International Women's Day: Ebonie Jones shatters macho stereotypes as she targets Tokyo Olympic glory

Making an impact: Ebonie Jones
Twitter/eboniejones98
Mark Staniforth8 March 2019

Ebonie Jones boasts bright pink nails and a burning desire to shatter more macho stereotypes as she continues her ascent towards qualification for next year's Tokyo Olympics.

Just 20 years old, the Portsmouth boxer has already broken gender boundaries in boxing gyms and also in the army, where she passed her HGV driving licence as part of her initiation into the Royal Engineers.

Now Jones is focused on emulating two-time Olympic champion Nicola Adams in the same women's flyweight category in Tokyo - whilst exploiting her firm belief that appearances can be deceptive.

Jones told Press Association Sport: "I'm quite a girly girl outside boxing - I go dancing quite a lot and I like wearing bright pink nails.

"You don't have to shave your head and look like a bloke to be a boxer. I think sometimes people see me as small and blonde and don't expect anything, and that can sometimes work to my advantage."

Twitter/eboniejones98

Jones started boxing at the age of 10, undaunted by the traditionally male preserve of local boxing gyms where she shrugged off her fair share of sexist comments to swiftly rise to junior success.

Shortly after ascending to the full-time GB programme, she signed up for the army, where she conquered another gender barrier by signing up as a sapper for the Royal Engineers.

"There's not many girls in the Royal Engineers so it seemed like a bit more of a challenge," shrugged Jones.

"When I turned up to my first training, I was only 17 and the only girl there and it could have been very intimidating, but because I'd grown up in boxing gyms sparring boys it didn't faze me at all.

Twitter/eboniejones98

"I always had a point to prove right from the start to boys who wouldn't spar me or coaches who didn't think I'd make it because I was a girl. But people's attitudes in boxing are slowly beginning to change."

Jones' rise to the status of bona-fide female role model was cemented last year when she was invited to present an assembly at the same school in Portsmouth from which she had been kicked out as a pupil for a series of minor behavioural issues.

"They asked me to come back and give a talk to some girls who'd been in trouble," added Jones. "I wouldn't say I'd been a problem child myself but I'd sometimes react to things and that had got me thrown out.

"I think some of the teachers were surprised to see me again, and happy for how things have turned out."

Twitter/eboniejones98

As an Olympics 2020 contender who made her World Championships debut in Delhi late last year, losing a highly contentious verdict in her third fight to the local favourite, Jones has been seconded from her regiment in order to continue her full-time boxing career in Sheffield.

But having also squeezed a full HGV licence into her armoury during her initial training, Jones is unsurprisingly undaunted by the possibility of steering through such illustrious footsteps in Tokyo.

"I watched Katie Taylor fighting Natasha Jonas at London 2012 and that's when I first realised I wanted to go to the Olympics," added Jones.

"Nicola had left the programme to go pro before I joined, but I trained with (Commonwealth Games champion) Lisa Whiteside. I have learned so much and I can only feel excited at what the Olympics might bring.

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