By Dean Parr
Minimumweight 'Hotsutff' Hollie Dunaway, 23-8-1 (10 early), beat Chantel Cordova in her most recent outing on the 28th of January. She caught up with BoxingScene.com to discuss the win, and other topics.
“I fought previously undefeated Chantel Cordova, now 7-1-1 (3KOs), last week at the Coca Cola Centre in OK City,” said Hollie. “The fight started off at a fast pace with my opponent fighting southpaw. I had studied previous fights of hers, so I expected and prepared for the tactic.”
She continued: “It didn't take long for me to force Chantel into her defensive orthodox stance with my right hand leads though. My conditioning felt good throughout the fight allowing me to close strong at the end. At the end of the fight, I was confident I had won.”
Indeed she should have been. The three judges had scored the contest 58-56, 59-55 and 60-54 in her favour. “I was happy with my performance,” beamed Dunaway. “There is always room for improvement and once I get the fight on DVD, my team and I will critique my performance and make corrections. I fought a smart fight by keeping my punches short, not missing much and picking my shots to the head and body.”
As mentioned earlier, Cordova was undefeated going into this fight and was making a name for herself as one of the top minimumweights in America. 'Hotstuff' admitted her foe put in a very respectable showing, even if it was the expense of losing her unbeaten record.
“I expected Chantel to be tough and to mostly box and I wasn't disappointed,” she reminisced. “Part of my preparation for this fight was to visualize the fight playing out in my head, and the fight went exactly as I imagined it would.”
After this solid six round win, the fourweight world champion intends to take a short break from competitive action, although it is for a good reason. “My plan for the next couple months will be focused on opening my boxing gym,” she revealed. “I will still be training, just not pushing to my limits. I hope to be back in the ring this summer.”
Hollie expanded: “I'm opening a boxing gym in my hometown of Fort Smith, AR in the next two months. The gym will be equipped for pros or just the 'average Joe' who wants to learn to box. I'll also have an amateur team soon. I always knew I'd have my own gym one day, but I thought it would be when I'm 40 and retired from boxing. I'm excited about the new business and plan a big opening.”
To finish up, 'Hotstuff' had some thanks to make. “Thank you to everyone who faced the horrid ice storm to watch me fight. I'd also like to thank BoxingScene for keeping up with me. I've started off the year with a big win so I feel the momentum behind me now and I can't wait to see what the rest of 2010 has in store for me!” declared Dunaway.
