Bia Ferreira is preparing for her first professional belt fight, this Saturday, against Argentine Yanina Del Carmen Lescano, in Liverpool, for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title, but she already has ambitious plans for the future. In an interview with Sem Limites, the Brazilian said that she plans to say goodbye to her Olympic career with gold in Paris-2024 and then dedicate herself to collecting belts. According to coach Mateus Alves, Matchroom Boxing, the British company that manages the boxer’s career, wants to make the Bahian athlete the undisputed champion of her category.
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Photo: (Matchroom) / Olympiad Every Day
“I believe that in Paris I will bring the mother of all, golden, and I believe that afterwards I will only focus on the professional, but let’s see what the world will bring for me. In principle, that is the plan. I was collecting medals and now I’m going to collect belts”, believes Bia Ferreira.
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“Matchroom Boxing is one of the biggest boxing promoters in the world and Bia has a well-designed career project with her direct manager, who is Brian Peters, who is the same as Katie Taylor, who is one of the biggest names of world women’s boxing. And he really has plans for her to unify the belt, unify it in more than one entity and try to get what we call the undisputed champion, which is the champion that unifies the four entities: International Federation. Boxing Association (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO)”, adds Mateus Alves.
Phenomenon in sight
With just four fights and four wins in her professional career, Bia Ferreira gained the opportunity to fight for her first belt thanks to the fact that Katie Taylor unified the four belts in the category and then changed weight, leaving the title vacant. Thus, the Brazilian, who was third in the rankings, challenged her opponents until she met Argentine Yanina Del Carmen Lescano, who agreed to fight for the title.
“Katie Taylor did a phenomenal thing in professional boxing. She managed to become the undisputed champion in the 130-pound, 135-pound and 140-pound categories. So, she went from three categories to the champion of four entities. In addition, she was champion of Ring Magazine, which is a highly regarded magazine in the world of boxing and which also has a belt. So, it managed to attach 15 belts and, coincidentally, Bia works with the same manager as Katie Taylor”, explains Mateus Alves.
Because of this, Bia Ferreira has Katie Taylor as a reference and, of course, wants to beat her. “I already have a goal”, says the boxer, who reveals her desire to one day challenge the Irishwoman. “Who knows? I really want to. But I have a lot to do until we get to that opportunity, but it will happen”, promises the Brazilian.
Bia can surpass Katie Taylor in Olympic boxing
Bia Ferreira will fight for the IBF belt in the 135-pound category, while Katie Taylor is fighting at 140. But it’s not impossible that the two will face each other in the coming years, as both were at 60 kg when they fought in Olympic boxing. “I wanted to face her in Olympic boxing, but when I started, she left.”
In Olympic boxing, Katie Taylor was a gold medalist in London 2012, but ended up eliminated in a contested fight in the quarterfinals at Rio 2016. Bia Ferreira, however, only started her career in 2017 and did not have the opportunity to face the Irishwoman. Silver medalist in Tokyo-2020, the Brazilian can surpass the boxer who is currently her reference with gold in Paris-2024.
