THEY are the three individuals under five that provide the motivation whenever Sophie Dowse enters the ring.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Five-year-old son Bronson, four-year-old Rad and seven-month-old Texas are rarely far from their mum's side.
And while she is only an infant in the kickboxing world, the 23-year-old admits Texas is the main motivator.
"My youngest was born with epilepsy and we've had a hard time with him at the start of his life and funnily enough he gives me a reason to fight now," she said.
"If I ever get tired in a fight or at training I think of what he's been through and think 'I can skip for another minute'.
"He's giving me that added inspiration to take into my training; they all see me going after something."
After the birth of Texas in the middle of last year, Dowse admitted a return to the ring was low on the priority list.
"My youngest was born with epilepsy and we've had a hard time with him at the start of his life and funnily enough he gives me a reason to fight now."
- Sophie Dowse
Then COVID happened and the result was a 12-month break which allowed her to rediscover her love of combat sport.
It also provided her with an opportunity to change things up outside the ring.
"The break made me more determined and I feel like the last 12 months with a change in gym has helped my development in the sport," she said.
"I feel like I hit a stage where I was not really learning much before I changed gyms, but now I've got the fire back."
Coach Alex Urbina believes Dowse has the best technique out of anyone at his Chestnut Road facility.
"She's super talented, but it's unfortunate that because she's small she's always fighting people who are heavier than her," he said.
"I think her losses might have come as a result of that and part of what I want to do is make sure she gets no bad fights so they're always competitive."
Dowse will return to the ring in June with an amateur bout against Lexi Le at Auburn Basketball Centre as she aims to improve a career record that stands at two wins and two losses.
"Gradually I want her to improve and then if she wants to make something of it she can if, not I'm happy for her to coach here."
- Coach Alex Urbina
"I think she'll go well," her coach said.
"My style here is to make sure fighters have a lot of weapons, whereas a lot of other coaches concentrate on people's strengths, but I'll concentrate on their strengths closer to a fight.
"That way it's a lot easier to mix it up if you know they can do everything."
Urbina doesn't want his young charge fighting someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
"That's not what it's about," he said.
"Gradually I want her to improve and then if she wants to make something of it she can if not, I'm happy for her to coach here."
What else is happening in news, sport?
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark our website
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- You can support us with a subscription
- Follow us on Twitter: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Instagram: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Google News