Title Fights From Around the World: Che Kenneally Strikes Light Heavyweight Gold

Today, boxing world title fights take place around the globe and are more accessible to watch than ever before. Sometimes, championship bouts do not receive as much attention and go underreported. Big Fight Weekend commits to writing about boxing news, previews, and recaps. As such, the site now has a recurring segment on championship bouts – from around the world from the past week.

The focus of these pieces will be on clashes ranging from atomweight to heavyweight that had the WBA, WBC, IBF, and/or WBO titles on the line. This edition of “Title Fights From Around the World” consists of just one recap. In Australia, the WBA crowned a female light heavyweight champion for only the second time in its history.

Che Kenneally Strikes Light Heavyweight Gold

Che Kenneally (5-0, 2 KOs) is now WBA light heavyweight champion after a third-round technical knockout win over Angie Rocha (14-5-3, 7 KOs, 1 NC).

The time of stoppage was 2:00. After three rounds of action, Rocha retired in her corner and did not come out for the fourth. With the victory, Kenneally won the vacant title and joins Lani Daniels as the only other female light heavyweight champion.

The fight took place on the undercard of the Ibrahim Balla vs. Jalen Tait lightweight clash which was held at the Southport Sharks AFL Club in Queensland, Australia. Viewers in Australia were able to catch the July 20 event live on 7Plus. Those outside of the country could not do so unless they were using a VPN.

Despite facing an opponent who began her boxing career nearly 24 years ago, Kenneally was more technically sound than Rocha. The Australian landed clean, accurate shots throughout the three rounds. Rocha, who was much shorter and once boxed at lightweight, struggled to find any success against Kenneally. Shortly after round three ended, referee Will Soulos was waving off the fight to indicate that Rocha was not coming out for the fourth.

At a press conference in the build up to the fight, Kenneally had spoken about how becoming WBA light heavyweight champion would open doors for her in boxing. Among the possible bouts she spoke about was one against IBF titlist Daniels. She also mentioned Claressa Shields, who faces Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse for her WBC heavyweight title and vacant WBO light heavyweight strap.