Tain boxer Isabella Fioretti to represent Highland Boxing Academy in Scotland squad for GB Three Nations
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Tain boxer Isabella Fioretti will represent Scotland at the GB Three Nations this weekend.
The Highland Boxing Academy athlete will travel to Cardiff to take part in the youth version of the competition.
Stepping into the ring wearing Scotland colours follows months of attending camps at the high performance centre where the teenager was put through her paces by national selectors assessing which of the hopefuls would be picked.
Next week, Fioretti will be followed by clubmate Maria Cameron, who will compete in the school and junior GB Three Nations in Nottingham.
HBA have had athletes reach this level in the past – with the likes of Jason Russell, Ewan Gliniecki and Emily Macdonald all winning medals at the Three Nations – but it is rare for two of the club’s talents to be selected in the same season, and even rarer for a single club to have two young girls there in Scotland colours.
Head coach Liam Foy, then, is delighted with their progress, and says it is recognition for the work being put into training in the Highland capital.
“To have two girls going in the same season is great, I’m delighted for them both,” he said.
“Isabella has just been phenomenal. She has burst on to the scene this season and won the development championships by a third round stoppage, then went to the Golden Gloves and moved up a weight class to beat a seasoned Scottish international by unanimous decision in the final.
“She has had a meteoric rise, and I’m glad that has been recognised by Boxing Scotland. You won’t find many who break into the Scottish national team in their debut season.
“With Maria, it was clear to see last season that she was making massive improvements. She then went on to box a Scottish Open champion on the other girl’s home show, and then fought her on our show and beat her again.
“Maria has absolutely lived up to that award at the end of last season, and I fully expected her to have a really successful season this time and she has proved me right with the success she has had in the ring and down at the high performance centre.”
On the string of girls and women coming through Highland Boxing Academy and having success, Foy continued: “It has been recognised that our club is producing a lot of girls and women.
“Last year we had Lindsay Fulton go and win the Golden Gloves, and this year we had Emma Miller – who only couldn’t go down for the Scotland assessments this year because of work commitments.
“I always get asked what we do differently, and I don’t think we do anything differently. Girls or boys, men or women, they’re all just boxers to me.
“When it comes down to training, they are all the same. If clubs are treating their boxers differently because they are female, that might potentially be where they are going wrong.
“They all get the same treatment. If they are all in the gym working and training hard, they will all get the same opportunities. The expectations for them all are the same in and out of the gym.
“There is no special treatment given to the girls, and they don’t want it. That’s just the way we have always been.
“Everything is done as a team, so we are a solid unit and a good collective that works as a community in the gym.”
