A BURNTWOOD kickboxer is getting ready to battle it out for a European title.
Naomi Powis has already clocked up more than 50 bouts, despite being just 21-years-old.
But the atomweight star will take on her biggest challenge to date when she takes on Anna Nowak for the European crown in Wolverhampton on 3rd May – with hopes the fight could be a stepping stone to a possible world-title challenge later this year.
Powis trains out of the Undisputed Fight Academy where former world champion Chris Bladon is head coach.
She has already won every major title in the junior ranks, including two world crowns, as well as competing in boxing bouts too.
Bladon is convinced his charge can lift senior honours in both fight codes.
He said:
“Naomi has signed up to be a professional boxer as well and I believe she can get to the top at kickboxing and boxing.
“I’m confident she will win the European title in May and then the world title later in the year and Naomi is looking to launch her professional boxing career as well.”
Powis has been fighting for a decade after joining her mother Hayley at the gym and deciding that fighting would be her future.
She said:
“I played football as well – but I loved kickboxing right from the start.”
She climbed to the top of the junior ranks before the pandemic put a pause on her career
But Powis has won all five fights since returning to action to set up next month’s European-title shot.
Bladon added:
“We know it’s a tough fight, but Naomi isn’t scared to lose.
“Some fighters are pick and choose who they fight because they don’t want to post ‘I lost’ on social media. But how do you find out how good you are if you don’t test yourself? And how do learn about your character if you never have to come back from a defeat?
“Naomi has had defeats in her career and look where she is now.”
Tickets for the show in Wolverhampton are available from the Undisputed Fight Academy on Lichfield Road in Brownhills.