Chantelle Reid targets Commonwealth gold after career relaunch

English boxer Chantelle Reid will compete for Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow next week after a six-year absence forced by a degenerative disc diagnosis that nearly ended her career before it began.

Reid, a former European junior champion from Derbyshire, retired as a teenager when doctors told her she faced a choice between pursuing Olympic boxing and having children. The diagnosis suggested she risked paralysis from the waist down if she continued fighting, according to a report from BBC East Midlands Today. After multiple scans and second opinions confirmed the condition, she stepped away from the sport.

From retirement to Olympic bronze in three years

The 2023 comeback began with a single sparring session that Reid completed without pain. Within a year, she had earned a spot on the Team GB squad for Paris 2024. Twelve months after that Olympics appearance, she claimed World Championship bronze. Reid told the BBC that her split-decision opening-round loss in Paris reshaped her approach to the sport and fueled her current run.

"The next Olympic Games I'm getting that medal," she said. "I am making myself proud and doing what I've always dreamt of."

Reid described the Commonwealth Games, which open in Glasgow on July 24, as preparation for a second Olympic campaign at Los Angeles 2028. She acknowledged that no competition matches the scale of the Olympics but said she plans to use Glasgow to gain experience and sharpen her fight IQ. "I want to get as many good fights as I can and progress through the competition, get more experience and bring the gold medal home," she added.

Source: bbc.co.uk