Preston boxer Lisa Whiteside will face Tysie Gallagher for the Commonwealth title
and live on Freeview channel 276
The greatest moment of the 37-year-old Preston boxer’s career, up to now, was when she claimed the Commonwealth gold medal on the Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018.
Her victory over Northern Ireland's Carly McNaul in the flyweight gold medal match was the icing on the cake of a stellar amateur career representing England and Team GB – and her final act before turning professional at the beginning of 2019.
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Hide AdIt is fair to say, her time in the professional ranks has not been all-plain sailing in the four years since, even though she has yet to taste defeat from five pro bouts.
A three-year hiatus due to a shoulder injury and becoming a mother to son Jensen, now aged two, set her career back. But she returned to the ring last summer, putting Jasmina Nad on the canvas within the first 20 seconds of her comeback before going on to win by points.
A further victory over Eva Cantos later in the year set Whiteside up for a potential title shot in 2023 – and she has got her wish when she fights Tysie Gallagher for the Commonwealth super-bantamweight title at the historic York Hall, in Bethnal Green, on Friday, April 14.
“What is nice about it is I won the Commonwealth Games as an amateur and my first title fight as a professional is going to be for the Commonwealth belt,” said Whiteside, who claimed a silver medal at the World Championships in 2014.
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Hide Ad"So I have boxed for and won the Commonwealths as an amateur so it will be nice to win the Commonwealths as a pro.
"It will be nice that that could be my first title.”
Whiteside is also looking forward to appearing at York Hall for the first time in her career.
The venue only has a capacity of 1,200 but has a long history in the sport where some of the greats of boxing have appeared such as David Haye, Nigel Benn and Carl Froch.
"It will be nice to tick York Hall off,” said Whiteside. “There’s been many a title fight been boxed for at that venue by some of the greats of the sport so I am really chuffed about it."
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Hide AdWhiteside’s main goal is to become a world champion and if she was to become a Commonwealth champion then her claims to have a shot at the ultimate goal will only intensify.
There was speculation that the Preston ace – who is trained by Mick Day – could potentially fight current world champion Dina Thorslund in her own backyard in February but that failed to materialise.
"We were hoping to go over to Denmark for a world title but it didn’t prevail,” she said.
"If I can get a title like the Commonwealth then hopefully that will help me push on.
"But I can’t really say that I am going to be doing this next because I have purely got to concentrate on this next fight.”