Charlotte Josephine: ‘I’m just so proud to have won a national title’

PUNCHY playwright Charlotte Josephine on Sunday added the dramatic, explosive ending to a story that any screenwriter would love to have penned when she herself became a national boxing champion.

Just five years ago she walked into Islington Boxing Club, in Hazellville Road, Upper Holloway – a stone’s throw from her home – to research the sport for a play she was writing.

But while working on the play, Bitch Boxer, which became a smash hit staged all over the country, Charlotte took up the sport herself and found she was an undiscovered talent in the ring.

Set in the lead-up to London 2012 – when female boxers were allowed to compete in the Olympics for the first time – her play tells the story of Chloe Jackson, a 21-year-old London fighter training to qualify for the Games.

Following successful runs at the Soho Theatre and Edinburgh Festival, the play is now being adapted by Charlotte into a screenplay for BBC Films.

However, the 28-year-old saved her biggest hit for Sunday, when she battled her way to a unanimous victory over Storm Steele, from Spire Boxing Academy, to win the under-75kg class ‘A’ final of the National Development Championship, held in Birmingham.

Revealing how a brief encounter quickly became “an addiction”, Charlotte, who fights under the surname Briant, said she became hooked on boxing after just one bout.

“When I stepped inside Islington Boxing Club in 2012 I’d never even been in a boxing gym before. I went along for the experience and to do some research for my play and got totally addicted,” she said. “It was such a warm and welcoming gym that I started training all the time.

“Then one of the coaches suggested I take a fight, and I haven’t looked back since. From early on, I really wanted to win a national title, but I got a couple of acting jobs and ended up taking a break for a couple of years.”

Still sporting a black eye from her semi-final victory over Ramsgate ABC’s Grete Berzdenyte, Charlotte added: “I’m just so proud to have won a national title. It’s taken a tremendous team effort.”