Huddersfield’s Rebecca Kane has had her first boxing match at the age of 38 … and she now wants another go in the ring.

The former Irish dance, kick boxing and stick fighting world champion has always wanted to try traditional boxing and took part in a demo match in Leeds.

Rebecca is a flyweight but her original opponent pulled out on the day of the bout, Friday, June 2, so she took on a heavier featherweight who is a former national champion and ended up losing on points.

But, far from putting her off, Rebecca is keen to get back in the ring and keep on boxing.

She said: “It was a three round bout and some people watching reckon I won the first two rounds but ended up losing on points.

“This first bout has given me the confidence to carry on. With all my kick boxing and stick fighting experience I’ve no fear of taking the odd knock or two so I’ve no concerns about carrying on boxing.

“I really enjoyed being in the ring and it’s definitely something I’ll do again.”

Rebecca won a world Thai boxing title in Germany in 2019 and became a stick fighting world champion in the Philippines back in 2006.

She won the World Irish Dance Association world title in 2017 and has now decided to do boxing in memory of her mum, Marcella, who died in 2015 at the age of 63.

“She loved boxing,” said Rebecca. “But never regarded my Thai boxing as proper boxing. If I don’t give it a go now then I never will.”

Rebecca’s martial arts school is the Kane Academy of Martial Arts (https://kaneacademy.com/) and her dance school is called Kane Irish Dance (https://kaneirishdance.com/).

Both are based at St James’ Hall on St James’ Road in Marsh.

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content and copywriting.