T&T boxer Stephanie Allen will enter the professional arena when she squares up against Guyanese boxer Ansilla Norville, as Fight Night Promotions hosts a boxing card at the Simeon Road Community Centre in Diego Martin on Saturday, from 2 pm.
Flyweight boxer Allen will enter the ring with some confidence as she currently has a record of 34 wins and ten losses over the past ten years in her amateur career. Allen, 26, will be guided by coaches Ulric Johnson and Rawlson Dopwell and will receive technical support from boxing enthusiast Buxo Potts.
Allen, who will be fighting in her home community of Diego Martin, said she has been working on speed, conditioning and footwork leading up to her professional debut.
Potts expressed his confidence in Allen at a press conference held at the Sweet Lime Restuarant in Woodbrook, yesterday. Potts said, “Stephanie Allen is one of the young fighters that will be the face of female boxing in this country. As you all know female boxing has been a very popular sport in this country through the work of Giselle Salandy and Ria Ramnarine. I will be in her (Allen’s) corner on Saturday so she will have all the knowledge to execute on her power.”
Potts spoke about the work Allen has done recently. “We have done a lot of extensive work with her, lateral movement, combination, hooks, jabs, body shots. We have added a lot of science to her boxing so you will see a rejuvenated Stephanie Allen on Saturday.”
He added that T&T can expect a world title fight in the near future. “Within six to eight fights expect a WBC world title fight in this country at the hands of Stephanie Allen. This is the beginning of something great. We have some surprise punches that we have put together and we are going to execute on Saturday.”
Fight promoter Amanda Potts wants to elevate boxing in communties. She said, “Fight Night Promotions has taken the initiative to go into the communities to build back boxing from the ground up. We believe a disservice has been done to boxing and we want all the fans to come out and start back supporting the sport just as they would support football, cricket and all these different sports. She is young and upcoming and we need to build the youth of this country.”
Admission is free, while mixed martial art bouts and exhibition bouts will also be on the card.