Shannon Courtenay

Shannon Courtenay is an English professional boxer from Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire who held the WBA female bantamweight world title between April and October 2021. She is promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport and her nickname is the Babyface Assassin due to her youthful appearance. Courtenay made her professional debut on 23 March 2019, scoring a points decision victory over Cristina Busuioc at the Copper Box Arena in London, England. The fight was televised live on Sky Sports World Championship Boxing (1989) as part of the undercard for Charlie Edwards' world title defence against Angel Moreno. One month later, she defeated Roz Mari Silyanova via points decision on the undercard of Dave Allen vs. Lucas Browne at the O2 Arena. In June, she scored her first stoppage victory with a 2nd-round TKO win over Valerija Sepetovska at the York Hall. In October 2019, she defeated Jasmina Nad on the bill for the Josh Taylor vs. Regis Prograis world title fight. On 19 December, in her final fight of the year, she claimed a 5th-round TKO victory against Buchra El Quaissi at the York Hall in London. Her first fight of 2020 came in a domestic clash against fellow Englishwoman, Rachel Ball, on 14 August at the Matchroom headquarters in Brentwood, Essex. After being knocked down in the first round, Shannon went on to suffer her first professional defeat, losing on points 77-75. The following December, Courtenay bounced back from defeat with a TKO victory over Dorota Norek, before going on to face her arch rival, the Australian boxer Ebanie Bridges, for the vacant WBA female bantamweight title. The bout took place on 10 April 2021 at the Copper Box Arena and Courtenay emerged victorious via a hard-fought 10-round unanimous decision. In July 2021, it was announced that Courtenay would make the first defence of her title against American boxer Jamie Mitchell on 14 August at the Matchroom Sport Headquarters. However, the fight was postponed after Courtenay suffered an injury during training and was forced to withdraw. The fight was rescheduled for 9 October 2021 as part of the Liam Smith vs. Anthony Fowler card in Liverpool, England. On 8 October 2021, Courtenay failed to make weight for the bout and was immediately stripped of her world title belt by the WBA. The fight still took place with the title being on the line solely for her opponent, which Mitchell subsequently went on to claim with a mixed decision victory. Following the loss, Shannon took some time away from boxing and in 2022 she featured as a contestant on the 4th season of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.