WOMEN'S boxing champion Jane Couch had the Prince of Wales in stitches when he presented her with her MBE at Buckingham Palace.

"I was really nervous and called him 'Mate' instead of 'Sir'," said Jane, currently holder of five women's world light welterweight titles, who trains at Spaniorum Farm Gym at Compton Greenfield.

"He asked me if I got knocked about very much and we had a good old chat. He was laughing his head off and said he'd never met such a funny and extraordinary woman.

"As I was walking away a royal footman came up and said the Prince had really enjoyed it. I'm glad he did because for me it was scarier than any fight I've ever had."

Jane, 37, received the "gong" in this June's Queen's Birthday Honours for services to sport after a 14-year-long career in professional boxing.

After a tough early life in her native Lancashire - where she earned the nickname "The Fleetwood Assassin" - it was when she moved to trainer Tex Woodward's Spaniorum Gym that her career really took off.

She was first allowed to fight in the UK nine years ago after winning a sex discrimination case against the British Boxing Board of Control, which had refused to grant her a licence.

She won the first women's professional fight in Britain in November 1998.

Jane, who has involved herself in the local community around Easter Compton, is currently in training for her next big fight in the French resort of Cannes next month.

"I'll be meeting a women's world champion but this time it's not actually a title fight," said Jane, who is now forging a new career as a boxing promoter.