Mumbai: Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom, who is popularly known as MC Mary Kom, plays a perfect balance between being a champion boxer and a mother of two.

But Mary Kom insists that it is not easy staying away from her little sons for long intervals. She also said that she just might quit after the London Olympics.

“It’s not easy,” she says. “I always miss my sons,” she adds, referring to her twins, Rengpa and Nainai, only three years and four months old.

The contrast — the tenderness of being a mother and wife against the aggression of landing a knock-out punch — couldn’t have been more striking.

But all that theorising goes out of the window when you consider that she took to the sport to make a living. For her, it’s more of a vocation than a passion.

Things have become better after marriage actually, said Mary Kom, who had to keep her boxing tutorials a secret from her father Tonpu Kom until she won the state championships in 2000.

“I started playing this sport, as I was inspired by movies of Jackie Chan. I am also inspired by Mohammed Ali.

“ I never knew that I would get much money and fame because at the national and state-level one doesn’t get not much of either,” ‘Magnificent Mary’, who is in the city on a promotional visit, told The Telegraph.

“After marriage my husband’s family has been very supportive. Even my mother-in-law supports me,” she said, sitting alongside her husband Onler, who is 10 years her senior.

Still, the fine balancing act is not easy and Mary Kom said she would review her career and take a call after the London Games. “I am going to continue till 2012 Olympics and maybe quit after that,” she said.

“Maybe,” she stressed once more, emphasising she had not made a decision yet on hanging her boots.

One can only hope that Mary Kom’s fine combination of tenderness and aggression brings more glory to the sport and the country.