North-East student Nicola Owens is hoping to be a knockout in the boxing ring.

Women's Editor Christen Pears meets her.

WITH her cropped hair and mischievous sense of humour, Nicola Owens is a typical tomboy. Last year, the 20-year-old walked into the Wellington Boxing Club in Middlesbrough and asked if she could learn to box.

Coach John Dryden was sceptical. "I've been involved in boxing for 30-odd years and women never boxed until recently. I wasn't really sure but I decided to give it a go."

He has no regrets and says, Nicola is one of the most dedicated and talented young boxers he's ever worked with. That's praise indeed from a man who coached 1998 Commonwealth champion John Pearce.

The 20-year-old featherweight, who is in her second year of a BSc (Hons) sports studies course at the University of Teesside, is from County Tyrone in Ireland. She's always been a keen sportswoman and a member of the university's Gaelic football team, but says she was looking for a new challenge.

"The team wasn't doing as well as it should have been and there wasn't much I could do about it. I decided I wanted to box instead.

"I always used to watch Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn on TV and I loved it. It's something you do on your own. You rely on yourself."

Perhaps surprisingly, considering its low public profile, women's boxing has a long history. The first recorded fight in Britain took place in 1722 near what is now Oxford Circus. In the 1940s Barbara Buttrick fought across Britain, before winning a world title in America in 1949.

But it wasn't until the 1970s that women's boxing really began to gain popularity, although mainly on the other side of the Atlantic. In 1998, Blackpool-based bouncer Jane Couch became Britain's first professional woman fighter.

There are currently fewer than 100 women amateur boxers in Britain, but it is a fast-growing sport both nationally and internationally. The second world championship took place in Turkey earlier this year and it's hugely popular on the continent.

John says: It's really come up in the last year or two and I think it's going to be big. I think a lot of girls want to box but they don't know where to go or how to get started."

As you would expect in a sport that has been dominated by men, there is some scepticism about female boxers, and in some cases, hostility but Nicola has never experienced any animosity. She trains with the boys and men at the club and is becoming a popular figure in wider circles.

"She's got such a great personality and she's so enthusiastic, people take to her straight away," says John. "If women's boxing is going to be big, which I think it is, it needs people like that."

She's certainly passionate about her sport. "I just love it," she says. "I love the fact it's one to one in the ring rather than a team. You've only got yourself to rely on and if you do bad work, you've got to go back the next time and do better.

"It's 100 per cent mental concentration and skill."

She has a punishing training schedule - four nights a week at the gym, where she spars, shadow boxes and skips among other things. She also goes on regular runs to build up her stamina and fitness. It's hard work, especially when the temptations of student life are so close at hand.

"It was different with the Gaelic football but with boxing, you have to watch everything you do, including your diet. In my first year, I was out drinking six nights a week. It was mayhem but I can't do that now. I live with other students and I get up on a morning and there are beer cans and pizza boxes all over the house but the boxing comes first for me now. My life's completely different."

She also has to fit it in with her studies, which she says she finds difficult, although she's never handed in an assignment late.

"I know how important it is and I just try and get things done on time so they're out of the way and I can concentrate on my boxing. That's what I really want to do."

And so far, she's doing well. She's only had four fights but has won three.

"It's an unbelievable feeling. When I first got into the ring I couldn't hear anything. There were lots of people shouting. You're nervous about it but you get a real buzz of adrenaline out of it as well. You just focus on that person in front of you and nothing else matters."

John believes Nicola stands out because of her skills, silencing criticism from anyone who says women can't box.

She's going to the National Championships next month and hopes it will be a springboard for greater things .

"I want to go as far as I can as an amateur. If they do manage to set up an England squad for women, I would absolutely love to get on it - or the Ireland squad - but I'm taking things slowly. It's certainly too early to think about going professional. You have to learn it first. What I'm doing now is like an apprenticeship and I'm loving every moment of it."