Newark-based boxer, Emma Dolan, is 2 weeks out from her first defence of the Super Flyweight Commonwealth title against Worksop prospect Nicola Hopewell.
The 25-year-old, who won the belt during her last outing in March against Halima Vunjabei on a convincing unanimous points decision, expects to soon be in for a shot at world-level honours should she successfully get past Hopewell on Friday 6th October at the Park Community Arena in Sheffield.
SHE BOXES caught up with Dolan to discuss her career up to now, how preparations are going for her title defence, and her ambitions for the future.
FAST FACTS
NAME: Emma Dolan
ALIAS: None
NATIONALITY: UK
PRE-FIGHT SUPERSTITIONS: None
POST-FIGHT CHEAT MEAL: Homemade chicken and leek pie with mashed potatoes, followed by a double chocolate fudge cake
Amateur Success
Like many women who fell in love with the sport before they had the option to compete at the Olympics or headline sold out professional events, Dolan never intentionally set out to be a boxer.
She first stepped into a boxing gym at 9 years old, curious about her brother’s new-found hobby.
“My dad was taking my brother up to the boxing gym; I think he watched Rocky or something and wanted to go boxing.
“They would go every Tuesday and Thursday, so I decided to go as well because I thought I was missing out on something. I didn’t know anything about boxing, I just sort of felt left out.
“When I did start going up, I would just watch because I was very shy. And then one day, one of the coaches took me on the pads and I thought, This is quite fun, and it just went from there really.”
“At the time, losses in the amateurs seemed like the end of the world because the women’s professional game wasn’t as big as it is now.”
Her unexpected enthusiasm for boxing quickly turned into a successful amateur career, as Dolan collected various accolades including Tri-nations Champion, Senior Elite ABA finalist, and, when she was younger, National Schools Champion.
She was selected to represent both London in national tournaments and her country on the international stage, including the prestigious European Championships as part of the England Boxing squad.
“I had 49 fights, only losing 10, so it’s not a bad record looking back. At the time, I wanted better but when you’ve stopped and you look back, I think it wasn’t too bad.
“At the time, losses in the amateurs seemed like the end of the world because the women’s professional game wasn’t as big as it is now. I thought my only option was the Olympics so I wanted to do as well as I could. Then when the professional board started being more accepting towards women’s boxing, I kind of relaxed a bit because I knew in my head that it would suit me better and obviously went that route.”
A Knockout Start to the Pros
As soon as she saw women’s professional boxing gaining momentum, Dolan planned to turn over because she felt that she was naturally more of an ‘endurance boxer’, but Covid ushered her into it sooner than she anticipated.
“I wanted to do another year in the amateurs. I was training in London with Samm Mullins, and I was doing quite well to be honest.
“We were going to do the ABAs that year and I felt confident of winning them. I thought that would put me in good stead for when I did eventually turn professional, but then Covid happened, and all the gyms had to close.
“As restrictions started to lift, I started to see women’s boxing on the telly a bit more and I thought, Yeah, alright, let’s do it, so I turned over and just went from there.”
“I was so focused I thought, I’m gonna go right through you.”
Dolan couldn’t have asked for a better start to her professional career. Boxing in her hometown, she brutally stopped her opponent, fellow debutant Nicole Goldsmith Ryan, within 53 seconds of round 1.
“I was wired for about 2 hours before the fight, and I was probably wired for another 2 hours after it.
“I hadn’t boxed for 2 years nearly with Covid, so I was so amped up. I hadn’t boxed at home in about 6 or 7 years either, as all my amateur fights had been away, so it was the first time some of my family and mates had even seen me box, so I was on it.
“I was wired to death, and I got in the ring like that. I was so focused I thought, I’m gonna go right through you, and just went for it. It all happened so fast, but it was a proper buzz and then I celebrated well afterwards. And that was it, the start of the journey.”
Relocating Over 100 Miles North
Dolan turned professional in Norwich under trainer Graham Everett. The pair worked together for about a year and a half, but four fights in, Dolan felt she needed to make a change.
“Norfolk is a lovely place to live but building a boxing career there is quite hard and the way I was going with my career, I just felt like it needed something different. There’s no disrespect to Graham or anything, I just felt like I needed something else for myself.
“I started to look at different gyms and then I went to Carl [Greaves] and gelled with him straight away, which is always a good feeling because sometimes you need to have a few sessions with somebody before you feel comfortable with them, which I did straight away like as people and as boxer and coach.
“I did a trial at his gym for 6 weeks. After that, he wanted to take me on, and I wanted to box for him, so yeah, it was as simple as that really.”
