Boxer Kali Reis – This past February 19th, Kali Reis captured the vacant Universal Boxing Federation Female World Middleweight title with a first round TKO over rugged veteran Victoria Cisneros.
Check out the Kali Reis interview in this video from our friends at The Boxing Channel.
When Reis reflects back on a 2015 that saw her go 0-2, she reflects on the level of her competition and chalks it up to al earning experience. Both fights were for world titles and took place in her opponent’s home country. That Kali faced Christina Hammer (18-0) and Hanna Gabriel (15-1-1) and took both the distance gave her the confidence to know she can “hang with the big dogs”.
For Reis, the UBF belt and the win were a great start for 2016. After fighting for two years on the road, getting a fight in Rhode Island where she could perform in front of her fans was a terrific motivator.
Boxer Kali Reis Aims To Keep Winning
But now Reis has her eyes set on April 16th. Kiwi promoter Lisa Lewis has been working on a “big show” featuring women’s boxing for several years now, and The Trust Arena in Auckland, New Zealand has been reserved.
The vacant WBC Silver World Middleweight title will be on the line as Kali Reis takes on Maricela Cornejo in the ladies main event. The 25 year old Cornejo is 4-1 as a pro and is based out of Las Vegas. She took 2014 off after her lone loss, and returned in 2015 going 2-0 to put her back on the winning track. Back in 2013, when she was training at Mayweather’s gym and had not lost, she was already being talked about as a future prospect.
Reis, who is 8-5-1, is finally happy to be going into a world title fight with an advantage in experience, and she is hoping that paying her dues will pay off this coming April 16th against Cornejo.
Legendary women’s fighter Mia St John, who is 48 years old now, is also looking to continue her comeback, as she won her October of 2015 outing to move 48-14-2 overall. Her opponent is listed as TBA.
The card also features the return of Michael Katsidis, the former world champion whose record sits a 31-7 overall, though an opponent has not been named either.