Bolton: Cindy Ngamba's first boxing coach on her success

She has not had an easy road to victory – coming to Bolton aged 11 from her native Cameroon, Cindy had no idea she was not officially documented in the UK.

Cindy eventually found out the truth when it came time to apply for university – leading to her being arrested and spending time in a detention camp.

The Bolton News caught up with Cindy at the Elite Boxing gym in Halliwell, where we asked her about her road to victory in Paris, which you can read more about here, and about living as an LGBT+ athlete with refugee status, which you can read more about here.

We also caught up with Cindy’s former Bolton Lads and Girls’ Club coach David Langhorn.

Working as a boxing coach for more than four decades, David first met Cindy at Bolton Lads and Girls’ Club, where she started at boxing aged just 14.

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Recalling Cindy’s first fight, David said: “I found a girl in Liverpool around about the same weight, so I matched her – and she stopped the girl in the third round.

“The way she performed was unbelievable. I looked at her, and – as a coach, what I look at is to see if they’ve got coordination and balance. She had all that, and she was also very brave.

“A lot of girls, they come boxing and as soon as they take a punch they stop, they’re finished. But Cindy just accepted it.

“She got hit one night by a lad who was six-foot-four, wacked her one – and I thought ‘oh no’, and she went ‘good punch’ – mad, absolutely mad she is, but she’s as brave as a lion, she really is.”

Aged 80, David has lived in Little Lever for around 50 years, after moving from Salford.

David said he found his love of boxing as a child listening to Raymond Glendenning commentating on the radio.

He said: “We used to listen to the boxing, the fights on the radio. I always used to listen with my granddad, I always wanted to have a go.

“It wasn’t until I was 15, I started work when I was 15, I worked with a fella who’d been a boxer. I said ‘is there any boxing gyms that I could go to?’

“He told me about a professional gym up the road in Gardner Street, The Marchant Brothers, and I went there – I learnt my boxing there.

“As the only comparison I’d make with Cindy, I’d spar anybody – I’d box with anybody, even if they were giving me a beating I’d learn ‘em.

“I didn’t get many beatings, because quite frankly the lads didn’t beat me up, but I learnt from that and I went through, had a few pro fights, had a lot of amateur fights, a few pro and then I chucked it because the money was garbage.”

David got involved in coaching around the age of 37, after he was asked by two men in a Salford gym.

He continued: “The lads were quite successful, I did the matchmaking, it just went from there and I just carried on.

“I coached them and I coached their sons after, I just enjoy it – Cindy is the icing on the cake, I have had lads who’ve won professional European championships – one of them, Jamie Moore, he’s got a Lonsdale Belt outright.

“He’s always respectful to me, in fact I see him a couple of times a week, even now he has his own professional gym.”

Cindy Ngamba (right) in action against Canada’s Tammara Thibeault during the Women’s 75kg - Preliminaries - Round of 16 at the North Paris Arena on the fifth day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in France (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

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What went through your mind when Cindy won the match which guaranteed her the bronze medal?

“Before she went I used to text her sometimes and I’d sign off with a gold medal and a boxing glove, but I never actually said to her ‘you’ll win gold’.

“When she qualified for the semi-finals I knew the two girls she was likely to box, and I think she could have beat them.

“I was absolutely amazed that she didn’t get the decision in the semi-final, and that was an absolute disgrace – and there’s nobody in boxing who’ll say different.

“Nevertheless, I’ve only said it once to Cindy and I’ll never say it again: she should have at least a silver.”

David admits that he was, however, elated when she won against French hope Davina Michel to be guaranteed a bronze medal.

He continued: “I just thought it was at least as much as she deserved, because Cindy’s developing now as a person, as a character – she’s never done this before, I’ve been out with her and people have come up to her and said to her ‘you’re famous aren’t you?’, and she’s gone ‘no, no, not me’.

“It’s been embarrassing sometimes the way she’s refused it, but she can’t do anything else now. I think she’ll develop more as a personality now.”

Cindy Ngamba spoke with The Bolton News after returning home to Bolton (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

What would you like Cindy do next, given she has said she may return to her education?

“It’s lovely for her to win a world championship perhaps, but at the end of the day education will always help, she will always have her education.

“I had a brother who was only answerable to the board of the large company he worked for. He said ‘when I employ someone, when I interview them, if they’ve got a degree that proves they can work at that level, they can study at that level and they have that level of intelligence.

“That’s it with Cindy, she’s bright as a button anyway. I’d like her to continue boxing, whether professional or amateur I don’t know.”

Cindy represents Bolton on the world stage, what does that mean for the town?

“She loves Bolton, she loves living in Bolton, and Bolton people recognise her. She didn’t realise how famous she was, but she filled this room [in Elite Boxing, Haliwell], when she boxed – we had it up on the screen.

“This room was full, I was sat next to the Mayor of Bolton and he was asking me all kinds of questions. He said he would recommend her for a Civic Medal – and I think she [deserves it].

“She’ll represent Bolton, she’ll promote it.”

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.