Carlisle boxer Brodie Stephenson named 'people's champion' in Sweden

Carlisle Villa Amateur Boxing Club's Brodie Stephenson, fresh off her success at England Boxing's Women's Winter Box Cup in December, made the journey to Scandinavia last weekend to take part in the biggest female boxing competition in the world; the Golden Girls Female Boxing tournament.

400 competitors took part in the tournament which took place in the southern Swedish town of Boras, with Brodie, who had recorded eight wins out of eight since her return to boxing in April 2023, rubbing shoulders with Europe's elite fighters.

Brodie claiming victory in the semi-final against Camille Pegol (Image: Danny Barnes)During the tournament, Brodie picked up a gold medal thanks to three wins in three bouts against Preston's Jess Teevan, French Elite 2013 champion Camille Pegol, and Bristol's Jasmie Poole.

These performances earned the Carlisle boxer the 'best technical boxer' and 'people's champion' accolades at the tournament awards ceremony.

However, Brodie narrowly missed out on being crowned Golden Girl to Norway's Madeleine Angelson, who retained her title from the previous year thanks to a 4-3 jury decision.

Brodie's coach Jimmy Brennan was keen to express his pride in his boxer's achievement.

He said: "Brodie was awarded the best technical boxer of the tournament a fantastic accolade from over 400 boxers on show.

"She was also awarded the 'people's champion' award, this prize was for the boxer who received the most votes from the audience and viewers on the live stream.

"Organiser Ray Husac explained that it was one of the hardest decisions to decide who would receive the Golden Girl award for overall best boxer.

Brodie, wearing red, in action (Image: Danny Barnes)"A shortlist of four was cut to two and was so tight between the reigning Golden Girl Norwegian Madeleine Angelson and Brodie Stephenson.

"The jury ended up 4-3 in favour of the current Champ who retained her title. Brodie showed great sportsmanship wishing Madeleine well and looking forward to next year’s tournament."

Brodie will now step up her preparations for England Boxing's Elite championships in March and Jimmy detailed how she has wasted no time getting back to training after her Scandinavian success.

He said: "Brodie was back in the gym this morning and training hard along with Marc Haughan and David Quinn for England Boxing’s Elite championships which will start in March."