Ex-Olympic champion Jones quits taekwondo for boxing

Wales’ double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones is switching sports and has taken up boxing.

The 31-year-old says she is “dreaming big” as she intends to become a two-sport world champion.

Jones has been boxing for two months and is training with former professional boxer Stephen Smith in a move she believes is unprecedented as she eyes a career in the paid ranks.

“It is nerve-wracking. Some days I wake up and think ‘am I absolutely crazy?'” Jones told BBC Breakfast.

“I am loving it. I love taekwondo, it will always be my first love. But this is an exciting challenge.”

Jones’ switch is sure to raise eyebrows, having competed for two decades in a sport where kicking your opponent is the name of the game and she admits her decision did come out of the blue.

“I don’t know what gave me the idea, I was sat in my kitchen and thought ‘I’ll try boxing’, my family all think I’m crazy, but people who know me know it is inside me, I love to have a fight and a scrap,” she said.

“People can follow my journey, the good, the bad and the ugly. Can I get to the top? Will I fail?

“The dream is to be a world champion. To be a world champion in two sports would be pretty cool.”

Jones admits she has faced a huge culture shock as she has learned about the “sweet science” of boxing.

“Boxing is arguably the hardest sport in the world, but I am up for the challenge, I want to give it a go,” she said.

“Technique is the hardest thing to learn. There are so many little factors to it. I started wading in, but it’s all about timing and being patient.

“I’ve learned straight away it’s not like being Rocky, you can’t just get in there and blast away.

“I’ve come in thinking I’m hardcore and can have a scrap, but it’s the total opposite to be honest, it’s kind of like taekwondo in that it’s a game of chess, but with your hands.”

One of Wales’ most successful Olympians, Jones admits there is a degree of sadness at giving up taekwondo, having represented Team GB at four Olympics and having won two gold medals, as well as winning a World Championship.

Jones became the youngest Team GB Olympic gold medallist when she sensationally won gold at her first attempt, as a 19-year-old at the 2012 London Games and held on to her crown four years later in Rio de Janeiro.

Disappointment followed at the 2020 Tokyo Games which she later described as the “biggest low” of her career.

At Paris 2024, Jones’ bid for Olympic history ended in early defeat in the taekwondo -57kg first round.

She was bidding to become the first three-time Olympic champion in the sport’s history and defeat left Jones “devastated”.

Jones lost to Macedonia’s Miljana Reljikj on the number of registered hits, used as a tie-breaker after three even rounds.

Jones – whose Paris build-up had been overshadowed by the controversy of a missed drugs test, but was later cleared by the UK Anti-Doping Agency – has now chosen to step away from the sport she loves.

“My family have been a little bit sad about me giving up taekwondo,” she added.

“I’ve never used my hands. After 20 years of using my feet I am switching it up.

“Boxing is good for me. It started as a distraction but now I am going to go for it, because I am just loving it.”

Jones’ trainer Smith, who twice boxed for a world title, admits he was initially sceptical about Jones’ boxing ambitions.

“My first instinct was why? Why would someone who kicks with both feet get into a sport where you use your hands,” he said.

“I wasn’t doubting her, but I was confused. I don’t think it’s ever happened before, I don’t know anyone who has come over from taekwondo.

“It’s a massive challenge but it is made easier by her attitude… she’s improving all the time.”

Jade Jones and Stephen ‘Swifty’ Smith is a terrific boxing partnership.

Jones is an aggressive, competitive fighter in taekwondo and she will need an old-school boxing coach to help with her transition.

Smith, a former British champion and one of the four fighting Smith brothers from the Rotunda club In Liverpool, is a calm head in the gym and corner; Jones will need that as she forgets her kicks and perfects her hooks.

The initial transition will not be difficult, but turning Jones into a genuine contender will take time. Jones has good feet, fast hands and, as a world-class fighter, she has great awareness.

The fairy tale will mostly be conducted behind closed doors at the gym in long days of sparring and boring repetition; Jones will need to slow down, pick her punches and react to getting hit and hit and hit.

Swifty will insist that she “shapes up” well before letting her apply for a British licence to fight; the British Boxing Board will not just grant her a licence based on her glory in another sport. She will need to display the basics, learn boxing balance and simple punches – that might be frustrating for her; all crossover athletes want to run before they can walk.

There are only 13 active featherweights in Britain and Jones will be an excellent addition. She will also do some damage if she learns the basics – too many female fighters never bother to get an education and that is why the gulf at the top is so wide. Jones can bridge that gap.