Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Kaitāia’s boxing world champion Mea Motu ranked number two in the world

Mike Dinsdale
By Mike Dinsdale
Editor. Northland Age·Northern Advocate·
16 Oct, 2024 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Pukepoto's Mea Motu, here too strong for Australia’s Shannon O'Connell in Sydney earlier this month, is now ranked as the number two boxer in the world in her weight division

Pukepoto's Mea Motu, here too strong for Australia’s Shannon O'Connell in Sydney earlier this month, is now ranked as the number two boxer in the world in her weight division

Kaitāia world champion Mea Motu is now the highest-ranked New Zealand boxer, with the ‘Nightmea’ from Pukepoto rated number two in the world in the super-bantamweight division.

Her number 2 world ranking on Boxrec beats Kiwi heavyweight Joseph Parker’s ranking record.

Motu (Te Rarawa/Ngāpuhi) last fought on October 4 in her Australian professional boxing debut, where she annihilated Australian legend Shannon O’Connell. Motu demolished her inside four rounds to move to 20-0 in her record, with eight knockouts.

Motu retained her IBO super-bantamweight world title in Whangārei in December, in a brutal victory over Indian challenger Chandni Mehra.

In March, she won a dominant second-round stoppage victory over 20-year-old Thai Noppaket Srisawas in Auckland and vowed to head overseas to defend her crown and take on some of the biggest names in the sport, with the aim of becoming an undisputed world champ.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

After the March bout, Motu sent a stern warning to her fellow female fighters — including IBF and WBO super bantamweight champion, Scotney.

‘’I’m coming Ellie Scott, you better watch it, you ain’t seen this Māori girl,’’ Motu said after the win.

Mea Motu after retaining her IBO super-bantamweight world title in Whangārei last December, in a brutal victory over Indian challenger Chandni Mehra
Mea Motu after retaining her IBO super-bantamweight world title in Whangārei last December, in a brutal victory over Indian challenger Chandni Mehra

In 2022, Motu became the first, and still only, New Zealand woman to win titles in three weights, and is determined to be the country’s first undisputed world champ.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

‘’It takes me to the world, and I’m coming to collect all those damn belts, I’ll show you what I’m made of,’’ Motu told the Northland Age after that March fight.

Motu was originally scheduled to fight for the unified World Super Bantamweight title in the UK at the end of this month. However, due to an injury to Ellie Scotney, the world title fight has been postponed and is up in the air.

Motu took the last-minute O’Connell fight on the undercard for the Zhanibek Alimkhanuly V Andrei Mikhailovich world title fight. It was a risky move, considering her opponent’s history.

O’Connell made her professional boxing debut in 2011. She is a legend in Australian boxing and has fought for the world title four times. She has fought and defeated three New Zealand professional boxers, including former WIBA World champion Gentiane Lupi, two-time world title contender Michelle Preston and two-division world champion Cherneka Johnson. Motu is the first New Zealander to beat O’Connell.

Motu has made history, reaching 2nd on the Boxrec rankings, the highest a New Zealand boxer has ever reached in a division with more than 100 ranked boxers. Parker reached 3rd after wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. However, the heavyweight division has been hot recently, with all the top 10 boxers keeping incredibly active, forcing Parker to slip into the rankings.

Four boxers from New Zealand have reached number one in the Boxrec rankings, including retired WBO Light Heavyweight champion Geovana Peres, two-division world champion Lani Daniels, temporarily Alrie Meleisea, before she lost to Lani Daniels, and temporarily Roseanna Cox. However, the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions each have fewer than 30 ranked boxers, which is less than an accomplishment compared to Motu, ranked second among almost 200 active Super Bantamweight boxers.

It is unknown when Motu’s unified world title fight will happen with her promoters, No Limit Boxing’s Matt and George Rose, working to acquire the fight again through the usual boxing politics. In the meantime, Isaac, Alina, and Zen Peach will keep Motu fighting fit and ready for any opportunity that comes her way.

The top-ranked boxers in Motu’s division are

1st Yamileth Mercado (Mexico) WBC World Super Bantamweight champion

2nd Mea Motu (New Zealand) IBO World Super Bantamweight champion

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

3rd Erika Cruz Hernandez (Mexico) former WBA World Super Bantamweight champion

4th Nazarena Romero (Argentina) WBA World Super Bantamweight champion

5th Ellie Scotney (UK/England) IBF/WBO/The Ring Magazine Lineal World Super Bantamweight champion


Save
    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

New facility aims to transform lives of vulnerable children in Northland

Northern Advocate

'End of the reign': Decades-long Pākiri sand mining battle ends as company eyes up new location

Northern Advocate

'Unsustainable caseloads': Chief Justice laments too few judges, not enough courts


Sponsored

NZ’s convenience icon turns 35

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

New facility aims to transform lives of vulnerable children in Northland
Northern Advocate

New facility aims to transform lives of vulnerable children in Northland

Stand Tū Māia currently has more than 400 families on its waitlist for help in Northland.

04 Sep 03:00 AM
'End of the reign': Decades-long Pākiri sand mining battle ends as company eyes up new location
Northern Advocate

'End of the reign': Decades-long Pākiri sand mining battle ends as company eyes up new location

04 Sep 01:28 AM
'Unsustainable caseloads': Chief Justice laments too few judges, not enough courts
Northern Advocate

'Unsustainable caseloads': Chief Justice laments too few judges, not enough courts

04 Sep 12:20 AM


NZ’s convenience icon turns 35
Sponsored

NZ’s convenience icon turns 35

02 Sep 09:23 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP