On Saturday 17th August at the Selwyn Samuel Centre in Llanelli, Victoria ‘VIP’ Perkins and Ashleigh ‘Sweet Poison’ Johnson will make history as they compete for the first ever women’s Welsh title.
Swansea’s Perkins, who is currently 2-1 as a professional boxer, is looking to replicate the success she’s found in kickboxing as a multi-Welsh, British, European, and World Champion in her first championship boxing bout.
- Ashleigh Johnson: “This is a massive opportunity for the both of us, so I don’t doubt for one minute we’re both gonna grab it with both hands.”
- Ashleigh Johnson: “I want to have those fights that you look back on and think, I went in for a war!”
Fast Facts
NAME: Victoria Perkins
ALIAS: VIP
NATIONALITY: UK
WALK OUT SONG: The Purge siren followed by Feed Em To The Lions
PRE-FIGHT SUPERSTITIONS: “I have one necklace that I never take off, apart from when I fight. So, I’ll always give it to one of my younger supporters to look after it for me and they’re the first person I go to after the fight.”
POST-FIGHT MEAL: “I have the biggest sweet tooth, which probably isn’t the best thing as a boxer, but any chocolates or sweets is the first thing I’ll go for. I always have a bag of chocolate buttons in my kit bag for as soon as I get out of the ring. Then I love anything sweet afterwards: cakes, chocolates, ice cream.”
World Champion Kickboxer
Fighting is a family business for the 20-year-old, who now runs kickboxing gym ‘The Dragon’s Gym’ which she inherited from her dad.
Having started kickboxing at 6-years-old, Perkins is a decorated athlete who eventually became frustrated by the limited opportunities to progress in her sport of origin.
“There wasn’t really much joy left in it for me because I had done it since I was so young. It was more routine than it was enjoyment for it.”
“Like everyone always says: the money isn’t the same [compared to boxing], but the recognition is nowhere near the same either.
“I sound really big headed to say that I’ve done it all, but like we had multiple Welsh titles, British titles, European titles, and World titles.
“There wasn’t really much joy left in it for me because I had done it since I was so young. It was more routine than it was enjoyment for it.”
Disheartened by the little return for her achievements, besides increased difficulty securing fights, Perkins decided to accept a white collar boxing bout on a week’s notice.
“I just loved it so I stuck to it and did as many fights as I could. I ended up with 13 wins, 1 loss.
“And then it got to the stage, like with the kickboxing, I was really struggling to find fights. So, I was like, if I want to make this a career and I don’t want to lose the spark for it then I should probably start looking at switching over [to professional boxing].”
Masked Fighter
Perkins, who transitioned from kickboxing to boxing 3 years ago, shared that she has an ongoing struggle with depression and anxiety which was heightened by the national lockdowns during Covid.
The mental impact of the pandemic started to interfere with Perkins’ confidence to do all the media aspects of a fight: interviews, weigh-ins, walk outs. This sparked the idea to wear The Purge-style masks during her walk outs, which the super featherweight has now become known for.
“…I’ve come a lot out of my shell because of boxing.”
“One of my coaches came up with it: ‘Why don’t you put this mask on so then it blocks out completely everything that you’re thinking about, all the negative thoughts? No one can see you when you’re doing obviously all the walk out situations.’
“And as it kept going, I just enjoyed it more and then the mask just became my thing. And one of the little kids that I teach he asked to keep one of my masks…so it’s kind of just stuck and everyone seems to be enjoying it.
“If this interview had been this time last year, I probably would have said no words and just smiled but I’ve come a lot out of my shell because of boxing.”
Loss to Linzi Buczynskyj
Perkins has one blemish on her record which was inflicted in her second professional fight by Bolton’s Linzi Buczynskyj.
On Saturday 17th February 2024 in Swansea, Buczynskyj outpointed Perkins 58-56 according to the referee.
“I was not myself in that fight…I completely agree with the decision, the better woman won on the day. That’s not to say that if we were to run it back eventually down the line, the decision would be the same.”
Of course, Perkins was devastated when the verdict was announced, but upon reflection, she feels like a weight’s been lifted with no ‘0’ to protect.
“…what’s the point in doing all this to fight someone who’s coming to lose?”
“I took my loss, I took it as it was. I smiled my way out; I had some chocolate afterwards and I went back to the gym.
“I was probably jumping a bit bigger than I needed to be for my second fight, taking the risks, but at the same time I wouldn’t have changed it. I want hard fights; I don’t want little walkthroughs because otherwise what’s the point in me doing the sport?
“I’m here because I enjoy boxing, I enjoy making myself work hard, which is probably one of the weirdest things to say but I like going to the gym in the morning, going for runs, dieting, which no one really enjoys but at the same time if it wasn’t that it wouldn’t be boxing. So, what’s the point in doing all this to fight someone who’s coming to lose?”
First Ever Women’s Welsh Title
An opportunity to fight for the first ever women’s Welsh title was the last thing Perkins expected to arise after her loss, but that’s exactly what happened.
“When Dan Francis [Director of Vote Boxing] gave us this opportunity, he text us and was like: As long as everything works out for me with my 3rd fight, that this was what was going to happen.
“It flicked a switch in me, like this is what I’m doing. I thought, this fight needs to be one way no matter what. Every round needs to come to me. I need to work; I need to prove the second fight was a mistake, that it didn’t need to happen.
“And then obviously he gave us the opportunity, sent us the poster the day after my fight, and the smile it put on my face was unbelievable. You couldn’t write a better fight.”
Perkins expects the best version of Johnson to turn up on the night but is confident that she can take the win by exploiting her technical ability and almost foot height advantage over her 5’1” opponent.
“It’s going to set me up perfectly for the future. It’s going to allow me to gain bigger opportunities, but I’m not going to underestimate Ashleigh.”
“I genuinely don’t think I’ll be able to explain the emotions it’s going to bring that day. I’m going to do everything I can to become the first ever women’s Welsh champion and write my name in the history books.
“It’s going to set me up perfectly for the future. It’s going to allow me to gain bigger opportunities, but I’m not going to underestimate Ashleigh. I know that that’s the first fight, that’s where my brain needs to be, and that’s where it currently is.
“I think anyone who says that they don’t want to achieve a world title is just lying to you. You get into boxing to try and become the best and obviously get up to that level, but I’m going to take every fight as it is.
“Every fight is going to be a learning fight for me, so if it takes me 5 years to get to the top, it takes me 5 years to get to the top.”