Crystina Poncher: “Boxing has allowed me to make my dreams come true.”

Crystina Poncher: “Boxing has allowed me to make my dreams come true.”

Crystina Poncher will be behind the microphone again this weekend. Another trip to the UK for the latest Most Valuable Promotions card. Mikaela Mayer and Chantelle Cameron will headline in Birmingham on Saturday night. A highly intriguing world super-welterweight unification showdown between two genuine pound-for-pound fighters.

Poncher will be on commentary duties, calling the action. The 42-year-old has been in the sport for sixteen years, and during her time with Top Rank and now MVP, Poncher has been ringside for some of the greatest fights of the modern era. But a few fights stand out for her.

“The fight that always sticks out in my mind is Timothy Bradley versus Ruslan Provodnikov,” Poncher told FightPost. “That was such a brutal fight. From the very first round, my jaw dropped. That was also one of my first fights at ringside commentating. I could never get that savage fight out of my head. On the women’s side, the first Katie Taylor Amanda Serrano fight was just amazing. That might just be the greatest female fight of all time. Also the Mikaela Mayer and Maiva Hamadouche fight. I felt like an auctioneer calling that one. I could not keep up with the pace of that fight.”

It must be extremely difficult to pick out a favourite fighter when you have been ringside for so many big fights. But if pushed, a Filipino legend would be her choice. “It’s probably Manny Pacquiao,” Poncher says. “The way he was able to move through the weight classes. The success he had at each weight class. How entertaining he was. How hard he worked in the gym. Some of it is down to the close proximity I had with him because I got to know him on a personal level. But it was like watching a master at work.”

Poncher has made many special memories since her boxing journey started in 2010. Poncher has been on play-by-play duties since 2019, a position that was earned and not given. It’s been quite a ride for her. But there is one moment that Poncher still remembers above everything else as the proudest moment of her career to date. “Making history with Mikaela Mayer, when we became the first-ever all-female broadcast team. When you do something that nobody has ever done before, those things stand out because that can never be erased.”

The initial introduction to boxing was somewhat by chance, working in other sports, before a recommendation from a friend brought her into the world of boxing. As the sport does to so many people, it grabbed her and didn’t let go. “I think it is the fact that there is no set time,” Poncher says of what the attraction of boxing is to her. “At any moment, a fight can change with just one punch. You just never know. You can prepare hours of notes, and then nothing goes the way you thought. It’s that unknown.”

“Boxing has allowed me to make my dreams come true,” Poncher added. “It’s given me a way to inspire the next generation.”

Despite being all in on her sport, there are a number of changes Poncher would like to make to make boxing even better. “I would find a way to make it mandatory that champions have to fight other champions,” Poncher told me. “Number one contenders to fight the champions. To force more unification and undisputed fights. Too many champions hold onto their belts for too long. I want the best fights possible. Or some kind of pension or healthcare for fighters. Everyone wants to see a war, but nobody wants to pick up the pieces long afterwards. There has to be a better way, especially with all these sanctioning fees, to think of a better way to protect these fighters.”