All-female corner makes Sheffield boxing history

Sheffield City Boxing Club made history by fielding an all-female corner for the first time.

Founder Brendan Warburton took a back seat as Carmel Carey, Dolly Forrester and Emily Asquith provided the technical and moral support for Holly Steward in the ring.

Their presence drove Holly to victory at the club's home show at The Steamworks in Highfield.

Brendan said: "This was the first time ever we had three female coaches in the corner at one time and it was a special moment for me.

"I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before.

"We have more female boxers in our gym than any club in the country and now we also have experienced female coaches too.

"It was great for Holly to have three experienced girls with her, Carmel is an experienced boxer and coach, she runs all our female only sessions and was a bronze medallist in the National amateur championships, Dolly is this year's British University champion and coach, plus Emily Asquith, who retained her National amateur title in Derby a couple of weeks back, she is also the world silver medallist and coach" said Brendan.

"They are all experienced boxers who have been there and done it, passing on knowledge and cornering Holly to victory.

"Holly stopped her opponent in the last round and performed really well to take the Boxer of the Night award.”

Brendan said the show was significant as they had "more girls competing than we have ever had before and this reflects on the amount of girls training in the gym at the moment.

"The development of female boxing continues at Sheffield city boxing club and we are really proud of it."

Meanwhile, Dalton Smith's injury - which has forced him to pull out of a Matchroom show at Sheffield Arena on June 6 - did not stop him completing his weekly run at Rother Valley Country Park run this week.

He was joined by dozens of locals as well as a morale-boosting appearance from American Teófimo López, the former WBO World Super Lightweight champion.