A former Waimate boxer has announced herself on the world stage after impressing at her first major overseas competition.
Representing Tuvalu and the now Oamaru-based Taafaki Boxing Club, 16-year-old Francis Taafaki picked up a silver medal in the 80+kg female youth division at the U19 World Boxing Futures Cup in Thailand earlier this month.
Francis secured her place in the gold medal bout after a devastating semi-final victory against Vietnam’s Thi Quynh Anh Le.
The contest was brought to an early conclusion just one minute and thirty seconds into the first round after the young boxer forced two eight counts on her opponent in quick succession.
This set Francis up for a confrontation with a familiar opponent in Samoa’s Kealey Perez.
The final was a closely contested bout with both fighters showing dogged determination to bring home the gold.
Ultimately Francis came up just short on the night with Perez getting the nod from the judges via split decision.
Coach and father Badi Taafaki was very proud of his daughter’s achievement.
‘‘There was nothing in the final, I think we lost very closely. The girl she fought in the final, she’s been the New Zealand champion for the last four or five years.
‘‘I was really excited to see the levels at the global stage. Some of these countries like Pakistan and [United States] America are very committed to the sport and from what I saw I think we are right in the mix and can stand right up there with the best in the world.
‘‘The whole world was there. It’s one of the big tournaments, it went for a week and a-half and it was such a good experience.’’
The result has landed Francis as the World Boxing Organisation’s number two ranked U19 female fighter.
Mr Taafaki said the result was just the start for Francis.
‘‘This was like a qualifier to the Youth Olympics in October, if you don’t fight on this one, you’ve got no chance to compete in the Youth Olympics. As long as you’re a medallist, you basically guarantee your seat.
‘‘I’m going to try and take her to every international championship. The long-term goal is to get her to the Olympics but to get there she needs all this international level exposure.
‘‘The only thing restricting her at the moment is age. She is too young for some of the big tournaments but she has sparred all the female elite New Zealand professionals and she is right in the mix.’’
In the immediate future Francis will be turning her attention to supporting fellow Taafaki Boxing fighters and siblings Tarona and Pasoni, who plan to compete at the World Boxing Cup tournament in Brazil later this month, as part of their preparation for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
