“You can achieve anything you want in life, if you want it enough” - Cathy Brown
Cathy was adopted at an early age, her natural parents were too young to bring her up, so her biological mother was banished from her home in Scotland to a convent in Leeds until Cathy was born, as it was shameful in the 1970’s to bring a child up out of wedlock. After her birth Cathy was put into Catholic Care orphanage until she was chosen by her adoptive parents, who took her to Durham. She was raised in Lanchester, Durham until she left home to study photography at eighteen for four years and to escape an abusive relationship, she then moved to London to pursue her photographic career as a Forensic Photographer in 1992, of which she worked until 1998.
Soon after moving South she began Kickboxing as a hobby and to give her internal strength and confidence that she lacked after being in an abusive relationship, only to be so good that after just three months her trainer suggested that she entered her first competition. She was hooked immediately and proved to be a natural and was undefeated in twenty-five fights, winning two British Titles. She wanted to have a deeper understanding of the way her body moved and worked to make her a better athlete, so studied for a Diploma in Sports Massage therapy and gained a YMCA Personal Trainer qualification whilst working full time as a Forensic Photographer.
After six years competing in Kick Boxing, Cathy was approached by a Professional Boxing Promoter and she applied to the British Boxing Board of Control for her Professional Boxers License, they accepted as they recognized her talent and she became only the second woman in the UK to hold a Professional Boxing license. She loved the sport’s fierce competition and its tough training, and was determined to be the best, so she gave up her job with the Metropolitan Police and became a personal trainer at The Third Space Gym (www.thethirdspace.com) so that she could dedicate more time to her training. Within a year she won the European Flyweight Title, and after ten years and twenty-one Professional fights, she became the first ever British female to win a Professional English Title in sporting history and became ranked number three in the World within the Flyweight division. She conquered intense sexism whilst trying to be the best in the World and she says her biggest fight was outside the ring trying to get into the ring but it gave her even more determination to follow her dream.
Highly attractive with a charismatic personality, 5’ 1” Cathy looks more suited to the glamorous world of modelling and TV than the boxing ring but her non-stop aggressive fighting-style and fierce determination made her a genuine world title contender. She competed for WBC, WIBF, WBF World Titles, WIBF, GBU and WBU International Titles in Germany, Italy and Hungary in three different weight divisions: Light Flyweight, Flyweight and Bantamweight. But unfortunately had to retire in 2007 due to neural damage in her neck, it broke her heart to have to stop doing a sport she loved, but she carried on furthering her knowledge of strength, conditioning, sports psychology for athletes and cognitive behaviour therapy to enable her to help others achieve their aspirations. Cathy is a true inspiration for mental, physical strength and motivation as she has conquered a lot of hurdles in her life, she is currently a personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, professional boxing and kick boxing coach and cognitive behaviour therapist at The Third Space Gym. She has participated in a diverse range of challenges other than Boxing including sailing across the Atlantic in a World record attempt with Emma Richards and took part in a 120km running and climbing race in the Verdon Canyon, France to raise money for SPARKS charity.
Cathy has worked with REFUGE charity to help victims of Domestic Violence as she finds it extremely rewarding to help advance people consciously, and she is proud to get people to look in the mirror and see how much they can and have achieved mentally and physically. She has worked with the MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION as she wanted to raise awareness of the great impact that exercise and well being has on a positive and strong mental state, as she has experienced the first hand positive effects. She uses her life experiences and training as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist to help individuals become stronger mentally and physically and currently runs EMPOWERING WOMEN workshops, speeches and presentations. Cathy runs her own charity called HeadGuard®, her mission is to help young women and girls who have no hope and have experienced sexual abuse, slavery, trafficking in countries who have no support for women. See THE CHARITY WORKER page to read about her projects in Iraq and Nepal. She has also worked as a movement director on Music videos, Operas, Adverts and TV shows helping performers with their get into relevant psychological mind sets and specific physical movement. And is constantly in the media as an expert, coverage on the charity work she does.
In 2015 Cathy teamed up with professional boxing coach Greg Williams and foundered Boxology® Academy. They run boxing education courses; Boxology® Round 1 and Round 2, aimed at personal trainers, sports coaches, martial art and boxing coaches, to teach correct pad holding and boxing techniques. All courses are endorsed by ActiveIQ, CIMSPA and British Boxing Board of Control.