JESS Barry was a big winner at the Midlands Area Council Awards in Cannock.
Shabaz Masoud was named Best Male Boxer in recognition of his points win over Liam Davies last November and Barry picked up two trophies.
The 30-year-old from Coventry was the Midlands Area Champion of the Year after her stoppage win over Beccy Ferguson for the 130lbs belt, and her 10-rounder with Chelsey Arnell for the vacant English featherweight title in Birmingham in December was the Female Bout of the Year.
The next target for Barry is the Commonwealth Silver featherweight title.
She faces Linzi Buczynskyj for the vacant belt on the Excelsior Sporting Club show in Cannock on Thursday, March 6, and predicts that it could prove to be one of the best fights of 2025.
Barry and Buczynskyj won the Bout of the Night award when they met on an amateur show in Coventry in 2018 and Barry said: “I want to be in entertaining fights. That’s one of the most important things for me.
“People pay good money to watch me and I want to entertain them. I want to win – and be in the best fight of the night.
“I have wanted this fight (with Bucyznskyj) for a while. I know she is game and won’t pull out.
“I outworked her (when they boxed as amateurs), but she was up for the fight. People will say: ‘You beat her before,’ but that doesn’t mean anything. That was over three rounds and this is over 10.”
Barry banked 10 rounds against Arnell and admitted: “It was tough. After the third I thought: ‘I’ve got another seven rounds to go!’
“It was nothing like sparring 10 rounds. She was just as fit as me and she kept going until the final bell.”
That followed her win over Ferguson.
Barry became the first to stop her by grinding her down in six rounds last June.
Barry said: “It was a 50-50 fight. I knew it was going to be tough. I was confident I would win, but I didn’t expect to stop her.”
