NICKI IS ONE of my growing stable of female boxing students. She was wrapping her hands to begin a training session when she asked me if she’d ever be as strong as a man. When I told her probably not, she was deflated, but also – surprisingly – a little angry. I brushed off her question and told her she just needed to be the best boxer she could be. And then we began work on her jab.

Later I began thinking of her question as a defining moment. Over many years, my passion for boxing has given me an unexpected but privileged insight into the battle of the sexes, a way of finding out what people are really thinking as opposed to what they say or what the zeitgeist dictates. And this passion for boxing has exposed contradictions and myths in equal measure, which is one of the reasons I love the sport.