself as a person. Maybe do things around boxing, like commentating. I would like to do that to be fair. Even if it was alongside my career. I have never really thought about the money before because of my love for the sport, but I need to start thinking about that now and be financially stable down the line.”