It\u2019s not too difficult to interpret Elif Nur Turhan\u2019s intentions inside the ring.<\/p>\n
Possessing a hellish right-handed punch that flies recklessly with evil purpose, the IBF women\u2019s lightweight champion has knocked out eight of her 13 opponents and moves to her largest U.S. stage yet Saturday night.<\/p>\n
On the DAZN-streamed Matchroom Boxing card headlined by pound-for-pound occupant Jesse \u201cBam\u201d Rodriguez\u2019s attempt for a third division title versus WBA bantamweight champion Antonio Vargas, 31-year-old Turhan, 13-0 (8 KOs), meets 19-year-old Gabriela Tellez 7-0 (3 KOs).<\/p>\n
Turhan, BoxingScene\u2019s 2025 women\u2019s fighter of the year, has finished six of her opponents in the first round.<\/p>\n
So, in an effort to have the champion from Istanbul, Turkey, elaborate on her dominance, we required an interpreter to effectively communicate her rise and purpose.<\/p>\n
Understandably, locating someone to convert Turkish to English in the middle of the Sonoran Desert is not an everyday task. And there were a few subdued chuckles in the crowd during Thursday\u2019s news conference when Turhan\u2019s words from her native tongue were followed by the interpreter\u2019s lengthy pauses, with apparently fewer or more words than what she had actually uttered.<\/p>\n
Afterward, in a private interview, the dubious dialogue continued.<\/p>\n
BoxingScene: \u201cYour style is ruthless, aggressive, destructive. Is that going to continue Saturday night?\u201d<\/p>\n
Elif Nur Turhan: \u201cFirst of all, I want to make it a nice boxing fight. Of course, my style is KO. But I will make all my body \u2026 it\u2019s not 100 percent, but I want to say. It will be \u2013 give me permission \u2013 it\u2019s not guarantee, but I will, step by step, win the fight and I will look \u2026 .\u201d<\/p>\n
Presumably, Turhan\u2019s missing words at the close of that sentence were \u201cfor the knockout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thus, it required some looking into her eyes to dig for her exact responses, because it\u2019s quite clear from her past bouts how impassioned her effort is to dismiss fighters who may believe their overall boxing skill can overcome her menacing power display.<\/p>\n
BS: \u201cHow much have you scouted Tellez and how much respect do you have for her?\u201d<\/p>\n
ENT: \u201cBefore, I don\u2019t know much, but when we take the fight, I watch all her fights and research highly all information about her. I know her nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
BS: \u201cTellez feels she\u2019s a better boxer, that if she can stick to the fundamentals of boxing and avoid your biggest punches, she\u2019s got an opportunity to win this fight. How do you respond to that?\u201d<\/p>\n
ENT: \u201cI want to say only this: She\u2019s unbeaten. She\u2019s unbeaten. It\u2019s [an] 0 [on her record]. I must respect her. I want to say only this: She\u2019s unbeaten. Seven fights, seven wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was clear during the conversation that Turhan felt \u2013 even though the interpreter was trying his damndest \u2013 as if her true message was being compromised in English.<\/p>\n
She was asked if she feels confident, or even cocky, that no women\u2019s fighter around her weight class can tolerate her power.<\/p>\n
The heart of her response was that she appreciates possessing God-given power in her fists. To emphasize the point, the interpreter, perhaps not knowing the word \u201cfist,\u201d pointed to his own clenched hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In that moment, Turhan widely smiled.<\/p>\n
Congratulated that BoxingScene voted her fighter of the year, Turhan was asked about the pride of winning the honor, and asked if it provides her an added layer of intimidation.<\/p>\n
She called the recognition \u201cunbelievable,\u201d and said it\u2019s \u201cnot my only target \u2026 I want all the belts.\u201d<\/p>\n
BS: \u201cDoes it add to your mystique?\u201d<\/p>\n
Working together, we couldn\u2019t find the proper Turkish word for \u201cmystique.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fuller explanation got us close.<\/p>\n
ENT: \u201cI\u2019ve worked for this,\u201d her interpreter said. \u201cWhen I catch [the opponent] with this [interpreter pointing again to his fist], the job is done.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s all the mystique a power-punching world champion needs, the only message that matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not too difficult to interpret Elif Nur Turhan\u2019s intentions inside the ring. Possessing a hellish right-handed punch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6102,10078,138562,214899,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-635795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxingscene","tag-elif-nur-turhan","tag-gabriela-tellez","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}