Francesca Hennessy vs. Elie Butel: Underdog Butel prepares for boos as both fighters make weight

A Cambridge University graduate who was born in Nottingham and now lives and trains in China, Boutelle first moved to Beijing as a teenager to live with her father after what she describes as a difficult adolescence in the UK.

“Like a lot of kids, I wasn’t sure of my place in the world and I was acting out a lot,” she said on the BBC World Service’s “More from the Score” program on Tuesday.

“Looking back, I was unmotivated. I didn’t find school challenging and I had a lot of excess energy which ended in bad behaviour.”

Butelle says her “behavioral problems are gone,” though she admits she still craves familiar comforts. “I missed Greggs,” she adds.

Her love of the Chinese language earned her a place at Cambridge, where she initially focused on weightlifting before discovering boxing in her final year.

After graduating, Botel returned to China to teach English and settled in Shanghai. There, she met the coach who now trains her professionally and got into white collar boxing.

Bootle turned professional and fought seven times in China and once in Thailand.

Having only competed a handful of times in the UK as an amateur, Butel is looking forward to her “homecoming” bout.

“This will be the first fight my family has witnessed,” she says. “My brothers will be able to watch me fight for the first time.”