Lani Daniels (left) and Australian Desley “Lady D" Robinson went head to head for the first time in Whangārei on Thursday ahead of their IBF light heavyweight title fight. Photo / Tania Whyte
Lani Daniels (left) and Australian Desley “Lady D" Robinson went head to head for the first time in Whangārei on Thursday ahead of their IBF light heavyweight title fight. Photo / Tania Whyte
Whangārei boxer Lani Daniels knows she’s in for a tough fight when she takes on Australian Desley “Lady D” Robinson for the vacant IBF light heavyweight title in her hometown on December 2.
Lani measured up against Robinson for the first time in Whangārei on Thursday and acknowledged that the concrete worker and personal trainer from Brisbane looked fit and ready to go.
But the brawler from Pipiwai - who already holds the IBF heavyweight belt - said she’s prepared well for this fight with coach John Conway and has what it takes to send the Australian back across the Tasman empty-handed, and with a bloody nose.
Motu’s stablemate Jerome Pampellone will take on hard-hitting Mexican veteran Rogelio Medina (41-9) and among other fights on the night, Northland Taniwha and Western Sharks player Matt Matich will fight Kamo player Kurt Benney.
Fight night organiser Dean Lonergan said as of Thursday afternoon, there were only 40 general admission tickets and a few corporate tables left for the event, which was looking like being a sellout.
The fact that many of Daniels’ whānau and friends will be there on the night - along with virtually everybody from her beloved Pipiwai - is not lost on her, and she’s determined to put on a good show.
Whangārei boxer Lani Daniels already holds the the IBF world heavyweight belt and hopes to become the first Kiwi woman to hold two world titles at the same time. Photo / Tania Whyte
Robinson said she had worked “fricken hard” to get ready for the fight and she was confident she had enough firepower and ring smarts in her first world title bout to take the belt back to Brisbane.
The solo mum of three children, aged 1, 2 and 11, starts her day around 4am then holds a couple of personal training sessions with clients, then after dropping the kids off at school, starts her fulltime job around 6.30am laying concrete in up to 40C heat - she’s the only female in the concrete gang - finishing round 2.30pm. She then picks the kids up, does more personal training sessions and boxing training, then it’s sleep, and repeat the next day.
Weekends are focused more on her boxing training, but she said the physical nature of her concrete job was pretty good training too.
Robinson, who won the Oceania Middleweight title earlier this year, said Daniels was rightly a world title holder and would be a tough opponent who would come forward in the ring and give her a hard fight.
“We are both tough people who come from tough blue-collar backgrounds who will put on a great show,” she said.
But she said with her own strengths of a height and reach advantage, plus her power, strength, durability, and ability to change her tactics in the ring if needed, she would be successful at McKay Stadium.
“Being in enemy territory it’s a lot harder so I’ll have to clearly win the fight to take the belt back - but I’m ready and I will do it.”
Daniels said she’s not too concerned about what Lady D would bring to the ring as she was confident she had the tools to dismantle her and walk away with another world title - if she wins she’ll be the first Kiwi woman to have a world title at two different weights simultaneously.
It was a cordial first meeting between Whangārei boxer Lani Daniels (right) and her opponent Desley Robinson when they met in the city on Thursday. Photo / Tania Whyte
When asked what she would bring to the ring Daniels was succinct.
“It’s not what she brings to the fight, as I’ll bring it even harder. It’s just me. Lani Daniels, from Pipiwai. It’s Pipiwai Hard all the way and she’d better be prepared for what that brings,” she said.
Daniels said she felt her adaptability in the ring, big-fight experience, ring craft “and just living and breathing boxing for this fight”, along with her endurance, would be more than enough to bring another world title home.
And she made a vow to Robinson: “She said she’d never had even had a blood nose in the ring. I put my hand up and told her I’ll be sending her back with a blood nose - and no title.”
If she wins on December 2, Daniels knows that the world will be her oyster and boxing greats from around the globe will be honing in on her and her belts.
“I was blessed with God-given talent and I’m wanting to put that on that world stage. I’ve got a powerful combination that anybody should fear.”
