"It's a mans' world"- Gemma Ruegg

After getting into taekwondo at six-years-old with her older sister, Gemma left the martial art after around eight years while in her teens, as we laughed “teenagers, busy life.” Then when she was 27 Gemma was struggling with her mental health, she recalled being on about 20 tablets a day and struggling to get through the day, along with the tablets' side effects and being a mum, she was very ill. After her doctor constantly telling her to try the gym to help her health she gave in, instead of the gym most people would think of, Gemma decided to turn up to a boxing gym. She went back to what she knew, martial arts, she recalled the day she stepped foot through the doors of her now husband and coach, Danny Ruegg's gym. The Bournemouth boxer shared how she was depressed and insecure at the start of her journey, she laughed while telling how terrified she was walking straight into the gym, no corridor just straight in, “everybody was getting their wraps and this one guy turns around and said hello to me and I was like damn I'm here now I can’t walk out”. Gemma was looking for some personal training so started with boxing and fitness then soon joined other classes from the offer of another girl training with her, she then went quickly into MMA and in 2019, a year before the pandemic, Gemma was solely doing boxing.

Gemma had a different experience in the boxing profession, while about to go amateur a few fights fell through due to injuries and then the pandemic hit. Danny said it is now or never to go pro, and 18 months ago she got her professional license. While talking about her career, pressures of being a professional came up as well as being a woman in the sport. She said;

"I've come from unlicensed boxing, which is different and some people sort of frown upon it and I wish I had had that amateur career... but it was just not the way it happened, people look at me sometimes and think 'oh you're not the real deal' but I work really hard, I'm learning on the job and I'll keep going"

Gemma training with punchbag, Image by Hannah Thornton

Gemma training, Image by Gemma Ruegg

I asked, “Are there any pressures that come from being a woman in boxing?” she replied, “Oh absolutely, it’s a man’s world but I think I'm used to it,” Gemma was a plumber before becoming a boxer, so she insists she is used to being in a man’s world and men being men, however it is getting better for females in the industry although sexism is still there. Gemma shared when she encountered a comment from a man about female boxers, “I got on the scales once on a unlicensed show and you have to weigh in in your underwear and one of the guys weighing me in, who is supposed to be professional went, ‘god I love weighing in women’, I thought you know that wouldn’t happen the other way round would it?” “(as women) We feel like we’ve got to work a little bit harder and prove a little bit more and I do think that’s why we probably work harder in the gym, well I think we work harder in the gym,” we laughed. Gemma’s husband and coach, Danny, spoke about women in the industry: he said, “from my perspective the pressures for a woman in the sport are to be a true form of themselves and not what others see them.” Other inequalities in boxing are the opportunities which are available to both genders as well as pay, which both Gemma and her training partner, who is situated in Swindon, Bec Connolly brought up.

I posed the question, “what would you like to see from the sport moving forward?” They mentioned the judging could change, instead of one referee Gemma thinks that there should be three judges at different sides of the ring to make it fairer, especially with there being an A player, “the star,” and a B player, where the A player is normally favoured in a close fight. Bec mentioned how she would like to see everyone mandated to fight everyone, she would hate for the women’s side of the sport to go like the men’s where they pick and choose who to fight to build up their records.

Gemma and Bec met around 18 months ago when Gemma reached out for sparring after getting her license, they clicked straight away and joined forces. I questioned them and Danny on the effects boxing had on their mental health to see the changes other people saw in them, Gemma answered “I definitely see changes, when you see an athlete, you just see the surface you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but fitness definitely helps her (Bec).” Bec and Danny had similar responses with Bec sharing how Gemma keeps getting stronger, “we go through our ups and downs both of us, but I think one good thing which has never happened to me before, we both kind of up our game at different times (while sparring) so it's always fresh and new.” Danny also sees huge changes in Gemma: “since she started boxing and since we first met, I constantly see changes week in week out” he also praised her for how strong she is physically and mentally which has aided her confidence growth in all parts of their life.

Gemma Training, Image by Hannah Thornton

Following our conversations of mental health, I asked: “what makes it all worth it?” Bec said; “there is nothing that beats that feeling (of getting your hand raised) and I have to say even just off the back of a good performance I’ve never been more proud of myself.” Gemma said; “the way it keeps my head straight, I feel like I'm living the most incredible life and my children all look at me and they are seeing that if you work hard for something you can go get it, I’m hopefully showing my kids you can do whatever you want, I think they see that because I’ve come from loads of different careers and then I’ve dedicated myself to this at an older age and I’ve still done it so yeah the way it makes me feel is top.”

The next year for these two boxers seems like a high, with Bec hoping to get out another five times this year and having her managers license meeting to help kick start other women’s careers in upcoming years. Gemma is hopeful to fight ‘Stevi Levy’ after their rematch being put off for the past six years and work up the ranks. She also wants to be part of another fitness exhibition this year, after previously going to body power for her clothing business ‘Combat Dollies,’ she wants to keep the word out there and keep going.

Image by Gemma Ruegg