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Born on August 14 1968 in
Fleetwood, England, Jane
Couch was a pioneer in
British professional boxing, as
she became the first woman to be
officially licensed by the
British Boxing Board of Control
in 1998. The BBBC had initially
refused to license her because
of her gender, claiming that PMS
made women too unstable to box.
But Couch, who credits boxing
for keeping her out of major
trouble, had the BBBC decision
overturned by tribunal, claiming
sexual discrimination and
supported by the Equal
Opportunities Commission, and
thereby paved the way for future
British female professional
boxers.
Couch has four victories in the
UK recorded well before the BBBC
was forced to allow female
boxing on shows they sanction.
While they are, and were, the
main controlling body in
Britain, the BBBC has no legal
monopoly on sanctioning
professional boxing, and it is
unclear to this writer who
sanctioned those early bouts.
In May 1996 Couch traveled to
Denmark, where she beat Sandra
Geiger (1-0) from France on
points for the WIBF World Light
Welterweight title in only her
fifth bout. Geiger had won the
vacant title in her pro debut
three months earlier, which
shows that female boxing was not
of the same standard back then
as it is today.
In 1997 and the early part of
1998 “The Fleetwood Assassin”
moved her career to the USA,
fighting four times in that
period. She defended her WIBF
crown twice, stopping Andrea
DeShong (13-3-1) and
out-pointing Leah Mellinger
(3-2-1), before losing twice to
Dora Webber (2-1-3), the second
defeat being for the vacant IWBF
title.
Back in the UK, after winning
her battle with the BBBC, her
career started to take off and
she returned with a stoppage
victory over German Simona Lukic
(1-4-1) on November 25, 1998. In
February 1999 she made her third
successful WIBF title defense
against Marischa Sjauw (8-3-1)
from Holland, who would herself
go on to capture three world
titles.
On October 31 of 1999, Couch
added the vacant World Boxing
Federation (WBF) World
Lightweight title to her resume,
when she scored a unanimous
decision over undefeated
Australian Sharon Anyos (3-0),
as part of a WBF triple-header
at the David Lloyd Tennis Centre
in Raynes Park, London.
She only made one defense of the
WBF World Lightweight title,
stopping tough but limited
Bulgarian Galina Gumliiska (4-4)
in six rounds in July 2000. Her
next world championship fight
came two years later, when she
returned to Light Welterweight
and lost by fourth round TKO to
Sumya Anani (19-1-1) for the
WIBA belt in Texas.
But Couch rebounded well,
returned to winning ways less
than six weeks later and lined
up a crack at the vacant WBF
World Light Welterweight title
in December 2002. At the Thistle
Hotel in Bristol, she won a
landslide decision over
Borislava Goranova (2-3) from
Bulgaria to become a two-time
WBF title-holder.
After two more victories Couch
returned to the USA, but again
came up short as Lucia Rijker
(15-0), widely considered one of
the best female boxers of all
time, beat her on points over
eight rounds on the undercard of
Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali
Klitschko in Los Angeles on June
21, 2003.
Still the WBF champion, she
defended her title exactly three
months later, on September 21,
with another wide decision, as
American Brenda Drexler (5-19-2)
could not keep up with her
work-rate over ten hard rounds.
This would be the last WBF title
fight for Couch, but by no means
the end of a magnificent career.
Before officially retiring in
December 2008, one year after
her last fight, she went on to
fight some of the biggest names
in the sport, including Myriam
Lamare (10-0),
Holly Holm (14-1-2) and Anne
Sophie Mathis (16-1), who all
later became World Boxing
Federation (WBF) world
champions.
While Couch lost to that trio,
she won one last world
championship in 2004, the WIBF
Light Welterweight, beating
Jaime Clampitt (13-2) on points
in America. This fight was so
ferocious, it was called
“Womens Fight Of The Year”
by Ring Magazine.
Former WBF Womens World
Lightweight and Light
Welterweight Champion Jane “The
Fleetwood Assassin” Couch ended
her career in the ring with a
28-11 (9) record, and after
winning five world
championships. She has since
stayed in boxing, working among
other things as a promoter.
Already in
In 2001,
while still
active,
she published an autobiography
called
"Fleetwood Assassin.
Man or Woman,
if you take me on you’re
history!”.
In the 2004
Queens Birthday Honours, Couch
was appointed Member of the
Order of the British Empire
(MBE), and in 2012
she received
the Awakening
Outstanding Contribution Award
for her part played in raising
public awareness and acceptance
of female fighters.
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