Kickboxing, Muay Thai, K-1, and now boxing. Multi-disciplined fighter Ashleigh Johnson hopes to make a name for herself in boxing after an impressive debut in October.
Not hanging around, the Welsh lightweight from Swansea is already gearing up for her second professional outing at the end of this month.
SHE BOXES caught up with Johnson to discuss her martial arts background, being trained by a former boxing World Champion, and making her professional debut without any prior amateur or white collar experience.
FAST FACTS
NAME: Ashleigh Johnson
ALIAS: Sweet Poison
NATIONALITY: UK
PRE-FIGHT SUPERSTITIONS: None
POST-FIGHT MEAL: A Tandoori Hot and Chicken Supreme half-and-half pizza from Domino’s
Multi-disciplined Martial Artist
As a child, Johnson’s parents encouraged her to sign up for different clubs and classes, hoping that she’d discover a hobby she really enjoyed. However, nothing seemed to stick, that was until Johnson tried her hand at kickboxing at 9 years old.
“I started [kickboxing] as a child, you know when growing up your parents want you to do something, and they tried everything.
“They tried gymnastics (I hated it) and football, but I just used to stand on the pitch complaining it was cold. Then they put me into kickboxing, and I loved it.”
At 11 years old, Johnson moved over to Muay Thai because she was intrigued by the wider variation of attacks. Then, at 16, she settled on K-1 because it suited her style better.
“I fought on a show called Muay Thai Grand Prix twice—once in the O2—and that was amazing.”
Many people are often unsure of the differences between kickboxing, Muay Thai, and K-1, so put simply, kickboxing and Muay Thai are different martial arts and K-1 is an alternate rule set of kickboxing.
Kickboxing permits the use of punches and kicks (above the waist) only, while Muay Thai incorporates punches, elbows, knees, kicks, and sweeps, and is usually a slower-paced contest since opponents assess each other and time their attacks more carefully. Meanwhile, K-1 allows kneeing and low kicks in addition to the standard punching and kicking rules of kickboxing.
“I fought on a show called Muay Thai Grand Prix twice—once in the O2—and that was amazing. They’re quite big shows within Thai boxing. I won British and Celtic titles in K-1 as well.”
Trained by a Former World Champion
Despite finding success across 3 different sports, Johnson always fancied giving boxing a go but for one reason or another, it kept getting put on the backburner.
“I’ve always wanted to give boxing a try and during lockdown I said, ‘Once everything lifts, I’ll go.’.
“I’ve always liked boxing and I’ve always wanted to be a bit more of a ‘handsy’ fighter, which is why I went into K-1 rather than Muay Thai because punches score as much as kicks. And being the shorter fighter, I’ve always used my hands a bit more, so I just thought, Why not give it a try?”
Not someone to do things by halves, Johnson is now trained by former boxing World Champion, Enzo Maccarinelli, but their initial meeting did not pan out how she expected.
“I went over to train with Enzo and said I was interested in boxing. He said, ‘To be honest, your style is a bit more suited to professional than it is amateur. So, I’ll put you straight into the professional side of things, so long as you’re happy with that?’
“I was a bit taken aback by it; I obviously didn’t expect that. I expected, you know, like amateur and everything. I never, ever expected him to turn around and say that.”
Johnson is naturally a ‘grounded’ fighter, as opposed to the traditional ‘bouncy’ amateur boxing style and enjoys a high work rate that promises exciting fights for her fans.
“I’m an aggressive counterpuncher. Obviously being shorter, I look to get in and work in close. I like to stay busy as well, I like to have busy rounds and busy fights.”
The Only Woman in the Gym
As the only female fighter in her gym, Johnson admits that at first, she was worried about being treated differently from her male stablemates. Thankfully, her concern couldn’t be any further from the truth.
“…it’s nice to come in and the boys not treat me like ‘the girl’, they’ve just taken me as one of them.”
“Everyone is so welcoming! I’m the only girl there but it’s nice to come in and the boys not treat me like ‘the girl’, they’ve just taken me as one of them.
“[Enzo Maccarinelli] is such an easy man to get on with. He’s lovely and obviously you need to have a really good working relationship between trainer and fighter.
“He’s there if you need to talk to him about anything, he always says, ‘Just phone me if you need to chat about anything.’, so he’s great. He’s all you can ask for from a trainer.”
Johnson has had regular sparring from the tough and durable Bec Connolly, who’s resume includes World Champions Terri Harper, Natasha Jonas, and Ebanie Bridges.
“I’ve been sparring quite a lot with Bec Connolly and we have some good rounds. Bec is really strong and she’s a gutsy fighter who’s very experienced as well, so it’s nice to be in sparring with somebody like that. I’ve sparred Gemma Ruegg a few times as well.
“That’s like the only female sparring I’ve had to be honest, otherwise I just spar with the boys in the gym. There’s a couple of boys up there who are around about my weight, so I just get in with them.”
Alongside her boxing training, Johnson works full-time as an Apprentice Plumber at her local council.
“[Work] are very supportive with the training and fighting and stuff like that, which obviously makes things so much easier.
“But when you’re in a fight camp or something, all you want to do is train and you keep thinking to yourself, I could be training now, but you make your sacrifices, getting out of bed that little bit earlier to go do your running, go do your day at work, and go to the gym afterwards.”
First Ever Boxing Fight
Johnson had her boxing debut on Saturday 14th October in Swansea against Sheffield’s Kerry Orton. Their fight went the scheduled 6 rounds and Johnson won convincingly on points.
“I was on cloud 9 after…absolute cloud 9. It was such a mixture of emotions. I couldn’t believe it was done. There seemed like such a build up to it and such a wait for it and then it was actually done, it was amazing.
“I’m happy with my performance but obviously as fighters, we pick things at ourselves as well. I have picked pointers that I want to take back to the gym and work on ready for my next fight, but overall, I’m happy with my performance as it was my first fight as well.
“A massive thank you to everybody who’s supported me throughout my training and my fight camps and everything, all my sponsors [Manor Park, Pic Up Spares, Elsbe Property Maintenance, and D.G.S. Tyre Services], everybody really.”
Learning on the Job
Although Johnson is new to boxing, you can tell that she lives and breathes the fight life. She enjoys every second of training and isn’t afraid to risk a perfect record for fights that will force her out of her comfort zone, which is refreshing to hear in this sport.
“I want somebody who’s going to come in and give as good as it gets.”
Eager to keep the momentum going, Johnson will be back out in her second professional contest on Saturday 25th November in Swindon.
“I’d rather just get straight back out than have a big 3-month gap in between them. I’d like to get 6 fights in my first year, with some challenging opponents as well.
“I want somebody who’s going to come in and give as good as it gets. I want to have those fights that you look back on and think, I went in for a war.”
At 26 years old and a novice in the sport, there’s no need for Johnson to rush her progression. She can afford to take her time to learn the sweet science, but from the glimpses of potential she’s shown so far, there’s certainly a promising future ahead.
“We’re just gonna see how I handle my next couple of fights I suppose and then just take everything from there really. Just build everything up, see how it goes, and if the opportunity comes then we’ll take it.
“Of course, I want to make it in boxing. I want to win the titles, I want the belts, and I want to get up there somewhere.
“Someday I want to be a World Champion, I obviously don’t think I’m anywhere near ready for that yet, but I put everything into my training.”