Niamh Mitchell is a self-confessed 'girly girl'... but you better believe she packs a punch!

By MARK WOODS FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL Published: 18:38, 24 July 2026 | Updated: 18:39, 24 July 2026 She is a self-confessed ‘girly girl’ which leaves many men doubting her credentials as a boxer. But Niamh Mitchell has a warning for any guy daft enough to demand she proves her prowess: brace yourself. The 20-year-old, of Rosyth, Fife, will come out swinging for a medal at the Commonwealth Games in the 60kg category after proving her promise to claim the European Junior Championship in 2022. She’s been fighting fit since she was five and took up kick-boxing when she was bullied on her local street. The boxer admits she is a girly girl, and there’s no end of sceptics who reckon her story about being a queen of the ring is all made up. ‘There was one time I was out with my friends and there was a guy saying that exact thing about me being a female boxer,’ she said. ‘He was like, “if you punch me in the stomach it won’t hurt”. ‘So I punched him in the stomach and he was floored. He was winded. People just don’t realise how annoying it is. He never said anything to me again.’ Body image matters, she said, and looking good is part of who she is. The first Scotswoman to claim a major title is on a mission to show you can be feminine as well as ferocious from her twice-daily sparring sessions at her local club in Rosyth. Niamh Mitchell has been fighting since she was five and took up kick-boxing when she was bullied on her local street Niamh is aiming for a medal at the Commonwealth Games in the 60kg category ‘It’s nice to show young girls that you can have two sides to you,’ she said. ‘When I was younger, I looked at some women boxers and it felt like to me they would have massive muscles, have no make-up on, not have their hair down and that always put me off.  'I remember saying to my dad I don’t want big muscles. Imagine me in my wedding dress with big muscles. ‘Obviously I’m toned now but it’s not like I’m a big unit so it would be nice for young girls to see me and realise that you can be a girly girl and be a boxer because I didn’t see that too much when I was younger.  'At my home gym I’m the only female and there are little girls that come in and so I like to help them out. I like to make every girl and woman who comes into my gym feel comfortable.’ Boxing is opening doors beyond her home in Cardenden. ‘It’s given me a sense of independence which I can use later on in life. I’ve seen places that I would never have been able to do without boxing,’ she said. Mitchell was handed a straight pass to the quarter-finals in Friday’s draw, but she’ll have to get past India’s Asian champion Priya Ghanghas to fight for a medal.