Praying that something big and something good is just around the corner.
That is April Hunter. Remember the effervescent Geordie?
She’s certainly a hard girl to forget and, while you will not have seen her in her working clobber in what seems a lifetime, she IS back.
The Jobes Boxing light-middleweight or super-welterweight, if you prefer, is in action on Saturday, October 25 at Rainton Arena.
She will box Bojana Libiszewska over six rounds on the VIP Boxing event at the Houghton venue where Cyrus Pattinson and Travis Waters headline the show.
It is hard to comprehend that it will be Hunter’s first fight in a few days shy of 28 months.
The 30-year-old has not boxed since her best-win-to-date in July 2023, when she outpointed Kirstie Bavington in Manchester to avenge her sole career defeat.
“I’m just looking to get the win and get my world ranking back,” April told punch-lines.
“I want a big fight before the end of the year.
“I’m just praying it works out and my dreams will all come to fruition.
“I have been through hell over the past year and more but now I’m back. I just need a break and then push on.
“I believe I belong among the top girls and that has kept me going – there has got to be something good brewing for me.
“I genuinely believe massive fights are out there for me.”
Last summer there almost was, only for Hunter to suffer the most cruel luck following an injury in sparring with the then world super-middleweight champion Savannah Marshall.
Out of the blue she got the chance of her first title in July 2024 when presented with an 11th-hour mission to Montreal to fight Canadian women’s boxing legend Mary Spencer.
“I got offered the fight last-minute and while I’d not boxed in nearly a year I had been in the gym, so thought ‘let’s go’,” explained the former Howden ABC star whose pro record stands at 7-1 and is now training under Henry Mann and Matty Jobes.
“It was supposed to be for the WBA Gold title.
“But in my last spar I had a proper freak accident with my elbow, my arm got jammed and I felt it straight away.
“I tried to push on and it got worse but I thought I’m going to give it a go, it was a version of the world title so I was willing to go in with one hand!
“But when I saw the doctor in Montreal I couldn’t hide my arm and the doc wouldn’t pass me.
“I was devastated. Before then, I’d been promised a lot of things, off a lot of people and that’s why I hadn’t boxed.
“It’s not because I didn’t want to.”
Since recovering from injury, there has been a couple of false dawns
She was scheduled to box on the undercard of the English light-heavyweight title showdown between Fulham’s Zak Chelli and Seaham’s Adam Hepple back in June.
That fell through as did the entire Shamrock Promotions event in September in her back yard at the Walker Dome.
But Hunter v Libiszewska is very much ON.
Libiszewska has a long name and long record with the Polish boxer’s fight log reading 7-72, but the opponent is almost irrelevant, and that’s no disrespect to the 36-year-old. Hunter simply needs a fight.
“I can’t wait,” she added. “I just need to be fighting.”
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Lawrence Lustig/ BOXXER
