Leicestershire’s Ellis Hopkins made a winning to start to life in the professional ranks, comfortably outpointing Bulgaria’s seasoned veteran Borislava Goranova 40-36 in the opening bout of the night at the AO Arena, Manchester.
Hopkins, 20, is the first female professional boxer from the traveller community and hopes to inspire a new generation of girls to follow in her footsteps.
“It was a good performance, I got going in the last two rounds,” Hopkins told Matchroom. “I’m just glad to get the first one out of the way, and on such a big platform. I couldn’t be more thankful to Matchroom and MTK for giving me the opportunity.
“She was tough, you can tell she’s experienced by the way she knew how to hold on every time I caught her. Becoming the first ever female from the travelling community to turn professional is a very big achievement and I hope I can inspire more young girls to do the same.
“It’s the perfect time to turn over, women’s boxing is going from strength to strength at the moment. I just want to get as many fights under my belt as I can this year and next year we’ll push for Titles.”
4 x 2 mins International Super-Welterweight contest
ELLIS HOPKINS WPTS4 (Leicestershire, England) (40-36) v BORISLAVA GORANOVA (Sofia, Bulgaria)
Courtesy of Matchroom Boxing
