Peres primed for Canadian rival
Top New Zealand women’s professional boxer Geovana Peres is preparing for anything as she ventures into the unknown with her defence of the WBO world light-heavyweight title in Auckland.
Peres takes on Canadian Clare Hafner at Sky City on Friday night.
It’s Peres’ first fight since she won the vacant world title with a unanimous points decision against fellow Kiwi Lani Daniels in late March.
With little information about her opponent, Peres has concentrated on improving her own busy style, confident she has done everything possible for a tricky build-up against a fighter who is 4-1, and coming off a win last June.
‘‘We don’t know anything about Clare, so we are preparing for everything,’’ Peres said as her training camp drew to a close.
‘‘There is nothing we can do about the unknown. But it’s a challenge that makes me work harder. The unknown takes us out of a comfort zone and makes up prepare even better. I don’t know what is going to come in front of me so I have to be prepared as best as I can.’’
Both fighters are aged 42 and Peres admits her advancing years keep her honest in the gym, making her work harder.
‘‘My fitness is always good. I’m very aware of my age. If I’m not fighting, I keep my health and my fitness always good. That’s my lifestyle,’’ she said.
Peres didn’t want a warm-up fight and decided to instead maintain her relentless fitness and training routines over the past six months.
‘‘The focus has been on defending the title and time has flown by,’’ she said.
‘‘Since my last fight, I had a couple of days off but I quickly went back to training. That intensity picked up when the camp started, it’s gone to another level now.’’
Peres has again used male and female sparring opponents to prepare for this big occasion.
‘‘This camp has had a really good variety of sparring — the boys, the girls, and training with the boys — variety is good.
‘‘I’m happy with the camp, it’s been very intense but it’s been the way it was planned to be. Now I have to go and do what I do.’’
Peres, whose professional career stands at 7-1, with seven wins in a row, has quickly adopted a champion’s mindset.
‘‘I want to keep the belt and be undisputed in this light-heavyweight division. In my mind I know I have to work as hard as possible to prepare and be the best I can to keep this title. I want to keep moving forward.’’
Peres is delighted to see women’s boxing profile on the rise, with Sky TV screening live coverage of this fight.
Daniels will feature on a busy undercard. The Northland fighter has dropped down two divisions since her tight loss to Peres and will fight Auckland’s Tessa Tualevao for the New Zealand middleweight title.
It’s a rematch following their draw in August.