Beck eyes sport's biggest prize

Beck Hawker (above, picture Paul Blacklabel) will return to the ring at Eatons Hill Hotel in September chasing the biggest prize of her career - a world title.

The 31-year-old former Caboolture resident will face Hollie Towl, from England, for the WIBA (Women’s International Boxing Association) featherweight 57kg crown.

Both have perfect records - Hawker with five wins from five professional fights, world title holder Towl eight from eight.

Both fight going forward and have strong links to Yorkshire – Hawker is originally from Leeds, while Towl fights out of Sheffield.

Victory for Hawker, now Brisbane based, would boost her ranking and lead to more lucrative WBA (World Boxing Association) and IBF (International Boxing Federation) contests.

The Queensland, Australian and Australasian featherweight champion and the ANBF Female Fighter of the Year 2021, is ranked seven in the world by the WBA and 12 by the IBF.

“I’ve known about this (world title fight) for a while, but it has only just been announced,” said Hawker, who used to train with Don Tindall at Caboolture Boxing Club.

“The opportunity has come sooner than expected, but it’s a case of take it and get ready for the fight.”

That starts in earnest next week when Hawker will take time off work with the police to jet back to Yorkshire - this time to Hull.

There she will train with Mike Bromby, who coached lightweight Luke Campbell to Olympic gold and early in his professional career, which eventually led to two world title fights.

Hawker will also travel to other gyms to “spar against the best girls” before heading home, having a brief rest after the flight and then “getting back into it again”.

She will be preparing for a WIBA fight over 10 two-minute rounds. The furthest Hawker has been so far is stopping Amanda Klein in seven last year.

“It’s exciting,” she said, “all the top champions have won WIBA belts before going on and competing for WBA and IBF belts.

“I’d love to have the chance of fighting for a WBA title, that’s where the decent money is ... and I’m willing to travel.”

Hawker had an eight-year amateur career representing Queensland and Australia, but admits her style was not ideally suited to the shorter bouts.

“It’s more tap and move, scoring points,” she said, “the pro game is longer, which suits me. I tend to wear opponents down and take them down over a number of rounds.”

Hawker’s world title fight against Hollie Towl is on September 3 at the Eatons Hill Hotel, promoted by Ace Boxing Group.