'Boxing's let me move to the next stage of grief

When Anna Whitwham lost her beloved mother to cancer, she found an unexpected outlet for her overwhelming grief - boxing.

- CHARLOTTE HEATHCOTE

Though her bouts in the ring led to numerous nasty injuries, from a bruised kidney to a dislodged jaw, Anna's love of boxing became all consuming, with her newfound community providing comfort.

Anna's world shifted on its axis when her mother died of lung cancer in October 2020. "My mum was such a force and such a power," says Anna, 43, who lives in London. "It was horrible watching her die of lung cancer for three years. You're watching the body break down.

FIGHT

"By the end, she couldn't really speak because of where the tumour was. She was so tiny and she had sores everywhere - nothing was healing. The wrench of your mother leaving is like your entire world shifts."

During the pandemic, Anna did some online boxing sessions, partly to improve her fitness and partly to "keep myself going alongside looking after Mum".

Anna is a single mother and, in July 2021, her daughter Sylvie, then seven, won a place in a dance summer school in New York. During their stay, Anna spotted Gleason's boxing gym and started training in earnest.

"I did it as a coping mechanism. I had to power through the great sadness that I felt. Boxing really allowed me to do something with my anger and that felt very helpful."

Key to its appeal was the stark contrast between her mother's painful decline and Anna's increasing strength.

"Watching my body get bigger and stronger, get hurt then get better, is something that I found really helpful. Mum was unable to heal and I was watching myself heal all the time so that was a massive part of it."

Back in London, Anna found a trainer, and started boxing three times a week.