TIAH-Mai Ayton has been labelled the next superstar of women’s boxing. In 21 amateur bouts, she didn’t lose a single fight. The five-time National Champion won the U19 World Amateur Championships last year.
The 18-year-old, who has recently signed a long-term promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing, is now looking to replicate her amateur success in the professional ranks.
“My phone is going mad. I am just happy,” Ayton told me just an hour after her Matchroom deal was formally announced. “I am so excited, I just can’t wait to get the ball rolling and get fighting.”
The hook-up with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing was somewhat organic. Skye Nicolson was sparring Ayton in preparation for her fight with Tiara Brown in defence of her WBC featherweight title. Hearn witnessed that sparring session first-hand, and it’s fair to say he very much liked what he saw.
“I went sparring with Skye, and Eddie was in the room watching us spar. After the sparring session, Eddie told me that I had done really well, and he said he wanted to sign me there and then. I was going to do the National Elite’s, but he said there was no need, and then I just signed with Matchroom.”
Ayton, who turned down a Team GB contract to sign professional terms with Matchroom, has turned over with much fanfare. Hearn said of her, “Tiah-Mai Ayton is destined to become the next superstar of women’s boxing.”
The expectations are beyond high. However, all the seismic hype surrounding her seemingly holds few fears for the confident fighter.
“It does put a bit of pressure on me, but I am good under pressure,” Ayton relayed to Boxing News. “The more pressure I am under, the better I perform. I have had pressure my whole life, and I have never lost a fight. Every time I box, everybody is saying she’s going to lose this time. But I thrive off the pressure.”
Ayton will be managed by Brian Peters, and the Bristol-born blue-chip prospect is clearly relishing working with Peters. “Brian manages Katie Taylor and Skye, which is really good. I am with the best man in the sport. It’s good for me.”
The Dean Lewis-trained fighter firmly believes her style is ready-made for the professional ranks. “Even as an amateur, when I used to do the England camps, they were always trying to change me into being tappy-tappy,” Ayton relayed to me.
“But I like to sit down on my shots. I like to stop fights. I don’t want to go all the rounds, so I’m just power-punching. My style is definitely more suited to being a professional.”
Tiah-Mai Ayton is incredibly confident for someone so young. But her overall record indicates that self-confidence isn’t misplaced. “My first ever fight was in the National Championships, and I won it. I never had any club bouts; I went straight in at that high level. I am a five-time National Champion, a Tri-Nations Champion, Haringey Box Cup Champion, Sweden Golden Girl Champion, and the World U19 Champion.
“I’ve done Kickboxing, Muay-Thai, MMA, and Jiu-jitsu. I have lost only three fights, and the last time I lost was when I was eight, and I also beat all those girls I lost to.”
Fighting successfully in many different combat sports, Ayton could easily have gone in a completely different direction. But Ayton decided boxing was her future.
“I chose boxing because it has got more of a pathway,” Ayton said. “In the other sports, you haven’t got that pathway, something like England Boxing. There is nothing like that elsewhere, so I thought boxing was the best way to go. There is also more money in boxing than anywhere else.”
“I just love fighting,” Ayton added when I delved a little deeper into what she gets out of boxing.
“I have loved it ever since I was a little girl. I just love getting in the ring. I like the training, but if I could fight all the time, I would.”
Ayton is inspired by the likes of Katie Taylor and Skye Nicolson, and she wants to follow their frenetic type of ring time in being active at the start of her career, with world titles the obvious aim in the not-too-distant future.
“I think I am having six fights per year at the moment. Hopefully, inside two years, I can have a title shot. I just want to work my way up, and I am hoping I can be a world champion in three years’ time.
“I am just deciding what weight I am going to be fighting at, either bantamweight or super-bantamweight. Hopefully, I can win world titles at those weights, and then super-featherweight and featherweight as well. I am hoping I can take the world titles in all those weight divisions.”
The professional ranks will get their first taste of Ayton this weekend in Birmingham. A professional debut that could be the start of something really special. “I’m excited to fight. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the ring, and I just want to show everyone what I’m about.”
It’s far too early to tell if Tiah-Mai Ayton is really the future of her side of the sport. But the signs are beyond positive that she could be. For now, that’s all anyone can ask. A potential superstar. She just might be.
