Jade Pearce: Kirsty Hill & Beyond

Jade Pearce: Kirsty Hill & Beyond

After just two professional fights, Jade Pearce gets a step-up in opposition this weekend when she takes on the reigning Commonwealth super-featherweight champion, Kirsty Hill, over six rounds in Newark.

Pearce impressed immensely on her professional debut earlier this year when she blew away the Icelandic import Valgerdur Gudsteinsdottir in June in three one-sided rounds. The following month, Naila Abigail Peloso offered far more resistance when she took Pearce the distance, before losing a 60-54 points decision over six rounds.

Kirsty Hill is a nice little upgrade for Pearce in her third outing in the professional ranks. Hill (7-2) will come with plenty of ambition herself, hoping to reignite her career after winning her Commonwealth bauble with a split-decision victory over Fatuma Zarika eighteen months ago. Hill hasn’t fought since, although she was scheduled to fight the former WBO world lightweight champion Rhiannon Dixon in March, before Dixon pulled out with a foot injury that subsequently required surgery. Hill should see this as an opportunity to put herself in the shop window.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been inactive this year due to things out of my control, such as show cancellations, postponements and opponent pull-outs,” Hill told FightPost. “It’s been a series of unfortunate events, but we’ve remained in the gym and trusted the process. We’ve just kept chipping away until something came around. I’m really glad to be fighting this side of Christmas, for a while I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

“Obviously, I am just looking forward to getting back between those ropes,” Hill added. “I’m in with a good opponent in Jade, so I know I’ll have to be switched on, and that excites me. I wanted a challenge, and this will be an exciting clash. I look forward to a good fight, and it is an opportunity for me to get back in the mix. Hopefully on to a busy 2026 with some big opportunities.”

Pearce could be one of the dark horses of the domestic female ranks. I was beyond impressed with Pearce on her professional debut, and with Carl Greaves guiding her career, she is undoubtedly one to watch. Greaves knows how to guide a fighter as well as anyone. Emma Dolan is on the verge of a world title shot. In Pearce, Greaves might have another one that could match the heights of Dolan. But Kirsty Hill has to get past Hill first, before any thoughts of what lies ahead.

“I wouldn’t class it as a big step up,” a confident Pearce relayed to me. “I just believe it’s part of the process to get where you belong and to achieve what you’ve worked for.” Yeah 100%,” Pearce adds when I asked if fights like these bring out the best in her. “I thrive on things that are deemed harder.”

But Saturday night looks like being a real test for Pearce. The unbeaten prospect has been competing in and around the super-lightweight ranks, so she will be the bigger fighter on Saturday night. But Hill is coming to win, which should bring out the best in both fighters. Both fighters could have gone in a much safer direction, but it is the type of fight that generates interest in the female side of the sport at a time when it is needed, maybe now more than ever. The winner will move on, but the loser can come again. Pearce and Hill deserve credit for rolling the dice in a fight that will give us plenty of clues about just how far both can go.