Jaime Clampitt
fighter
Four-time world champion who continued to fight at the top into her mid 40s.
Jaime Clampitt is a boxer who has competed at the top level for years. The Canadian fights out of Rhode Island USA.
Her first professional fight was in 2000 and by 2001 she had a shot at the World Lightweight title. By 2023 she was a four-time world champion, with 32 professional bouts to her name. They included 23 wins and 6 losses. Seven wins were by stoppage, while Jaime has only been stopped once. In 2023 we reported her win in Rhode Island Wars (here) and later that year she beat Josefina Vega (here).
After 2013 Jaime took a break, making a comeback in 2021. At this time she was 45, a mother and business owner.
“I have learned so much about myself and the sport from each bout but my favorite fight was in 2007 against Jane Couch on ESPN for the vacant IWBF super lightweight title. I admired her and had a lot of respect for her as a boxer.
“She was so gracious after the fight and it was just an amazing experience to be in the ring with one of my idols.
“Being inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020 is also something that I consider one of my greatest achievements in the sport of boxing. My most recent achievement is coming out of retirement (2 years ago) after an 8-year layoff, at 44 years old.”
Vegan
Since 2013 Jaime has been completely vegan. “I am completely vegan!” she says. “I never eat animals!”
“I went vegan shortly before I found out I was pregnant with my second child. For the first five months of my pregnancy, I was vegan. I ended up going vegetarian for the last half of my pregnancy because I felt that I was not educated enough at the time to continue being a vegan. I also had a few health issues during the pregnancy. As soon as my son was born, I went back to eating vegan and have continued since then. He just turned 10 in January 2023.”
Jaime was brought up eating meat and had always considered whether it was right to do so.
“As a child, I was not a very big fan of eating meat. Throughout my life, I would eat vegetarian but would always go back to eating meat. My family was in the cattle industry and I always had a feeling that it was not for me.
“In 2012 I was studying health coaching at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. We studied many different dietary theories and veganism was one of them. I was so interested in the health benefits in the beginning but as I studied, I learned more about how animals were suffering and mistreated. I became very passionate about it and knew that this was the life that I wanted to live.”
Now Jaime has a love of peanut butter “but I am also a huge fruit and veggie girl! I would say the foods that I eat every day are berries, arugula, green beans, hummus, seitan, potatoes, and vegan protein powder.”
When we contacted Jaime she was four weeks away from a match, and this was influencing her training.
“My training consists of, strength training twice a week, pads and bag work with my coach 2 or 3 times a week, and 2 to 3 sparring sessions a week. I also run a few days a week. When I don’t have a fight coming up, I scale back but I’m always in the gym doing something.”
Her vegan diet supports this demanding lifestyle. There’s interest from those around her.
“I think most people find it interesting. I have definitely influenced and educated some of my boxers and clients to go vegan. They see how good I feel and are curious about how I eat.”
“My husband is also a boxer, he has been vegan for three years and has seen huge benefits as an athlete. My coaches know how important it is to me and that it doesn’t affect my performance, so they are fine with it.”
“I credit a lot of my longevity in the sport to my vegan diet. I’m a 46-year-old mother of two, own a gym, and I’m still boxing professionally. Eating a diet high in plants gives me the energy to keep up with my busy life and to perform athletically. I am very proud to be a vegan athlete.
“It has been a lot of trial and error for me because in the beginning, I did not know of any other vegans. I discovered Rich Roll and Brendan Brazier and really learned a lot about how to fuel my body as an athlete. I hope that I can influence more people to go vegan for themselves and for animals.”