Tanya Ledger is targeting a home win as she makes debut

The 32-year-old will fight in her home town tonight as part of a new show titled ‘The Box Off’, which involves former world champion Ricky Hatton and will be held at the Telford International Centre.

Ledger, who has a background in elite kickboxing since she was 14 years old, has only been training boxing for two years and has a 3-0 amateur record, which includes winning the England Boxing Women’s Winter Box Cup in 2022.

“Kickboxing gave me a base, but boxing is different,” Ledger said. “I obviously knew how to punch, so it wasn’t like starting completely fresh.

“I was winning in amateur and my coach told me I was good enough to turn professional, so I went for it.

“We sat down over a coffee and he rang a manager for me, said I was good enough and got me signed up.

“I believe I’ll be the first female boxer to turn professional from Telford, I’ve not known any others.

“This is going to be a job for me. With my two children, one who has a speech disorder and one with glaucoma, I need a job that will fit around being a mum so it just works.

“Sometimes I’ll be training with my coach and my kids will watch, and give it a go too. It fits around my life and hopefully I’ll go far in it and start earning from it.”

Ledger, who fights out of Wellington Boxing Academy, will face Polish opponent Sylwia Doligala, who has a professional record of 2-1-1.

“She’s had more professional fights than me, so she’ll be ready to go,” Ledger added. “It will be challenge.

“We’re built the same, we’re both little, just 5ft 2ins and quite muscular, so we’ll see. It’s going to be a big event. I’m training every day to get ready. I’m excited for it, but I am nervous. To be honest, I don’t like to be punched in the face, but I do boxing!

“No one likes to go into a ring and be punched, but I’m excited to do it.

“It’ll be a big crowd at a great venue. It’s only 10 minutes from my house so I’ll be walking there! I won’t have many family or friends there, it’ll be a quiet one, as it’s my first one and I’d prefer to go on my own.

“But it’s exciting to fight in my home town and I need to do well! There will be plenty of people there.”