Fully committed to her decision, Dolan uprooted her life over 100 miles north, to Newark. Now, a year on, Dolan’s decision is proving to have paid off, not only with the success in her boxing career, but her and Carl have formed a tight-knit friendship.
Dolan emphasised that Carl has taken good care of her, even offering the opportunity for her to run personal training sessions out of his gym.
“When I was in Norfolk, I was working a lot more, I don’t work nearly as much now. Luckily, I’ve got a good couple of sponsors who help me out a lot, but I still do a bit because mentally it’s nice to do something.
“When you’re training twice a day, you’ve still got a big chunk of the day where you’re not doing anything. While downtime is important, I also think keeping yourself doing stuff is important. It keeps you busy and keeps a little bit of money coming in as well because when you’re on the small hall scene you’re not getting the big bucks.”
Commonwealth Title Win
Under Carl, Dolan won her first professional title; Super Flyweight Commonwealth Champion. In attendance for the fight were former Commonwealth Champions, Nina Bradley and Stacey Copeland.
“It was brilliant. Nina Bradley’s a local girl and it was like passing the torch over to me, so that was cool. And then Stacey Copeland is the first British woman to win a Commonwealth title, and I actually really looked up to her when she turned pro. She’s one of the first British women of this generation to turn pro so it was really cool and she’s a lovely girl as well.”
Dolan vs Hopewell
Ahead of her clash with Hopewell, Dolan has had some top-level sparring with the likes of Chloe Watson (from Ricky Hatton’s gym) who’s looking to pursue the European title next, the Team GB squad, and Kirsty Hill, who’s just won the Commonwealth title at Super Featherweight.
“Training is going really good, I won’t lie. I know everybody always says ‘This is the best camp I’ve ever had!’ but I have no flaws with it, everything’s gone how I expected it to go. I’ve had really good sparring, endurance is good, fitness is good, every box has been ticked so I feel confident.”
When asked whether she saw her fight with Hopewell going the distance, Dolan said her approach is just to focus on securing the win, rather than worrying too much about her method.
“I don’t think you can read into fights too much. If you start saying that you’re going to knock them out in this many rounds, you get that into your head a bit and then you’re thrown if it doesn’t go that way. You have to take it round by round and see how it goes.
“I think Nicola is going to come out hard in the first round, maybe try to rush me or something, but I’ll be expecting that. I know what she brings to the table, she’s got quite a high work rate, but I think I’ll be able to control it quite well as I build into the fight and yeah, we’ll just see what happens.”
“I’m not here to do anybody else favours, I’m killing myself in the gym for me to do well.”
There seems to be some tension between the two fighters following a recent press conference as Dolan spoke about potential next opponents, which Hopewell criticised as an oversight for the fight at hand.
“I want whoever’s got the belts. For me, it’s not personal towards anybody at all. I’ve got no animosity. I don’t even know half the girls in the division, but if any of them have got belts now, obviously I’m going to want to fight them because if you want to be at the top of your tree you have to go through the people that are in your way, and then people are going to want to fight me. That’s the name of the game.
“I made a couple of comments to Nicola that I think she might have took to heart or whatever, but it’s not like that. It’s just that you’re in my way, so I’m going to go through you because I have to. If not, you’re going to go through me, and I don’t want that to happen.
“I’m not here to do anybody else favours, I’m killing myself in the gym for me to do well. Sorry I don’t want to smile and be your best mate in the ring because you’re in my way, so I’ve got to do something.”
Standing at 5’5, Dolan is tall for her division and has long arms that allow her to pick her opponents off at a distance.
“I like to keep them long as I’m a long-range fighter, but I feel like now, since working with Carl, I’m a lot more confident working on the inside. He’s added that aspect to my game which before I think I struggled with. I’ve been with him for about a year now and my inside work has really come together so I can do a little bit of everything.”
She credited legendary boxer Tommy Hearns, who had a similar stature, as a key influence on her style.
“I love Tommy Hearns, he’s one of my favourite fighters ever because of his build. He’s dead skinny, same as myself. I like to try and emulate his style but that’s a big ask as he’s up there with the best of the best, but I like to look up to people like that.”
The World Champion Dream
There’s no doubt about it, Dolan is headstrong about becoming a World Champion and believes her chance could be right around the corner.
“Any female you speak to is going to say the same thing; they want to be world champion. And because the pool’s so small, you can jump up through the ranks quickly. But I honestly believe I can do that. I’m not saying it for the sake of it and I think it’s not too far away if I can get through this fight now, which I believe I can. We’re in the right direction, so yeah, the goal’s definitely to be World Champion.”