NEW BRITISH champion Caitlin Kelly has said she didn’t expect her rise in the sport to come quite so quickly, following her triumph at the GB Elite Three Nations Championships last weekend.
The Antonine boxer won the 70kg Gold at the competition in Rotherham after defeating England’s Kayla Allen in the Final, less than 18 months after returning to the sport following an eight-year gap.
The 20-year-old had a couple of bouts for Renton Boxing Club at 11-years-old, before leaving the sport for almost a decade, only returning to training in January 2022.
Caitlin was one of four Scottish Gold medal winners at the GB Elite event last weekend – alongside Aaron Cullen, Luke Bibby and Megan Reid – with Scotland set to host the GB Junior & Youth Three Nations Championships this weekend in Motherwell.
“I stopped boxing at a young age, but I picked it back up quite easy as I still had the basics there,” Caitlin said.
“I had two bouts when I was around 11 years old, so I was away from the sport for around eight years.
“The Scottish Elite Final last year was my first fight back and then I was able to get on to the National programme so quick, I feel like I have been fast-tracked.
“I didn’t expect it to happen this soon and I am grateful for the opportunity.
“I have been lucky in some senses where I have landed, but I have also put the work in as well.
“I’ve had a good streak of wins, I’ve been over in the Czech Republic and down in England as well.
“I have probably won my last 10 fights or so, so I carried that momentum into the British.”
Caitlin had come up just short in her comeback fight just over a year ago, as she was a Silver medallist at the 2022 Boxing Scotland Elite Finals.
The Light-Middleweight had been aiming to win Gold at this year’s Elite Golden Gloves Championships, before her opponent withdrew from the competition the day before the Finals.
“I was disappointed, but that kind of stuff does happen in boxing,” Caitlin said looking back on missing out on competing at the 2023 Elite Finals.
“I felt like I let other people down as everybody had organised a night out based around me boxing, so it was a bit of a let down in that sense.
“I just stayed ready for the next opportunity and I was really excited to finally get a title under my belt, after falling short at the Scottish and British last year.”
Following the disappointment of missing out on competing at the Elite Finals, Caitlin was determined not to let her supporters down again, even though it meant making a five-hour, 274-mile trek through the night to Rotherham the night before the GB Championships began.
While the rest of Team Scotland travelled down to England on Friday morning for the GB Championships, Caitlin stayed behind in Glasgow to compete at the Antonine Boxing Club home show on Friday evening.
“Because of the Scottish and my opponent pulling out, and letting people down in the sense that they had already made plans for the night, a similar thing almost happened with the home show,” Caitlin explained.
“I had sold all my tickets months prior and didn’t realise that it was going to overlap with the British.
“So I wanted to squeeze the two of them in so I wasn’t letting a lot of people down again.
“They put me on the first half of the show so I could get out of there as quick as possible and I travelled through the night on Friday.
“I thought I could potentially be fighting in a Semi-Final on the Saturday and then a Final on the Sunday at the British.
“I was prepared to do the three fights, but luckily when they did the draw on Friday night I got straight through to the Final.
“I found that out about half an hour before I fought on the Friday, so I was lucky to get the days rest in between.
“I was on a high from having a good win on the Friday night and I kept the fire going and got the result.
“I will take any opportunity that is thrown at me, whether that is from my club or Boxing Scotland, I want to get as much bouts in as possible.”
