Northland boxer Karen Te Ruki-Pasene to face Australian in title bout

Northland boxer Karen Te Ruki-Pasene will take on Australia's Brooke "Psycho" Cooper in Australia later this month. Photo / Calden Jamieson

Northland boxer Karen Te Ruki-Pasene will get her first taste of international competition when she takes on Australia's Brooke "Psycho" Cooper in Queensland for the WBC Australasian title.

Of Māori and Niuean descent, Northlander Te Ruki-Pasene will step back into the ring after 10 months of inactivity due to Covid and border lockdowns.
She will be flying to Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia, to fight Cooper for the WBC Australasian title on March 25.
Te Ruki-Pasene originally had a massive opportunity to fight at Eden Park last year, however, the event got cancelled due to the Delta variant outbreak in New Zealand.

She is well known in the boxing community for being tough, especially with her career of being in the Royal New Zealand Navy as an officer.

Her record is three wins, two losses, with one win by TKO and she is a former New Zealand national (PBCNZ version) Super Lightweight champion.

Te Ruki-Pasene made her professional boxing debut in November 2018 after having a background in corporate boxing. She took on Toni Moki, winning the fight by stoppage.
Her next fight was a massive risk when she faced former New Zealand champion, former WBA Oceania champion and former WIBA World champion Gentiane Lupi in October 2019. Lupi had not fought in three years before that fight, but she returned with a split decision win to Lupi.

Te Ruki-Pasene made her in-ring return to fight the first New Zealand female with the ANBF Australasian title, Tania Raid, for the New Zealand national (PBCNZ version) Super Lightweight title in February 2020. The fight was extremely close, anyone could have won, but she had her hand raised for a split decision win at the end of the night.

New Zealand went into lockdown following that fight.

In October 2020, Te Ruki-Pasene took another significant risk by taking on former New Zealand national (PBCNZ version) Super Lightweight champion and former WBC ranked boxer Baby Nansen for the PBCNZ South Pacific title.

Nansen was too strong though, with Te Ruki-Pasene retiring in the corner after the 7th round.

In May 2021, Te Ruki-Pasene was last in the ring, taking on two-time New Zealand amateur national champion, Golden Gloves Champion and gold medallist at the 2019 Arafura Games, Ariane Nicholson.

The fight was extremely close again, but Te Ruki-Pasene raised her hand when the MC announced that she was the winner, by majority decision.

Brooke Cooper's boxing record might only be one win, one loss, but if you combined all her records across fight codes, her record would be 28 wins, 13 losses.

In her fight career, she has won more than eight Muay Thai and kickboxing titles, including the WBC Oceania Muay Thai, WMC Australasian, WAKO Oceania, WKBF State, two-time Muay Thai world champion (WMO Pro Muay Thai world title, and WKBF Full Thai Lightweight world title) to name a few of her accomplishments.

The winner of this fight will not only hold the WBC Australasian title but also be ranked in the next WBC women's rankings which will be a big start in the climb for a world title and more international opportunities to fight.