Australia’s Louisa Hawton Makes Jump To U.S.
By Felipe Leon
In boxing anything can happen. One moment you are the newly crowned WBO light flyweight champion and the next you have been stripped of the title and not fought since winning it in August 2016. Just as things seem pretty dire, you get signed to one of the biggest promoters in the sport.
That is the story of 33 year old undefeated fighter Louisa Hawton of Australia. On Saturday night Hawton makes her debut in the United States in her first fight under the 360 Promotions’ banner on the under card of Superfly II from the Forum in Inglewood, California. Hawton (7-0, 3KO) will be facing tough Mexican Anahi Torres for the vacant WBC International light flyweight title in a scheduled eight rounder.
The Filipino-Australian Hawton, now based in the United States after moving here last year, is the first fighter signed to the promotional company run by Tom Loeffler although its president is no stranger to female boxing. The unified welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus is signed to K2 Promotions which is also run by Loeffler.
Along with the support of her promotional company, Hawton has assembled quite a team with Elvis Grant Phillips as her manager and Jimmy Montoya as her trainer. Grant Phillips is better known as the owner of Grant Worldwide while the 81-year-old Montoya has trained nearly 20 world champions in the past.
With only two amateur fights under her belt, Hawton, originally a Muay Thai fighter until breaking her foot and switching to boxing, went professional in early 2014 in Australia winning a unanimous decision. She strung five more wins in the next couple of years in her home country before traveling north to Japan for her only fight in 2016. Via a unanimous decision the mother-of-two defeated hometown fighter Kei Takenaka for the vacant WBO 108-pound title in August of 2016.
“It was as tough fight but I was in control in most of the ten rounds,” Hawton said after the fight. “Takenaka was a very courageous boxer fighting in her home country of Japan. I was strong in all the rounds and in round ten I had Takenaka down for an eight count but she finished the fight.”
Unfortunately she was eventually stripped of the title for not defending it.
In Anahi “Panterita” Torres (16-17-1, 2KO), Lawton will be facing her most experienced opponent by far. A pro at the age of 18 in 2008, the now 28-year-old Torres has faced a who’s who of the lighter weight classes. Torres has faced former champions Ana Arrazola and Sindy Amador, up and coming prospects Jasseth Noriega, Jessica Nery Platas, Lourdes Juarez and Seniesa Estrada as well as current champions Mariana Juarez, Esmeralda Moreno, Anabel Ortiz, Arely Muciño and Yesica Yolanda Bopp. She captured the WBC Youth 105-pound title in 2011 against Maria Salinas defending it four times against Ivoon Rosas, Nancy Franco, Jasseth Noriega and Lorena Mendoza before dropping it against Susana Cruz in 2013.
She lost her lone world title bid against Bopp in Argentina in late 2016 via unanimous decision. Her fight against Hawton will mark her fourth in the United States.
According to reports, with a win Hawton could be challenging for the vacant WBC 105-pound title on the undercard of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Saturday, May 5th, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The title was left vacant by the long-reigning Momo Koseki after defeating fellow Japanese Yuko Kuroki for it in December of last year.
Koseki retired after a 10-year long professional career.
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