Golden girl…Summer after dominating Montenegro tournament
THE Olympics are no pipedream for Summer Grigg, a Birmingham wonder-girl who is celebrating her second amateur European title.
In fact, judging by current form the teenager is on course to medal at a future Games. Tall Summer, a product of Kingstanding’s Second City gym, certainly casts a long shadow in Europe.
At last month’s U17 European Championships, staged in Budva, Montenegro, Summer again shone by taking gold at under 46kg. In her trophy cabinet, that medal will sit alongside the gold Summer collected in the U15 tournament.
Dad and trainer Liam isn’t overstating things when he says: “The world is her oyster, she can do what she wants.”
Summer didn’t simply win in Montenegro, she breezed the competition. She served a warning by soundly outpointing Italy’s European champ Vittoria Milani in the opening bouts, halted Russian Olga Kharitonova in one round, stopped Daniela Ionica (Romania) in the same session, then took a wide unanimous decision over Saliha Ceylin Pehlivan (Turkey) in the final.
Not a round dropped throughout, by my calculations.
Her career stats are pretty awesome, too. Summer, who first donned a pair of boxing gloves aged eight, has won 36 of 40 bouts and has lost only one of 11 European championship bouts. A student at Sutton Coldfield College, she is now looking to the Winter Women’s tournament, staged in Manchester next month, and February’s nationals.
Summer has her hand raised in victory over Saliha Ceylin Pehlivan
“She loves the fight!” said Liam. “She’s a lovely girl, she’s passed all her exams, she has enough behind her to be successful in whatever she chooses. She really is next level.”
As yet, there’s no thoughts of a future professional career, Liam adding: “We want to give back to England the opportunities England has given to us.” That means joining the GB squad and staking an Olympic place.
Montenegro proved memorable for the English team, with 10 medals – seven of them gold.
National coach John Hodkinson said: “This has been an incredible performance by the England Boxing U17 team at the 2026 European Championships in Budva, Montenegro, and we proudly return home crowned as the European Champions.
“We arrived with a fantastic group of well-prepared boxers whose hard work, dedication and commitment throughout the year has been rewarded on the biggest stage. My sincere thanks to all England Pathway coaches, club coaches, boxers, parents, carers and families across the country who gave their precious time and support to make this achievement possible.”
*Second City ABC are also toasting the success of 15-year-old Talham Hussein who recently collected a national development title.