| |
|
|
Reis: "Camara Is A Real Danger"
Kali Reis says there’s no chance of her looking past
‘dangerous’ Jessica Camara as they clash for the WBA and
vacant WBO World Super-Lightweight titles on Friday night
(November 19) at the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New
Hampshire, live worldwide on DAZN.
Reis (18-7-1 5 KOs) was in London and working on the DAZN
broadcast as Chantelle Cameron booked her spot for a 2022
undisputed fight at 140lbs with victory at The O2 over Mary
McGhee, and now Reis and Camara (8-2) battle to meet the
Briton for all the marbles.
Reis didn’t just travel to watch the bout though, getting
plenty of sparring in while across the pond as she moved
towards the end of her camp for her eighth World title bout
in a 26-fight career to date.
The 35 year old, who wrote and starred in a feature film
titled Catch the Fair One, is eager to land the undisputed
title in double quick time as she looks to achieve as much
as possible in the game before pursuing more work in the
film industry – but ‘Mequinonoag’ says that can wait as she
eyes being the star attraction on Friday night and setting
up the Cameron fight in style.
“Jessica hasn’t been at 140lbs or in the rankings as she’s
been at 130lbs and 135lbs,” said Reis. “But she’s coming in
off an excellent win against Heather Hardy, one of the
pioneers of women’s boxing in this era, whose only loss was
to Amanda Serrano who is one of the best to ever do it – so
she’s dangerous, I know that.
“She’s improved from her loss to Melissa St. Vil too so I
don’t overlook any opponent, and this is boxing, anything
can happen. I commentated on her last two fights, and I give
huge respect to her for stepping up and taking this
opportunity, as there’s a lot of fighters out there that
want to pick and choose fights and not step-up, but Jessica
has stepped up so respect to her for that and she’s here for
a reason, she wants to become undisputed too.
“She’s a lighter fighter coming up so she’ll have hand speed
and fast feet, she doesn’t have as much pressure in a way as
I have the titles to defend so maybe the pressure is off
her, but as I said when I commentated on her, she has the
composure of a veteran, it’s amazing, she had a huge
hematoma on her head from the first round against St Vil and
she didn’t bat an eye at that and against a legend like
Hardy, she did her job, she’s very composed, she has great
fundamentals and fast hands.
“I was in London to train but I am in this tournament, so my
eyes were wide open for that fight. I was there to see
potential opponents live and it was better being there,
seeing them at the presser, the weigh-in and around the
hotel, the whole energy around the event. We’ve been talking
about fight Chantelle for a while now and it was a dream
fight for fans in the US and UK. I like how she carries
herself and to see her in person was great, she was nothing
short of what I expected, she’s a delight to be around and
she’s a very determined fighter, and you feel her energy
when you are around her.
“Chantelle is a really good boxer and has that killer
instinct that you cannot teach. She did what I thought she
would do, and it was a great performance, but everybody is
beatable including myself, I saw a lot but ultimately, she
got the job done in good style.
“I spent a good week in London, we trained and sparred, Noel
Callan, Hannah Rankin’s trainer, hooked us up and I think we
had 40 rounds in three days, so we definitely got that work
in! It’s becoming a regular trip, it’s the third time this
year that I’ve been to the UK ahead of fights, it makes
sense as you get the quality work over there.
“We have great sparring in America too, most of my sparring
is with guys but we do have some females come in, but they
come one time and they don’t come back, so it’s hard to get
consistent quality sparring in Philadelphia. The only other
quality sparring I get is with Katie Taylor when I am in
Rhode Island but now I live and train in Philly it’s hard to
do that.
“My Native American name is ‘Mequinonoag’ which means ‘many
feathers’ or ‘many talents’ and my mother named me
correctly, I’m blessed to have this personality where I am
fascinated by art and storytelling and all aspects of life,
and I don’t see just one path, your journey has many, many
paths.
“So the acting and storytelling came to me and I am
definitely going to explore it and see what kind of ‘World
championships’ I can get in that world too, so you will
definitely see me on the big screen again because boxing is
a short career and while I have more to do in the sport,
it’s a brutal one and I don’t want to outstay my welcome, so
when the time comes to gracefully bow out I want to have my
wits about me so I can do all these other things after
boxing.
“Demetrius and I have known each other since we were young,
we’re two Cape Verdean kids from Rhode Island. He started
fighting way before I did, and I saw him as a teenager going
to do great things as an amateur and we have trained
together lots and we have the same strength and conditioning
coach. We know each other very well, he’s my brother from
another mother and it’s so awesome that we are finally
fighting on the same card.”
Reis and Camara clash on a massive night of quadruple World
title action, topped by Demetrius Andrade (30-0 18 KOs)
defending his WBO World Middleweight title against Jason
Quigley (19-1 14 KOs).
Murodjon Akhmadaliev (9-0 7 KOs) defending his WBA and IBF
World Super-Bantamweight titles against José Velásquez
(26-9-2 19 KOs) and it’s Mexico vs. Puerto Rico in the
long-awaited showdown between WBC World Flyweight champion
Julio Cesar Martinez (18-1 14 KOs) and McWilliams Arroyo
(21-4 16 KOs).
|
|
|
