GAZETTE & HERALD: WITH the biggest fight of her career just days away, it was vital WBF boxing champion Jane Couch came to Chippenham to get her customary good-luck hairdo.

Before every fight Couch, 34, has her hair carefully braided by hairdresser Cheryl Klukowski, to ensure it stays out of her way when she is busy blasting her opponents out of the ring.

And with the IWBF and the WIBF titles up for grabs when she fights in Connecticut in the USA on Saturday, Couch knows she has to be a cut above the rest.

Light Welter Weight Couch, who trains Calne fighter Chris Long, said: "Cheryl always does my hair before a fight. If she doesn't do it then it just doesn't feel right.

"She has become like a good luck charm over the years.

"I usually get corn rows or zigzags because when you're in the ring sweating and you're up against it in a long 12-round fight you don't want it to come out.

"If Cheryl does it then I don't have to worry about it and I can just concentrate on the fight."

Miss Klukowski, 22, who is a self-employed hairdresser at Salon Secrets, in Malmesbury Road, Chippenham, first met Couch three years ago when she worked in Bristol.

"She's got to look beautiful when she fights," the hairdresser, who lives in New Road, said. "We want her to look her best."

Couch made history in March 1998 when she won her claim for sexual discrimination against the British Boxing Board of Control and became Britain's first professional female boxer. The board had refused to give her a licence to box in Britain.