By Thomas Gerbasi

For a while against Noemi Bosques in May, Heather Hardy probably made her coach Devon Cormack smile. All those hours in the gym working on technique and a disciplined attack were coming together, and against the Brooklynite’s toughest opponent to date, no less.

“When you’re in a situation like that, with the adrenaline flowing, your natural self comes out,” she said, before telling a story of the days before she stepped into the ring for the first time.

“I remember having my first fight, and I was fighting this kickboxing girl who owned her own karate school and was a black belt. And I was only training for like three weeks. So the day before the fight, I said to my mom ‘mom, I can’t believe I’m taking this fight. This girl owns her own karate school. She’s been in this forever.’ And my mother was like ‘if somebody stole your wallet on the street, would you care if they owned their own karate school?’”

Hardy laughs, knowing that while all mothers have wisdom, Brooklyn mothers have an extra dose of that knowledge. And she never forgot those words.

“I think that comes out of me every time I’m fighting, because it’s not really like boxing,” she said. “I’ve got two minutes to get my wallet back.”

There is no better way to describe Hardy’s fighting style, and it’s why when she steps into the ring at Barclays Center this Saturday for a rematch with Bosques (who Hardy defeated by split decision that night earlier this year), there will be a growing legion of fans cheering her on and cementing her role as the first lady of women’s boxing in New York.

And it’s not just because of her 14-0, 1 NC record. It’s because when people buy a ticket to see the 33-year-old fight, they’re going to get what they paid for. And while most believe that Hardy clearly defeated Bosques the first time they fought, it really doesn’t matter who is in the other corner when she’s fighting.

It does matter to Hardy though, and as she hopes to move into position for a shot at a junior featherweight world title in 2016, it’s important to not just beat Bosques more convincingly the second time around, but to show more wrinkles in her evolving fight game.

“I prepare the same way because I’m still really learning how to box,” she said. “I always knew how to fight, but I’m learning how to box. So every single camp is improving my technique and my form. I’m not really doing anything different, but I feel like since the one judge had it so close last time when I felt like I kind of blew it away, I definitely feel more pressure to stop her this time.”

But will there be boxing?

She laughs.

“I’m trying to calm down, doing more sparring, more technique, and things like that,” Hardy said. “But it’s nice to know in my back pocket that when it comes down to it, I can take it to the streets if I have to.”

That’s why the fans love her, but it brings up a dilemma. If she boxes more and prolongs her career and uses more technique to beat certain opponents as she moves up the ladder, will the fans still come along for the ride? Hardy believes so.

“I think I’m always going to be the kid chasing after her wallet anyway, as much as I’d like to be Pernell Whitaker or (Alicia) ‘Slick’ Ashley,” she said. “Let’s face it, it’s what I am. I don’t know if I could fake that if I tried. And to say that I would be doing this to be fan friendly, look, if I was ever in a situation in the ring where I needed to run to get the win, I would do it. But part of me doesn’t think that anybody at 122 pounds could make me run. There are girls that are better boxers than me, but I just feel like at 122, ain’t nobody gonna make me feel like I gotta run away.”

That’s Heather Hardy, fighter, and it’s why many believe she’s the perfect candidate to get some well-deserved television time next year. Having female boxers on TV is long overdue, but after the MMA success of new UFC women’s bantamweight champion (and former multi-division world boxing champ) Holly Holm, whose upset of Ronda Rousey sent shockwaves through the sports world, Hardy believes that the door may be opening for all female fighters.

“It was really exciting for me,” she said of Holm’s win over Rousey last month. “I cried when I saw that Holly won. Holly was seen as the underdog, the unknown, but experience played such a large part. Holly’s been doing this forever. So for everyone who would say to me that she’s going to get destroyed, I was like ‘I don’t know, man. You just can’t count out a champion.’ So I felt the big victory wasn’t that she was shining a light on women’s boxing; she knocked her out with a head kick. But she showed people that there can really be a lot of talented athletes out there that are in a large pool of us girls who are unrecognized. So it was the hope that people would say ‘hey, maybe there are more girls like Holly Holm floating around out there.”

Like Heather Hardy.

“I’ve proven myself,” she said. “Give me a bigger audience. Give me a bigger stage. At least give me a chance.”