Double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones has announced her arrival in professional boxing with a impressive second-round knockout victory. The Welsh athlete, who claimed Olympic gold medals in the 2012 London Olympics and Rio 2016, defeated Egypt Criss in her boxing debut at Misfits Duel 2 in Derby. Jones required only two rounds to secure victory, defeating her opponent with three successive left hooks. The 32-year-old from Flint made the daring transition from taekwondo after 20 years in the sport, setting herself an ambitious target of achieving world champion status in two separate sports. Her maiden bout marks the start of an extraordinary new chapter in her sporting career.
From Taekwondo Dominance to Boxing Triumph
Jade Jones’ transition from taekwondo to boxing represents one of sport’s most compelling career pivots. After investing two decades honing her craft in taekwondo and attaining the sport’s pinnacle with successive Olympic gold medals, the Welsh champion decided she needed a new challenge. At 32 years old, Jones made the courageous decision to exchange her taekwondo gloves for boxing ones at the start of last year, starting a completely novel professional journey in a sport where she had zero previous competitive experience.
Jones has surrounded herself with expert guidance to speed up her growth in the boxing ring. Working with former professional boxer Stephen ‘Swifty’ Smith at Liverpool’s legendary 4 Corners Gym, she has gained access to top-tier training. Additionally, Jones finds motivation in her ex-training partner Lauren Price, a world title holder in boxing who successfully navigated her own diverse athletic pursuits before committing fully to boxing as a career. Price’s example of competing at elite levels in multiple combat sports and football before reaching her greatest success in boxing has offered Jones a template for her lofty aspirations.
- Gold medals at the Olympics earned in London 2012 and Rio 2016
- Working out at Liverpool’s iconic 4 Corners Gym with Swifty Smith
- Motivated by undisputed champion Lauren Price’s multi-sport success
- Lofty goal of becoming world champion in multiple sports
A Dominant Performance in the Ring
Jade Jones’ boxing debut at Misfits Duel 2 in Derby was a impressive show of determination. Facing Egypt Criss, daughter of hip-hop icons Anthony ‘Treach’ Criss from Naughty by Nature and Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton from Salt-N-Pepa, Jones displayed the devastating force and tactical expertise that marked her taekwondo career. The Welsh champion’s display indicated that her transition between sports would not be merely ceremonial but authentically challenging, as she dismantled her opponent with methodical precision and formidable striking power.
The fight displayed Jones’ natural athleticism and her skill in adapting her combat sports expertise into the boxing ring. Despite having no prior competitive boxing background, she showed the mental toughness and spatial awareness typical of a veteran competitor. Her triumph was decidedly more than a competitive contest but rather a commanding performance that made clear her standing as a legitimate boxing competitor. The quickness and strength of her punching combinations suggested that her Olympic pedigree would work in her favor in this fresh stage of her athletic path.
The Pivotal Second Round
The turning point came in the second round when Jones delivered a brutal series of strikes that concluded the fight. Three successive left hooks overwhelmed Criss, with the closing strike sending her to the canvas and compelling the referee to stop the bout. The knockout triumph was emphatic and clinical, showcasing Jones’ skill in recognizing and exploit her opponent’s weaknesses with exact timing. This dramatic conclusion captured the essence of her boxing debut—quick, decisive, and utterly convincing.
Jones’ second-round knockout underscored her lofty aspiration of becoming a world champion in multiple disciplines. The impressive nature of her first win points to that her objective is not merely aspirational but potentially achievable given her dedication and world-class instruction. The speed with which she dispatched Criss demonstrated that the transition from taekwondo to professional boxing may be smoother than many observers anticipated, setting the stage for an intriguing journey toward title success in her adopted sport.
Training and Inspiration Behind the Success
Jones’ swift ascent in the boxing ring did not stem from a vacuum but rather from a carefully structured training regimen under the direction of seasoned experts. Since commencing her boxing training at the beginning of last year, she has been training under former professional boxer Stephen ‘Swifty’ Smith at Liverpool’s renowned 4 Corners Gym. This working relationship has proven instrumental in adapting her taekwondo abilities into solid boxing mechanics, allowing her to maintain the precision and explosiveness that defined her Olympic career while adapting to the specific demands of professional boxing sport.
The decision to pursue boxing marked a conscious choice to seek new challenges following 20 years of dominance in taekwondo. At 32 years old, Jones demonstrated exceptional courage in abandoning a sport where she had attained the pinnacle of success—Olympic gold medals in both London 2012 and Rio 2016—to begin anew at a beginner’s level in a different discipline. Her lofty target of becoming a world champion in two sports provided the motivation to embrace this major shift in her career, transforming what could have been a retirement into an exciting fresh beginning of athletic achievement.
Learning from Professional Boxers
Jones has gained substantial inspiration from unified world boxing champion Lauren Price, who was her previous roommate and shares a similarly diverse sporting background. Price’s own path across multiple combat sports—including Welsh football, kickboxing, and taekwondo—before moving into professional boxing offered a strong blueprint for success. This guidance provided by someone who had already traversed a similar path proved invaluable, offering actionable advice and psychological encouragement as Jones started her own boxing career with determination and confidence.
- Training at 4 Corners Gym under coach Stephen ‘Swifty’ Smith’s specialized coaching
- Drawing mentorship from unified world champion Lauren Price’s multi-sport experience
- Leveraging two decades of Olympic taekwondo knowledge to professional boxing techniques
High Aspirations in a New Sport
Jones’ choice to take up boxing came with a remarkably bold objective: to become a world champion in multiple sports. This ambitious target served as the primary motivation behind her move out of taekwondo, where she had already attained the competition’s greatest achievements. At 32 years old, rather than basking in her Olympic achievements, Jones decided to test herself in an completely different arena, displaying the competitive spirit that had defined her lengthy career spanning two decades in taekwondo. Her goal reveals not merely a wish for a new beginning, but a resolve to solidify her legacy as one of athletics’ most well-rounded and successful performers across various sports.
The path to global championship standing in boxing creates a significantly different challenge from her prior accomplishments. Unlike taekwondo, where Jones had devoted considerable time mastering technique and accumulating expertise, she enters the boxing world as a relative novice competing against fighters with substantial professional experience. However, her impressive debut showing—a second-round KO victory featuring three successive left hooks—suggests she possesses the raw talent and technical skillset necessary to move swiftly through the ranks. If Jones can sustain this path while continuing to develop her boxing skills under expert coaching, her ambitious dual-championship dream may prove considerably more attainable than originally looked.