Stevie Morgan: “I lost to the greatest female fighter in the world, but I hate that people didn’t get to see the real me.”

Stevie Morgan: “I lost to the greatest female fighter in the world, but I hate that people didn’t get to see the real me.”

The Tampa native only turned professional in 2022, but Stevie Morgan has already managed sixteen fights in that brief period of time. It is an old-school schedule that differs from many in the modern era. In many ways, a highly refreshing change from the current norm of a handful of fights each calendar year that most fighters seemingly now employ.

It was a relatively late entry into the world of professional boxing. Morgan, now 35, had ambitions of making it to Tokyo, but like many, she saw her chances of competing on the Olympic stage hampered somewhat by the worldwide pandemic that stopped everything turning in 2020.

“I wanted to make a run for the 2020 Olympics,” Morgan told FightPost over Zoom. “I competed for a while as an amateur, I started when I was 27, and I made it to number three in the country. But then the pandemic happened. The reason I didn’t go pro sooner was that my coach said I needed to start stopping people in the gym. He said my age was already against me, and he said unless you are knocking people out, you are not going to make it. So it just took me a little longer than it was supposed to.”

A previous sporting background paved the way for Morgan to find a route into boxing. An incredibly hard sport both physically and even more so mentally.

“I competed in sports my whole life. I did college basketball. I had some friends who did boxing, and I ended up at an amateur boxing event one day and fell in love with it straight away. Boxing is a funny thing. It’s hard to explain it to people. It picks you mostly. You fall in love with it, like a mad crush.

“It’s more bad days than good days. You are not sure why you keep doing it when it hurts so bad. But you always feel you can fix it and fix yourself at the same time.”

The vast majority of Stevie Morgan’s fights have been away from the bright lights. A hard, uncompromising, and unforgiving side of the sport. With little financial reward or mainstream recognition, fighters are far too often swimming against the tide.

“Unless you are signed to a big promoter, It’s a very hard circuit, especially for a woman,” Morgan told me. “We do it wherever we can. The shows are a lot smaller, with no exposure. I always have to stay in shape. You always have to be ready. Unless you are signed to that promoter, your opportunity will come as the b-side.”

That opportunity did eventually materialise for Morgan. The call came to fight Amanda Serrano in July. A hometown gig in Tampa that Morgan referenced it as being her Rocky moment.

“That was the whole goal from the beginning,” Morgan says of the fight with the modern-day great. “When you start boxing, there is always an end. We all know that. You start with a goal in mind, and the goal is always to get to a Katie Taylor or an Amanda Serrano fight. That is the dream; every boxer dreams of getting to that moment. It’s crazy. You think when you get to that moment, it will be life-changing money, and it really wasn’t. But it’s not really about the money, I do it because I love it.

“It was a surreal moment, to be honest with you. I always thought I would be prepared, but nothing could have prepared me for that moment. I know the fight didn’t turn out how I wanted it to, but it was the whole experience, and I know that’s where I want to be. No other fight had felt like that before. And now I know what to expect the next time.

The fight with Serrano ended after two rounds and with the second career defeat on her resume. But Morgan is far from downhearted. The taste of the big time has left her with a thirst for more of the same. With the added luxury of being able to compete in a number of weight divisions, Morgan shouldn’t be short of opportunities in the next year or so.

“We are planning on getting a little tune-up fight in December in Argentina for a WBA regional belt,” Morgan relayed to me. “Once that is out of the way and I am back in the win column, we will chase down the WBA title. I am staying ready in case the phone does ring. I do have a loss to Calista Silgado on my record. It was a controversial defeat, so we are hoping to avenge that loss. I can get as low as 130 and go as high as 147, but I’ll try and campaign at 135 and see what happens. I lost to the greatest female fighter in the world, but I hate that people didn’t get to see the real me.”

Photo Credit: ESTHER LIN/MVP