Hamilton boxer Sheilla Yama and her opponent Nailini Helu, of Auckland, are ready and looking forward to their fight tonight as part of a BX-9 welterweight event.
At a press conference this week, BX-9 promoter Oz Jabur announced that Yama’s and Helu’s fight has been made the main event, asAndrei Mikhailovich vs Jordan Towns has been moved to an MMA-style fight.
For Yama, it will be her first time fighting as a main event that will be streamed live.
Yama and Helu both had struggled to find an opponent, which Yama said had been a challenge as well as a blessing in disguise.
“It’s frustrating, but it’s also good, because we have more time to work on our skills and technique and all that.”
Eventually, a fight was set up between the two, with Helu having to drop a weight division, from 74kg to 66.4kg, to make it happen.
Helu said she had made weight by being disciplined, training hard, focusing on her nutrition and running 15km a day.
Helu and Yama said they were both confident they would win the fight, though Helu claims she has an advantage as her trainer, Lolo Heimuli, used to train Yama’s trainer, Cairo George.
However, Yama was neither concerned about that, nor about the fact that Helu has quite a lot of experience, including fighting world title contenders.
“I have sparred ... with Nailini before, I sparred all the girls that she’s fought before, so I wouldn’t say I’m worried.”
The BX-9 press conference ahead of tonight's fight was attended by Nailini Helu, Lochlan Duncombe, Andrei Mikhailovich, Sheilla Yama and Nikolas Charalampous. Photo / Benjamin Watt
Both boxers expressed a lot of respect for each other, and neither of them believes there will be a knockout.
Also at the press conference were Nikolas Charalampous, his opponent Lochlan Duncombe and Andrei Mikhailovich.
Charalampous almost provoked a brawl when he suddenly challenged Mikhailovich to fight him.
Mikhailovich declined the offer, saying he does not fight at cruiserweight, though Charalampous claimed Mikhailovich previously said he would fight anyone.
Charalampous said he was ready to fight him now, when Jabur stepped to de-escalate the situation and promised the fight would happen in October.
BX-9, including the Sheilla Yama v Nailini Helu fight, will take place at Auckland’s Eventfinda Stadium tonight.
Tickets on sale via Eventfinda now.
The event is also broadcast live on PPV on CSN.Watch.
Benjamin Watt is a retired boxing judge and New Zealand boxing writer with a decade of experience. Watt has also been BoxRec’s New Zealand record-keeper since 2014.
