WORLD Number Five ranked boxer Megan Reid is hoping her own achievements within the sport can help inspire more woman to aim for international success.
The full-time member of the British Army boxing team and Boxing Scotland’s Elite Boxing Group cracked the top five of the 64kg category in the AIBA World Rankings last year.
This achievement came off the back of a busy couple of years for the Leith Victoria boxer where, in addition to winning the Scottish Elite Championships in 2019, Megan also represented Scotland at the 2018 Women’s World Championships in India, the 2019 Women’s European Boxing Championships in Madrid and the 2019 Women’s World Championships in Russia.
“I do realise that a lot of the young girls will look up to me as I am the only female on the Elite Boxing Group competing at these levels,” said Megan.
“Hopefully they look up to me and aspire to get to the same level.
“I was 23 when I started. I am in the military, so it was with the army to begin with. I worked my way up from there and got into the army team.
“I then won the Scottish Championships and got myself onto the Elite Boxing Group.
“I never thought I would reach this level, I was just doing it for a bit of fitness and to lose some weight.
“Then I started to enjoy it and see that I could compete at a high level as well.
“When I started believing in myself and realising that I could go far in a boxing career, that is when I got my head down and started training hard.
“I had never put on a pair of gloves before I was 23-years-old, and look where I am now.
“It should encourage people not to think just because they are in their 20’s that they are too late to start.
“People shouldn’t be scared to get into it and give it everything they have got.”
Megan, from Duns in the Scottish Borders, admitted she was delighted to reach No.5 in the World last year, but now she has her eyes set on even bigger goals.
The 31-year-old is hoping to further climb the rankings, while also aiming for next summer’s Commonwealth Games which is due to be held in Birmingham, England.
“Being ranked Number five in the world is amazing,” said Megan, who serves in the Royal Logistics Corps (RLC) as a communication specialist.
“I’m always striving to be better so, of course, I’d love to climb the rankings and be ranked number one in the world at my weight category one day.
“It would be amazing to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, that’s my ambition and main goal that I’m working towards.”
