\u201cThose are the people that have put female boxing on the world stage and really showcased us females, so I\u2019d love to share the ring with them or just be on a card with them, that\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainer Isaac Peach said, \u201cWe think we\u2019re right where we need to be, and we\u2019re just waiting for that opportunity.\u201d <\/p>\n
Most Valuable Promotions, run by Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, has become the sport\u2019s latest powerbroker, using battle-hardened veteran Serrano as its draw card in an enthralling three-fight series against Taylor.<\/p>\n
It also manages a strong stable of female fighters, including Baumgardner, Ellie Scotney \u2013 who handed Motu her only professional loss in January \u2013 and Kiwi-born Cherneka Johnson, who in July became the first M\u0101ori to hold an undisputed world title.<\/p>\n
Paul has used his own controversial in-ring career, which featured bouts against ageing mixed martial artists and a 58-year-old Mike Tyson, to attract attention to the boxers on his undercard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Jake Paul\u2019s done is amazing,\u201d Peach said. \u201cHe\u2019s bought money and eyes to women\u2019s boxing, and he\u2019s getting women paid, and we want to be a part of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s ever done what Jake Paul\u2019s done and, without Jake Paul, women\u2019s boxing wouldn\u2019t be half as good, so he needs a lot of credit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motu watched from home as Johnson became the undisputed bantamweight world champion on the Taylor-Serrano III undercard at Madison Square Garden in July. The same month, fellow Kiwi Lani Daniels was beaten by undisputed heavyweight titleholder Claressa Shields in Detroit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel excited and proud of them for getting there,\u201d Motu said. \u201cI just know my time will come when I get the opportunity and, when it comes, I\u2019ll be straight in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know with Sugar [Johnson], her experience was amazing, and she put on a performance and was determined and hungry.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Lani, it wasn\u2019t her night, but I\u2019m sure she\u2019s proud of herself and what she\u2019s done for her community and her people, giving them encouragement to go out there and travel the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
A chance to fight on the world stage would give Motu a bigger audience to share her well-documented story of being a domestic abuse survivor and mental health advocate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to showcase my authentic self and be true to who I am and not allow myself to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people think boxing\u2019s a negative sport, but it\u2019s helped me navigate my life and given me courage and strength of how to attack this world, so if I can showcase to the world what boxing does for us mentally and physically, it\u2019d be an honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s title defence against Rattu, who has a 7-2 record, is being billed as \u201cthe fight before the fight\u201d, with the winner hoping to take on Baumgardner. However, given the unpredictable nature of boxing politics, Peach is keen to keep Motu active if they have to wait in line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll keep training and, as soon as we get a call, we\u2019re ready basically. If there\u2019s any delays or they push it out, then I\u2019ll put her on again here [in New Zealand].<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to keep her on the shelf. I want to keep her busy, so when the opportunity comes, she\u2019s ready 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peach\u2019s orders for his charge are clear if they\u2019re to get Baumgardner\u2019s attention tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want her to go in there, not muck around, knock her out inside three rounds, call out Baumgardner and get going.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want her to put on a nice boxing display, I want her to be ruthless, and I want her to show her power at this new weight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThose are the people that have put female boxing on the world stage and really showcased us females,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[4799,703,49,48,4622,68313,128129,6523,128130,128132,63456,28061,16052,5981,17291,175,82,696,128131,128133,2316,2547,4134],"class_list":["post-281572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-action","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jake","tag-linked","tag-mea","tag-most","tag-motu","tag-pauls","tag-piece","tag-professional","tag-promoter","tag-promotions","tag-rise","tag-signs","tag-sports","tag-to","tag-usbased","tag-valuable","tag-wants","tag-with","tag-womens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}