Coach Mandy Gilpin and protegee Suzanne Furnival will form the first all-female corner at a bout in this country for the clash with Gloucester's Claire Cooper in Stoke.

Suzanne, mother to three-year-old Chloe, teamed up with Mandy at Bridge Foot Amateur Boxing Club, based at the Hook and Jab gym, last year and the amateur bantamweight battle in Stoke's Valentino's nightclub will see the culmination of 12 months' hard training.

But despite the obvious efforts of both trainer and boxer to prepare professionally for the match-up, traditional and sexist attitudes towards the female fight game remain.

Mandy said: "I believe that if women train as hard as the men then they should be allowed to box.

"When you are taking on a man's sport you will get the sexist attitudes but all Suzanne is doing is competing in a sport that she has chosen to take up.

"One drawback for women is having to wear breast protectors which are very restricting but they are there for the boxer's safety and if they will help prevent breast cancer then we should wear them."

Suzanne agreed that there is still a lot of ill feeling towards the sport.

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Mum's boxing debut

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She said: "I have come across a few people with sexist attitudes towards women boxers but all I say to them is to come and watch me train.

"No-one knows what I'm like until they judge me on what I can do in the gym. Now I have a goal to aim my training towards and have some motivation to come to the gym."

Suzanne added that her family had not tried to stop her from taking up the sport.

She said: "I only started coming to the gym to get fit but I became interested in boxing. My mum thinks I'm a bit mad but she just goes along with what I want in the end and she's very proud of me.

"She won't watch me train because she doesn't want to see me get hurt and she will definitely not want to watch me fight."

The fight is a first venture into the ring for both fighters with Suzanne, who turns 23 on Tuesday, going into the clash full of confidence with a two-pound advantage.

"The nerves are setting in a bit now but that's what it's all about and I'm quite confident that I can win.

"I have been concentrating on my stamina work and sparring quite a lot which is really useful because you learn a lot more about how you react when you have been hit. I think I stand up okay."

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