Tag: Heather Hardy

Fight Week: Emanuel Navarette returns against Christopher Diaz

FIGHT WEEK HARD-HITTING VOLUME PUNCHER EMANUEL NAVARRETE IS SCHEDULED TO DEFEND HIS NEWLY WON FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST CHRISTOPHER DIAZ ON ESPN AND ESPN+. *** EMANUEL NAVARRETE (32-1, 27 KOs) VS. CHRISTOPHER DIAZ (26-2, 16 KOs) When : Saturday, …

FIGHT WEEK

HARD-HITTING VOLUME PUNCHER EMANUEL NAVARRETE IS SCHEDULED TO DEFEND HIS NEWLY WON FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST CHRISTOPHER DIAZ ON ESPN AND ESPN+.

***

EMANUEL NAVARRETE (32-1, 27 KOs)
VS. CHRISTOPHER DIAZ (26-2, 16 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uzlw2j-7v8

  • When: Saturday, April 24
  • Where: Silver Spurs Arena, Kissimmee, Fla.
  • TV/Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
  • Division: Featherweight
  • At stake: Navarrete’s WBO title
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: NA
  • Also on the card: Edgar Berlanga vs. Demond Nicholson, super middleweights; Josue Vargas vs. Willie Shaw, junior welterweights
  • Prediction: Navarrete UD
  • Background: Navarrete is coming off a close decision over previously unbeaten Ruben Villa to win his title last October, making him a two-division champion. Villa went down twice, which proved to be the difference in the scoring. The 26-year-old Mexican is a high-volume puncher with power. He had stopped his previous five opponents, not counting an unofficial fight during the coronavirus pandemic in Mexico. Navarrete has said he wants to unify the 126-pound titles. Diaz is a capable boxer-puncher who has fallen short in his biggest fights. The Puerto Rican, also 26, lost a wide decision in a competitive fight against Masayuki Ito for a vacant 130-pound title in 2018. Then, after moving down to 126, he was outclassed by Shakur Stevenson and lost another one-sided decision the following year. He’s coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Jason Sanchez last June. Super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga, facing Demond Nicholson, will be seeking his 17th knockout in as many fights on the undercard.

[lawrence-related id=14562]

***

JELENA MRDJENOVICH (41-10-2, 19 KOs)
VS. ERIKA CRUZ HERNANDEZ (12-1, 3 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sHpROifBg

  • When: Thursday, April 22
  • Where: United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.
  • TV/Stream: NBC Sports Net
  • Division: Featherweight
  • At stake: For Mrdjenovich’s WBA title
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: NA
  • Also on the card: Juan Pablo Romero vs. Deiner Berrio, junior welterweights
  • Prediction: Mrdjenovich UD
  • Background: Mrdjenovich vs. Hernandez became the main event when the scheduled main event between Jermaine Franklin and Stephan Shaw fell out because Franklin tested positive for COVID-19. Mrdjenovich will be making the seventh defense of the title she won by outpointing Edith Matthysse in March 26, which earned her a major belt in a third division. The 38-year-old Canadian, a native of Edmonton, is coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Iranda Paola Torres this past December in Los Angeles. Hernandez, a 30-year-old southpaw from Mexico City, will be fighting for a major title for the first time. She has fought outside her native country only once. She last fought in February, when he outpointed Leticia Uribe in Tijuana. Her only loss came in her second pro fight.

Also fighting this week: Heather Hardy (22-1, 4 KOs) of Brooklyn faces Jessica Camara (7-2, 0 KOs) of Canada in an eight-round lightweight fight on Friday in Tampa, Fla. (UFC Fight Pass). Also on Friday, in Barcelona, Spain, Sandor Martin (37-2, 13 KOs) of Spain takes on Kay Prospere (14-1-1, 7 KOs) of the U.K. in a scheduled 12-round bout (DAZN). And on Saturday, in Osaka, Japan, Kenshiro Teraji (17-0, 10 KOs) defends his WBC junior flyweight title against Tetsuya Hisada (34-10-2. 20 KOs).

 

Heather Hardy on life during pandemic: ‘I was just in … utter chaos, crying’

Heather Hardy opened up about some of her struggles and concern because of the coronvirus pandemic currently ravaging the globe…

Count Heather Hardy as one of many boxers struggling to make ends meet because of the novel coronavirus.

Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered all non-essential businesses to close their doors indefinitely in order to stymie the transmission rate of COVID-19. That included gyms, which meant Hardy, who trains private clients at Brooklyn’s Gleason’s Gym, was out of yet another gig. Talk about a double whammy. 

“When they shut down gyms I’m officially out of work. I’m unemployed. I have no job,” Hardy said on a recent episode of the Everlast TalkBox Podcast. “I had 24 hours following the shutdown I was just in complete utter chaos, crying. I couldn’t even help myself. This impending doom, like, what’s going to happen to me?”

Hardy faces a more daunting reality than most fighters who pick up gargantuan paychecks with each fight.

Female boxers are not as highly compensated as their male counterparts. For example, in her unsuccessful world title challenge against Amanda Serrano last year, Hardy said she received less than six figures – and that was before any deductions were made to her corner, manager and the tax man. It was also a brutal fight for Hardy, who was dangerously close to getting knocked out in the first two rounds before making it to the final bell. 

Prizefighting is a full time job for Hardy but it doesn’t pay like one, at least not enough to support her family, which includes a young daughter. But Hardy didn’t dwell on her uncertain future for too long. 

“I woke up the next morning, and it was like, ‘Nah, we gotta figure this s— out,” she said. “This can’t be over. This can’t be [about] sitting around and looking at the four walls waiting for it to get better.

“A week ago this was unimaginable. To think that we we would be homeschooling our kids, we can’t see our family, going outside is dangerous, washing your hands seven, eight times a day after you touch something. It was unimaginable a week ago. But we’re super resilient and adaptive.”

Hardy takes some solace in the fact that everyone is feeling the effects from the coronavirus. She is hopeful that this will spur people – from neighbors to policymakers – to come up with better solutions in these tough times.

“The best thing to do is wake up everyday and figure out how to get through the next 24 hours,” Hardy said. “Everybody all around the world is experiencing exactly what I am … we’re all terrified, but we’re all terrified together.

“And that’s going to push people to come up with a resolution. Everyone can’t get thrown out of their homes, everyone’s lights can’t go off. There has to be a collective effort to make the best out of this that we can.”