Boxing's first-ever WBO Female light heavyweight world title fight has been announced.
The governing body announced that Geovana Peres and Lani Daniels will fight for the belt on March 30 at the Sky City Convention Centre, Auckland, New Zealand. The fight is a rematch from their March 2018 fight, which saw Peres walk away with the New Zealand Professional Boxing Commission Female light heavyweight title by split decision. Two judges had Peres winning 97-93 and 98-94 while the third judge scored the bout for Daniels 96-94.
Peres, a Brazilian-born New Zealander, made her pro debut in March 2017 when she lost her pro debut. After that fight, she would go on to win six straight with her most recent victory taking place last December when she won a six-round unanimous decision against Trish Vaka.
Daniels has a career 4-1 record, having held the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association 175-pound title twice. After the loss to Peres, Daniels won her last two bouts and even had a brief stint at super middleweight. In Daniels' last bout, she defeated Tessa Tualevao by unanimous decision to win the vacant Pro Box New Zealand super middleweight title.
The talent pool in the light heavyweight division in women's boxing is shallow with only 23 boxers listed at light heavyweight registered on Boxrec. Among the four major governing bodies (WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF), there is only one champion from light heavyweight all the way to heavyweight -- WBC heavyweight champion Alejandra Jiménez.
