Hail to the champ

Both participants hailed from Featherston when Sue Latta beat Karen Dews in a world super heavyweight kick boxing title bout in Te Awamutu over the weekend.
Only different was they live basically a world apart, with Latta hailing from the South Wairarapa township and Dews from Featherston in Yorkshire, England.
For Latta it was her first appearance in straight ?or "western"-kick boxing which does not allow for using the knees, elbows or leg kicks to score points but it was her fourth world title success.
One of the others came in Muay Thai kick boxing and the remaining two in what is labelled as freestyle boxing.
Latta went into her fight with Dews with a massive weight and height disadvantage.
Whereas Dews weighted in at 85.8kg Latta only reached 69.4kg and that was after having had breaskfast.And at 5ft 5ins she was 5ins shorter than the English woman.
The weight difference, in particular, did tell whenever Dews took the opportunity to lean on Latta during their bout which went the full distance of eight two minute rounds but Latta always felt she had the measure of her opponent.
"She (Dews) was a tough cookie but I was happy with the way things went," Latta said.
"I seemed to be doing most of the attacking and by the end of the eighth round I was pretty confident I had done enough to win".
And her judgement was spot on with Latta being awarded a unanimous points decision.
Latta, who a little earlier this year placed third in her grade at the world Muay Thai championships in Thailand, says her fight with Dews may signal the end of her kick boxing career as she is giving serious thought to hanging up her gloves and "seeing what real life is all about."
However, she has heard that the Swedish fighter who won her section at the world Muay Thai championships could be coming to New Zealand and if that was the case she'd enjoy the chance to take her on.
"We were in different pools in Thailand so it would be good to try myself out against her," she said.
"I'd give myself a good chance of beating her too."
Latta also said she wouldn't mind a free trip to England if Dews happened to want a rematch of their Te Awamutu world title fight.
"I don't know if that would happen but if they asked me I'd be only too happy to put the title on the line," she said.
"Getting all expenses paid to England is a nice thought actually!".