Stevie Morgan: “Holly Holm is a legend of two sports. It would be an honour to share the ring with her.”

Stevie Morgan: “Holly Holm is a legend of two sports. It would be an honour to share the ring with her.”

Earlier this month, Stevie Morgan had fight number twenty. The Florida-native recorded her eighteenth victory when she stopped Crystal Garcia Nova of the Dominican Republic in two rounds. A win that earned Morgan the WBA Gold lightweight title.

“Our plan was to not go the distance, but it still ended quicker than we expected,” Morgan says of her win over Nova. “There wasn’t much to study on her, but she is known to be a puncher too. So in the first round, we felt her out and started picking it up in the second round, and I started landing some good body shots, but she didn’t come out of the corner after the 2nd round. She fought Ramla Ali before, so I was looking forward to the challenge. To win the WBA Gold world title that night, a year after the Amanda Serrano fight. Best feeling in the world.”

Morgan fought Amanda Serrano last July, but she came up short, losing to the legendary Puerto Rican in two rounds. But Morgan regrouped and has now won four fights on the spin since that defeat to Serrano. Morgan called it her ‘Vengeance Tour’ and also labelled every fight as win or retire. “I showed that after two years of being pro, I wasn’t good enough yet to beat someone like Serrano that night. But losing that fight wasn’t career-ending; however, the opponents I shared the ring with after her, my team feels, if I am unable to beat women on that level, it wouldn’t make sense to continue. We are not training hard just to participate in the sport. We’re trying to prove that we are one of the best.”

“I’m not sure,” Morgan replied when I asked her if she would really have retired if she had lost one of those fights. “If my coach told me it was time to let it go, I’d listen no matter how bitter the taste was in my mouth. I trust my team 100 per cent. They have got me this far. It’s important to have people around you who tell you the truth and care about you.”

Morgan is already thinking of what is next. Holly Holm, the former UFC bantamweight champion and the multi-time world boxing champion, is in her sights. “Holly Holm is a legend of two sports. It would be an honour to share the ring with her. She came back to boxing and in the lightweight division. My division. Holly is looking to win a world title, and so am I. I believe it’s a great match-up. We’ve worked with MVP before, and they know we are easy to work with. I think this fight has a very realistic chance of materialising.

“Any of the champions, I’ll fight anybody,” Morgan added if the Holly Holm fight didn’t get signed, sealed, and delivered. “There are still some big fights to be made at 135, I hope I’ll be included in some of those.”