Kaitaia's Mea "Nightmea" Motu in action. Motu has a fight against highly-rated Thai fighter Thanchanok Phanan in Auckland on Friday.
Kaitaia's Mea "Nightmea" Motu in action. Motu has a fight against highly-rated Thai fighter Thanchanok Phanan in Auckland on Friday.
After cleaning up most of her Kiwi competition, Northland boxer Mea Motu is taking on her first international opponent on Friday night as she steps up her campaign for a world title shot.
Kaitaia's Mea "Nightmea" Motu, who trains out of Auckland, takes on her first international opponent this week when she faces off against Thailand's Thanchanok Phanan at Auckland's ABA Stadium in a featherweight contest on Friday night.
Phanan boasts an 11-2 record, with six of her wins coming via knockout. She is Thailand's top female featherweight boxer and will enter the ring on Friday, riding an eight-fight winning streak.
The fight comes ahead of an effort by her trainers to get a Fight for Life-type boxing event in Northland.
In April, the 32-year-old Motu made history when she became the first New Zealand female boxer to capture titles in four weight divisions when she defeated Baby Nansen for the NZPBC super featherweight championship.
Motu's string of impressive performances has earned her a top 10 world ranking in the IBF women's super featherweight division. The fact that she is a natural super-bantamweight, competing in higher weight divisions has not gone unnoticed overseas, and now, starting with a win against Phanan, Motu aims to establish herself as a future world title contender.
"I'm happy. I can't wait to fight. I feel like I haven't fought in a year. I feel so impatient," Motu said.
"This is like the second chapter. I'm hitting that international stage, which I've always wanted to do. On the international stage, we're going into my weight division. The good thing is I'm going to be testing myself, seeing how I go, and I want to try and make super bantamweight even though she's coming in at featherweight.''
Kaitaia boxer Mea Motu will take on Thailand's Thanchanok Phanan on Friday as she steps up her campaign to get a world title fight.
Motu's growing reputation as one of female boxing's most dynamic up-and-coming fighters has meant that, even with the borders now fully open, finding opponents willing to face her has not been easy.
Motu's trainer Isaac Peach has been working the phone line steadily over the past few months, trying to book fights for Motu, and his hard work now looks set to pay dividends.
"If you asked me last month, I thought, 'oh, we got nothing going for us'. But this month I feel like I am fully booked out, " Motu explains.
"I'm just excited for what's about to come. All of a sudden, we went from having nothing to now where we have got so many opportunities. So definitely, there are some big things coming."
Peach Boxing has gone from strength to strength over the past five years, and the West Auckland gym now has four fighters — Mea Motu, David Light, Jerome Pampellone, and Andrei Mikhailovich — ranked in the top 15 in their respective weight divisions.
Head trainer Isaac Peach, along with his wife, Alina, have made it their aim to help grow the sport in New Zealand, and with Motu's star on the rise, they would love nothing more than to be able to put on a major show in Northland with the "Nightmea" as the main event.
"My wife just got the opportunity to work on and put on a big show [Fight for Life] and found out the ins and outs of a few things, and that's a big topic between me and her at the moment is when we should do one [in Northland]," Peach says.
"We would love to have some Northland people on there. We would also bring matches from Auckland up there. If we're going to do it, we would do it right. We would really showcase boxing."
While the future is becoming increasingly bright for Motu, she knows that it all depends on her taking care of business inside the ring, and this Friday, she knows what she wants to achieve when the opening round bell sounds.
"I'll definitely like a big finish, and to make a big statement, I am here to destroy, and I am here to take over."
