15-Year-Old Rianna Doforo Wins On Her Professional Debut

15-Year-Old Rianna Doforo Wins On Her Professional Debut

Overnight, Rianna Doforo made a successful professional debut in Naucalpan, Mexico, when she comfortably beat Milagros Hernandez Gonzalez on points over four rounds to start a career that many think could turn into something very special indeed.

Doforo is only 15, and with the British Boxing Board of Control not allowing fighters to fight professionally until they are 18, Doforo headed to Mexico where the rules are a little less stringent to start her professional journey.

The Stefy Bull-trained fighter, despite her young age, already has some considerable hype around her. Bold claims of Doforo being a future superstar of the sport are already doing the rounds, which, hopefully, don’t put too much pressure on the young prodigy.

Gonzalez, who brought in a distinctly unflattering record of no wins in six previous fights was never going to threaten the early hype train. And so it proved. But Doforo still impressed despite the limited opposition in front of her. Doforo won with ease and showed her obvious class. And potential.

The Doforo inner circle will point to the likes of Canelo Alvarez, who turned professional at the same age, for the blueprint of what could lie ahead for the young prospect. But there are enough stories in boxing history to tell all concerned that there needs to be an air of caution to how fast they move Doforo forward. Wilfred Benitez was a world champion at 17. Not long after, his life was very different.

Gonzalez is 39, twenty-four years older than Doforo. Despite her limitations, she is still a fully grown woman fighting a child, no matter how talented that 15-year-old is. There will be many who will find that incredibly uncomfortable. Even more so, if that age gap is still there as the standard of competition increases in the coming years. But Bull is experienced enough in the sport to hopefully know that no matter the potential of his fighter, Doforo is still only 15, and there is no need to push her before she is ready. Encouragingly, that appears to be what the plans are going forward.

But Doforo does seem to be a fighter who has that all-too-rare star potential. She might be 15, but she is no ordinary 15-year-old. Is Rianna Doforo a future superstar of boxing? There is every chance she just might be. But in many ways, the immediate future should be one of extreme caution rather than any great haste.