BOURNEMOUTH boxer Gemma Ruegg has announced she has turned professional at the age of 36.

The Dorset fighter won two regional titles at two different weight categories at the Queensbury Boxing League and has now been granted her professional licence, approved by the British Board of Control.

Ruegg has now signed with Dorset boxing promoter Steve Bendall, as part of the newly formed SK4 Promotions.

Details of her pro debut are set to be announced imminently.

She said: “I am immensely happy to have received my professional boxing licence and this represents the final hurdle that I had to overcome in my journey to be a professional fighter.”

Ruegg’s ambitions were nearly derailed when the coronavirus struck and all gyms were closed last year.

Asked how she continued, the fighter replied: “Like a lot of people, I was forced to adapt.

“Luckily for me, husband is my boxing trainer, and my son is also a pro boxer so I was able to keep up my training quite well, they also motivated me to continue.”

Uniquely, her son Mace Ruegg, himself a professional fighter with MTK Global, is also understood to be fighting on the same bill when Gemma makes her professional debut.