ON paper all Noel Callan has to do is replicate the success he has enjoyed so far with Hannah Rankin. The reality, of course, won’t be quite as straightforward.
Scotland’s first ever female boxing world champion has always been quick to credit her coach’s input in leading her to the top of the sport.
Callan remains committed to working with the Luss fighter, with a defence of her WBA and IBO super-welterweight belts pencilled in for the spring.
On top of that, however, the former strength and conditioning coach has also accepted a role as the first head of female boxing for Glasgow-based Kynoch Boxing.
With women’s boxing on the rise and fighters being provided with more of a platform to showcase their talents on television and at other large events, the hope is that Callan will be able to use his considerable coaching skills to bring the best out of the group of females in manager/promoter Sam Kynoch’s burgeoning stable.
It clearly won’t be as simple as just copying the methods have worked for him and Rankin – few will have the drive or singular mindset of the 31-year-old classical bassoonist – but Callan believes the hard slog the pair have had to endure to get to the top and the lessons learned ought to make it easier for those following in her footsteps.
“It’s been five-and-a-half years of taking fights in places nobody wanted to go against people nobody wanted to fight,” he said of Rankin’s rise through the ranks.
“Having said that, would we change it? 100 percent not. Would Hannah have liked to have been spoon fed by [promoters] Eddie [Hearn] or Frank [Warren]? No.
“Would that have made her and the business overall more successful if she had been? No. Because the contacts we’ve built all around the world over the past six years is the reason why Sam has put me in charge of female boxing for his stable.
“Not many other girls in this country – if any – have a contacts list like Hannah does. And that’s going to be a huge help to us going forward.
“I’ve been helping organise fights for girls in this country for a while now. Hannah’s fought all over the world, including in South Africa, and everywhere we’ve been we’ve met people.
“We’re going to try to replicate the success we’ve had with Hannah with the other girls in the stable. People questioned some of our decisions over the years but every fight we’ve taken was a planned business decision or risk.
“In the female game you can’t have 15 learning fights, especially not in Covid times where it’s harder to get foreign boxers into the country, there are different restrictions and the costs keep going up.
“So boxers have to be ready sooner for 50:50 fights. And it’s my job to make that happen.”
Callan has trained both males and females over the years and reckons working with women is easier as there are fewer egos and a greater desire to learn.
“In terms of match-making, you probably have to take a few more risks with females as there aren’t as many boxers out there,” he explained.
“In terms of training, their recovery because of their menstrual cycle is another big difference. Hannah, for example, puts on six lbs at her time of the month. We would never make weight at that time so you have to always factor that in.
“The rest of the training is pretty similar but I would say the girls are easier to work with. They get frustrated more but only because they question things as they want to get it right. Often that’s because they’re striving to prove themselves as equals in a male-dominated sport.”
Callan believes women’s boxing has come on substantially since he and Rankin started working together in 2015.
“Oh, it’s changed loads,” he confirmed. “We used to travel to Europe for sparring just because there wasn’t any in this country. Now for this camp we didn’t have to do that as everyone came to us.
“Lockdown has actually been a blessing for female boxing in a strange way as Eddie put their fights on TV and that had rarely been the case in the past. And that greater exposure hasn’t done the sport any harm at all.”
Rankin became world champion for the second time in November with a unanimous points decision victory against Maria Lindberg at the Tottenham Stadium. Now she and Callan are targeting a Scottish homecoming for her first defence.
“We’re looking to get Hannah back out in the first part of the year, around March or April time,” he added. “We’re looking at it being in Glasgow and it would be great for Hannah to headline a homecoming show as I know how much that would mean to her.”
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