By James Blears
The smiles stayed glued on, but the gloves were off, and claws were out for everyone to see in the build up to the rematch between Mia St. John and Brooke Dierdoff.
Tussle number two between the ladies, will erupt on Saturday night on the undercard of Historia in Victoria, in the Northern Mexican State of Tamaulipas, when WBC Light Flyweight Champion Edgar Sosa of Mexico, defends his title for the eighth time, against Pornsawan Porpramook of Thailand.
Mia 45-9-2, 18 KO’s and Brooke 10-4, 5 KO’s first clashed on April 20th 2007 in Merrillville. Brooke won a split decision at super lightweight, following a brawl…and then some.
The pair have been swapping some choice verbal barbs. Mia who’s since won the WBC International Welterweight Female Champion, waded in with: “Fight one was actually about thirty minutes from Chicago, and she says it wasn’t her home town. But when they announced her they said Chicago’s own.
“She says there was a difference of twenty pounds. She weighed in at 129, I weighed in 135 which was the weight. So where she gets 20 pounds I have no idea. And she says had just four days to train which is a complete lie. She knew she was the replacement at least two to three weeks before the fight.
“I’m a boxer, not a brawler. My game plan was off, I brawled with her, the ring was very small. But I’ve gone back to my old ways and that’s the way I’m going to fight on Saturday because that’s what I do best.
“What she doesn’t realize is that I am a Champion, and to take a Champion’s belt away, you better beat me decisively, and it’s just not going to happen. She’s not leaving Mexico with my belt! No way!”
For her part Brooke countered: “There are no vendettas. Mia is a great person. I consider us friends outside the ring, but this is business, and this is what I do for a living.
“It’s just such a controversy because she feels she won the first fight. But I came into that with a total of eighteen fights altogether- amateur and pro. She had almost sixty fights. I took it on four days notice, going up four weight classes, so she should have walked over me. I don’t care how I won, I won the fight. That was huge for me, and this time, I’ve actually had time to train and put on weight. So it’ll be an equal match.
“She has more experience, but I have my youth and my power. I knocked her down in the first fight. She can’t take the power. It won’t go the distance. She won’t be able to handle the pressure! You’ve got to be confident. You’ve got to know what you can do.
She better run outside the ring. That’s the only way she’s going to stay away from me!”
