Rianna Doforo: “I don’t feel any pressure in all honesty because I set the highest standards for myself.”

Rianna Doforo: “I don’t feel any pressure in all honesty because I set the highest standards for myself.”

Sometimes, you have to remind yourself that Rianna Doforo is only 15. It is in truth easy to forget where she is in her young life. The confidence that her words project shouldn’t be spoken from any 15-year-old. But Doforo is different. If you listen to the plaudits from her inner circle, she could be very different.

Doforo is tipped in some quarters to be a future superstar in the sport, and last week in Mexico, that journey to possible superstardom took its first tentative steps. A 40-36 points victory over Milagros Hernandez Gonzalez in Naucalpan, got the professional career of the young Liverpool fighter off to a winning start.

“It was just a boss experience, the whole environment, and being around it all. It was unreal,” Doforo told me over Zoom just six days removed from her maiden professional ring walk.

There was considerable hype and coverage for the professional debut of the highly-touted Doforo. But if anyone thinks that it would be a little too much for a 15-year-old, they would be disappointed.

“It wasn’t overwhelming at all,” Doforo told me. “I had already built it up so much in my head. So I sort of knew what to expect in a sense. I don’t feel any pressure in all honesty because I set the highest standards for myself. Nobody wants more out of me than me. So whatever pressure others try to put on me is nothing in comparison to what I put on myself.”

The win over Milagros Hernandez Gonzalez wasn’t unexpected. Gonzalez 39, hadn’t won in six previous fights as a professional, and very few would have expected her to claim her first victory against Doforo. The Stefy Bull-trained fighter won with ease and was rarely troubled by her more experienced opponent. For Doforo, it was the perfect start to her professional career.

“I am extremely happy with my performance. I think I set a good bar for myself with plenty of room to show even more. Stefy was buzzing about my performance. He was on top of the world at that moment. She was a very good opponent for my debut. She was very tough and much respect for her, but there wasn’t much there, so I didn’t have the opportunity to show everything that I was capable of. But I put on a good performance and I showed that I can box on the front foot and that I can box on the back foot as well and that I can stand there with my opponents.”

The impressive self-confidence doesn’t appear to be one of delusion. Doforo believes every word she says, and nothing is said in arrogance. In many ways, that confidence was born at home.

“A lot of it is in my environment, my brother and my dad,” Doforo relayed to FightPost. “They always say no matter what room you walk into, never believe that anyone is above you. That is what being a professional is all about. You have to live up to that standard that you set. No matter what the circumstances you have to perform. So a big part of the sport is having that confidence, and that is what my dad and my brother have taught me. And also, being from Liverpool, we are all a bit fiery, so that is probably a big part of it as well. The boss thing about Liverpool is that as soon as someone starts doing well, the whole city gets behind them.”

Doforo flits between Liverpool and Doncaster for her boxing education, although the homeschooling seems to have lost out to her passion.

“I go to Doncaster two or three times a week, so we leave around half six in the morning,” the young fighter says. “I also train two or three times a week in Liverpool. I’ll be honest I don’t really do my schoolwork, I consider boxing as my schoolwork. Technically, I am a professional boxer, so I don’t have to do it. I think the schoolwork lasted about two weeks after leaving school. It just wasn’t for me. I know how dedicated I am to boxing, and I know that is what I want to do with my life. It just felt like a waste of time, I couldn’t see the point. I couldn’t put the same time in as I do for my boxing because I didn’t want it.”

Doforo has big plans. If she could fight for a world title tomorrow. She would. But Doforo will likely have to bide her time for at least the next few years. The British Boxing Board of Control don’t allow you to fight in the UK until you turn 18, but Doforo can’t wait to fight on home soil.

“As soon as I can fight in the UK, I will do so, and I definitely want to fight for titles when the opportunity comes. But when I am 17, I can fight for the WBC Youth titles, so there is still a way for me to get a ranking under the age of 18. But as soon as I turn 18, I want to be fighting for those big titles and be in those big fights because I will never shy away from them.”

It’s been only a week since the first fight, but Doforo and her team are already planning the second. With family commitments, they are looking at around April for the next step on the professional journey.

“We’ve already been looking at my next opponent, and it will be a step up from the last one. I am probably only going to have one or two more four-rounders and then move up to six-rounders. It’s just about building experience and getting the rounds in and getting better opponents every time. You can never take anyone for granted, but we will be looking to constantly step up.”

You have to be impressed by Doforo. Her dedication to her craft is admirable. And impressive. You just know she is all in. Doforo certainly won’t fail because of a lack of hard work that’s for sure. But those lofty plans need to be with some degree of caution. Under no circumstances should she be pushed before she is ready. And I don’t just mean in terms of her ability. All parties need to remember that she is only 15.

But if the career of Rianna Doforo is managed with due care and caution, all those plaudits may eventually come true. Is Doforo a future superstar of the sport? There is every chance she just might be.