"Why we like fighting" – meet York's female professional boxers Carly Mackenzie and Tasha Boyes

DURING the day Carly Mackenzie and Tasha Boyes are busy serving food and drink to their customers.

For Carly, those are pupils at Copmanthorpe Primary School, where she works as a dinner lady.

In Tasha's case, it's members of David Lloyd gym in York, where she works in the catering section.

But after hours, they swap their overalls and blue gloves for gym shorts and boxing gloves as they prepare for their next fight.

This year promises to be an exciting year for mum-of-two Carly, aged 40, and her protege Tasha, 28, because both have secured their professional licence allowing them to take part in bigger fights – including bouts overseas.

Tasha, who only took up the sport two years ago after being spotted by Carly in a charity boxing event, is already making a name for herself.

A few weeks ago, she won her first belt: the Super Flyweight British Challenge title, after a home win at Huntington Working Mens' Club.

She has her debut as a pro in Liverpool in March.

Both women train at least five days a week, using David Lloyd gym, off Hull Road, as their base. If they need to use a ring they work out at either Henry Wharton's base or York Masters. Carly is also a member at Roko in York.

It's a world away from their day jobs in catering – but they love it and are excited about the year ahead.

Carly, who started boxing as a teenager, was considering retiring this year but decided to turn pro and "give it another year".

"I started when I was 16 then did ten years as a kick boxer," she says. "Then seven or eight years ago, I turned semi-pro as a boxer. Now I have my pro-licence, I can travel abroad to fights.

"I think I have another year in me. I keep going out and if I don't get punched I think I've another fight in me. I think if I stop I will get old!

"I'm 40 now and should not really be doing it. But I am going to have one last year and take Tasha with me."

Tasha says turning pro is a great opportunity – and not just for boxing. "It's a bigger circuit and it will mean working holidays – we will get to travel overseas and see a bit of the world."

Fights take place in a variety of locations including Belgium and South Africa, she added.

It's a big leap for Tasha who until two years ago hadn't stepped into a boxing ring. Her first taste of the sport was when she signed up for a charity fight organised by Carly in aid of York sisters Alex and Patrycia Klis whose parents were killed in the Manchester Arena bombing.

Carly saw something in Tasha immediately. "After two charity fights I thought I could make a boxer out of her. She liked to fight but she also had a gameness about her: she was up for it. You can't train that into people."

Tasha admits she liked boxing from the off – and said she'd got into lots of fights in her youth. "I always liked fighting and had to stick up for myself. At school, I was seen as a hard one and everybody wanted to fight me." The former Canon Lee School pupil says she regrets not getting into boxing sooner – instead, football was her sport of choice. "If I'd had the opportunity to get into boxing when I was younger, I might not have been fighting in the playground."

Carly thinks children should learn boxing. "They should teach boxing in school, especially to tearaway kids as it would sort them out."

So what does boxing give them?

"Control," says Carly who admitted to getting into scraps when out in town as a teenager. "Then I had kids and that was no good. I started boxing again and it really sorted me out and helped me gain control."

"Focus," is Tasha's answer. "It's something to focus on rather than going out every weekend or fighting with the next person that looks at me – I'm not bothered by that now. Boxing is more important to me. I've grown up a lot."

Both enjoy the training – and they would have to because it is some commitment.

"We train five times a week," explains Carly. "We do bag and pad work, weights, circuits and running. We do lots of push-ups and press-ups." They have also started training at night to acclimatise to evening exercise – most of their fights are late at night and they had been flagging. Hopefully this change in schedule will reboot their energy levels so they can perform at the times they need to, she adds.

They are full of admiration for Nicola Adams, the Yorkshire boxing star and Olympic double gold medalist, who retired last year for health reasons – she suffered a torn pupil in her last fight, leading to fears for her sight.

"She got a lot of girls into boxing," says Carly.

Despite Adams' forced retirement because of a serious boxing injury, neither Carly nor Tasha are in favour of fighters wearing helmets, saying they "get in the way" and that they are not convinced they offer protection. Carly says once she fought a women in a helmet and "she was black and blue afterwards and I didn't have a mark on me".

Tasha says because she is new to the sport she may be a bit "naive" about its risks.

Carly is more concerned. "I never used to care until I got older. I think about it more now because I have got a bad memory and I don't know if that's to do with all the bangs to my head, or my age."

Looking ahead, Tasha has her eye on European titles and growing her fan base. They added they are looking for sponsors to support them on their journey.

In the meantime, it's back to training – and looking after their hungry and thirsty customers in their day jobs.