Northland boxer Lani Daniels gets World Heavyweight title shot

Northland boxer Lani Daniels, (in red shorts) from Pipiwai, will have a world heavyweight title shot in May.

Northland boxer, and three-time New Zealand champion, Lani Daniels will again fight for a World Heavyweight Boxing title, this time against a fellow Kiwi in May in Auckland.

An agreement was reached last Thursday that Pipiwai boxer Daniels will take on Auckland-born Samoan Alrie Meleisea for a World Heavyweight Boxing title on May 27. The fight will be at Auckland’s Eventfinda Stadium (North Shore Events Centre).

Daniels’ representative John Conway and Alrie Meleisea representative Vasco Kovačević have been in talks since Christmas. Kovačević and his North Shore gym “Red Line Combat Academy”, will be promoting the event.

Negotiations in boxing can take months to happen when it’s a fight with this much prestige on the line. However, it is remarkable that it only took three weeks to reach an agreement, showing both camps wanted the bout, Conway said.

‘’This is a historic fight, with this being the first fight between two NZ-born boxers and Māori vs Pasifika for a world boxing title.

‘‘This is the second New Zealander vs New Zealander world title fight, the first being in March 2019, where Brazilian-born NZ citizen Geovana Peres won the WBO World Light Heavyweight title against Daniels.

‘’This will mark history as we are guaranteed our fourth NZ woman world champion champ. The other was the first-ever IBF world champion, Northland’s Daniella Smith, in 2010, Geovana Peres in 2019 and the current IBF World Bantamweight champion, Tauranga-born Australian Cherneka Johnson.’’

Conway said in the world of boxing, there are four major world-sanctioning bodies with their own respected world titles and world rankings.

The WBA and WBC world heavyweight titles are currently held by Costa Rican Boxer Hanna Gabriels, who won it in 2021. Gabriel is at risk of her titles being stripped due to a lack of defending the title.

The IBF and WBO World titles are currently vacant. Kovačević is currently in negotiations with both IBF and WBO. However, things are looking good and are leaning towards the IBF World title.

He said this fight was originally booked back in February 2021 on the Joseph Parker vs Junior Fa Spark Arena undercard. However, multiple issues kept coming up, and the fight was pulled from the card.

Three-time New Zealand champion Lani Daniels, from Whangārei, will take on Auckland-born Samoan Alrie Meleisea for a World Heavyweight Boxing title on May 27

Meleisea is a two-time NZ Heavyweight champion and is currently ranked 3rd on Boxrec, 5th with ESPN and 5th with Lineal Championships. She currently holds the record of 6 wins 1 loss 1 draw. Her only loss was against professional rugby player Sequita Hemingway, and she avenged that loss for the NZ Heavyweight title last December.

Daniels is a three-time New Zealand champion and is currently ranked 1st with WBC, 2nd with WBA, 1st on Boxrec, 2nd with ESPN and 3rd with Lineal Championships. She is a former world title contender, with this next world title opportunity being her second. Her record of 6 wins 2 losses 2 draws, with both of her losses going towards the retired world champion Geovana Peres.

Despite having a world title booked, Daniels has opted to have a fight in March before her world title fight in May, which is considered incredibly risky.

Daniels will take on Palmerston North boxer Sequita Hemingway in a tune-up fight on March 10 at Auckland’s ABA Stadium. This will be a rematch, with their first encounter being back in April 2022. That fight has been in negotiations since last year with boxing promoter Craig Thomson to promote the event for his 60th event.

The fight between Daniels and Hemingway will be historical in itself, with the fight being for the ANBF Australasian Heavyweight title. The title has a long, rich history, with the first champion dating back to 1909. But despite this 114-year-old title being so historical, there has never been an Australasian women’s heavyweight title. On top of this, there has only been one NZ female win the title, Tania Reid, in November 2019.

If Hemingway won against Daniels, the fight between Daniels and Meleisea would be without a world title. On top of that, it would put Daniels at the back of the queue. However, if Hemingway wins, she would not be able to take Daniels’ place in the world title fight, but she would be two more wins away from being back in the world title picture.

More details about both fights for Daniels with be released in the coming weeks.