{"id":844868,"date":"2026-08-03T18:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T18:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/844868\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T18:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T18:18:12","slug":"nzs-smallest-professional-boxer-earns-world-title-shot-after-split-decision-win-te-ao-maori-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/844868\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ\u2019s smallest professional boxer earns world title shot after split-decision win \u2013 Te Ao M\u0101ori News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Nesbitt (Ng\u0101ti Kahu, Te Rarawa) has won the World Boxing Association World Title Eliminator<\/a> in the atomweight division, guaranteeing her a fight for the world title against current belt holder Isabel Rivero.<\/p>\n

Nesbitt won the bout in Auckland on the weekend by split decision after Japanese fighter Madoka Wada had points deducted for shots believed to be low blows.<\/p>\n

When asked about the fight, Nesbitt mostly offered compliments to her opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a great fight. My opponent, she was nothing less of what I imagined her to be. She had beautiful boxing; she was fast, she was strong,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was extremely proud… I saw what it not only meant to me and my family, but to my team as well. They genuinely do care about my career and my journey and me as not only a fighter, but a person as well.\u201d <\/p>\n

The fight entailed 10 rounds where both contenders were neck and neck. Trainer Alina Peach from Peach Boxing says they had to change tactics just after two rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadoka is a world-class operator,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went, \u2018nah, this ain\u2019t going to work\u2019. We\u2019re going to have to just make it more violent. Emma, you\u2019re going to have to throw harder, wilder, and just turn it into a bit of a brawl, which Emma did.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe adjusted really well. And then she started landing some amazing big shots on Wada. And right till the final bout, the girls just \u2013 it was back and forth, really close rounds.”<\/p>\n

Fans share mixed reactions<\/p>\n

Wada lost the bout due to points deducted for giving low blows.<\/p>\n

A low blow in boxing is an illegal punch that lands below a belt line established before the fight, having the potential to wind a player.<\/p>\n

A video of Wada fighting Nesbitt has circulated online showing the first moment they were used, the clip ending with Nesbitt falling to the ground.<\/p>\n

Commenters share mixed reactions on whether the blows were illegal, many claiming Wada should have won.<\/p>\n

\"\"A clip showing the first moment Wada was deemed to have issued low blows to Nesbitt has circulated online garnering criticism. (Photo: CSN) <\/p>\n

Coach Alina Peach says she\u2019s been reluctant to add to the conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople just see one snippet of that video online and think \u2018oh, this is how the whole fight went\u2019 – that\u2019s not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

She encourages commenters to watch the fight, view the scoring cards per round and look deeper into the rules of boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s clear photos and video footage of that, so you know people always have things to say about it, but it was a bloody close hard fight, and Emma got the win; she did what she had to do, and she did it, so let people talk\u201d.<\/p>\n

A bright future ahead<\/p>\n

Peach says the organisers have a month to plan when and where the World Title Championship will be held but predicts it will most likely be overseas and toward the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Nesbitt says she is excited to keep climbing the ladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fought my absolute heart out so, regardless of what anyone thinks, I\u2019m proud of myself; my team are proud of me, my family are proud of me, and I\u2019m just super excited to keep going on\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was the exact challenge that I needed at this point in my career and to test myself whether I do belong on that world-class level. And for me, I proved to myself that I do belong there\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Nesbitt (Ng\u0101ti Kahu, Te Rarawa) has won the World Boxing Association World Title Eliminator in the atomweight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-844868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844868","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=844868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}