People ask whats my heritage... I guess you would say that I am multi cultural because my father is Puerto Rican, African American, and Seminole Indian and my mother is Mexican and Korean. I guess I am whole lot of great things rolled up in one package.
NAME: Kaliesha West
D.O.B: 2-11-88
PROFESSIONAL RECORD: 10-0-0 (2KO'S)
WEIGHTCLASS: Bantamweight
WORLD RANKINGS: N.A.B.F Ranked #1, W.I.B.A. Ranked #10, I.F.B.A Ranked #8, W.I.B.A. Ranked #10, W.B.C. Ranked #11, Boxrec.com Ranked #7, W.B.A.N. Ranked #7
ACHIEVMENTS: Named 2008 Top Ten Rising Star of Womens Boxing by the WBAN and 2006 WBAN Rookie of the year
OCCUPATION: Student/Professional Boxer/Entertainer
CONTACT: [email protected]
K "Wild Wild" West: Following in her Fighting Father's Footsteps By: Rich Bergeron Kaliesha West was once just a doting daughter fascinated by her father's training as a professional boxer. Her interest grew into a desire to fight herself, and though her father at first resisted, Juan West is now wholeheartedly behind his daughter as she works to become the next household name in women's boxing. "I grew up around it, and my dad was a professional boxer," said Kaliesha about how she got involved in the sport. "My dad trained in the garage for a long time, and I saw him, and I grew up watching him. I always said I wanted to try it, but he thought it was just me talking, and he never took me serious about wanting to do it. Finally, when I was 10 years old, he let me do it for fun." Juan West probably never imagined that his daughter would someday surpass his own ring record as a professional. At just 19 years of age, Kaliesha is 5-0 as a bantamweight, while her father hung up his gloves in 1995 with a final welterweight record of 4-2 with a knockout to his credit. "At first my dad told me to remember it was only fun, and he didn't want me to take it anywhere," said Kaliesha. "I thought boxing was like it was on TV, and I didn't know about the amateurs then. I didn't even know about headgear. That was all new to me and interesting." Graduating to the professional ranks has really solidified her love affair with boxing, and she knows now that it's something that's always been in her blood. "My Dad used to be a fighter, as a professional and as an amateur, and I went to his fights when I was little," she said. "When I was six years old, my family videotaped me in the stands watching his fights and yelling, 'c'mmon dad!' It's always interesting to me to know that even as a young child I loved the sport, even back to when I can't even remember." Asked what she enjoys most about boxing, she pointed to her new role as a professional fighter. "I love the pros to be honest. The professionals, the whole experience, the venues, the crowds, from the loud to the calm crowds like the German crowds," she said. "I love when you come out from the corner, how hyped it can get. I like experiences like that, and boxing is one sport that makes you have high adrenaline when you step in that ring. I love the thrill of boxing, too." She's not at all shy about what she want out of the sport. "I wanna be able to gain the title and defend it and go down in history as one of the greatest female fighters in boxing," she said. "I don't think there really is a female that really put it down like that." She compares her main goal to being like Tony Hawk is to skateboarding. "When people think of boxing, I want them to think of Kay West," she said. She already understands that she faces an uphill battle in the sport as a female, but she's willing to wade in and test the waters anyway. "Political-wise, to be honest, it's more difficult for the females than it is for the males," she said. "With the guys all the main promoters, the networks like HBO, and everybody is more familiar with male boxing. The support for us is just like it is in a lot of different sports for women to get recognized. Especially in the pros, I just don't think women get as much respect as we deserve. We put in the same work as males do." She would like to see women fighters designated as main events on certain cards and be featured on Pay Per View. "That should be happening, but it's not," she said. "It's still new, and there's a lot of professionals out there who are just slapping each other in the ring, and they make women boxers look like a comedy show. But, some have more skills than the males, and they still get no air time. They don't get exposed on TV. Women do know how to box aren't getting exposed and promoted. If they do, one day women will get a lot more respect for what they do in the ring." She's already planning on traveling to an area of the world where women's boxing is much more popular. "Right now we're hoping to finish a deal in Germany, and there's a promoter there who's really interested in me," she said. "He's talking with my dad, who's my manager, too. Also in March, I might be doing something with Thompson Promotions here in California. They're really interested in putting me on a show in Ontario, California." She is really excited about hitting the European boxing scene, where women are already being featured in huge televised bouts and being given equal treatment in the sport. "In Germany, and all over Europe, women's boxing is hot. It's out there, and it's big over there," she said. "The pay is also really good for women, and they blow up the woman fighter as if she's a man. You're a hero out there if you're a female champion in Germany. They get triple times better than what America's paying female fighters." West is extremely astute and classy for her age, giving one of the best answers possible for the question of which fight she thought was her toughest. "Everybody that I fought has been tough in different ways. I really haven't had a fight that was a duck," she answered. "I've always had a top ranked fighter, someone ranked in the top 20s. I never had an easy fight. The first person I fought in the pros is right now a champion, and the last person I fought was an 11-time national champion in the amateurs. I never really had any soft competition yet." As far as other young talents out there around her age, she doesn't have to look very far. Someone with a similar background is right over her shoulder in the bantamweight rankings. Right now she's ranked number six in the world, she explained, and right behind her is a bright young star from Texas. "She's on the drawing board in the future, and I met up with her in the amateurs," she said. "She's young, too, about 18, and she's a southpaw. I think she's 4-0 or something like that. Me and her in the rankings go back and forth. Her competition hasn't been as good as my last fight just about every time." Looking back at her career so far, she goes back a few years to define her greatest moment so far. "That would have to be the Chicago Golden Gloves back in 2002," she explained. "I had gotten disqualified in the weight class I was in, and they tried to bring up another female boxer as the favorite. It was real political, and that's what the amateurs are all about. So, I moved up 2 weight classes to fight the 125-pound national champion. I was so hungry and angry to win, that fight was a spectacular moment. That was my first win at a national championship. She was a bigger girl, but I was so aggressive. There was no stopping me. I was a little Spitfire compared to her. My uppercuts in that fight were the most memorable, and everybody told me I was throwing incredible uppercuts. I ended up winning the golden gloves championship." The worst moment she experienced was at a Ringside tournament against Vanessa Juarez, another Southpaw from Texas. At the time she was a three or four time returning champion. "It was her last year as a junior, and she was favored," said West, who saw her opponent hanging out with the judges with her six belts around her before the fight. "I fought my heart out, and I even gave her an 8-count in the second round. It took 20 minutes for them to come up with a decision. I just remember seeing them raising her hand, and I went back and looked at my book and saw my win changed to a loss. It had been erased. That crowd was so big, and I wanted that victory so bad. It was devastating." She said her favorite punch is the left hook to the body, but her father points to her straight right as her strongest shot. "He does the mitts, and he says it's the straight right," she said. "The left hook to the body I think is the punch that lands most, though, and not many women expect it. In the amateurs I made a couple girls quit and fall to the floor with it. I used to triple the left hook a lot in the amateurs, but in the pros you have to focus harder." It's harder for her to narrow herself down to any particular style she favors. "Honestly, I think I'm versatile," she said. "I fought a girl in the pros in my third fight, she was a puncher, a hard-headed warrior, and I'd heard about her, and I knew it. I fought her, and I was boxing, moving, jabbing her, uppercutting her, picking my spots, and being quick and fast. I just knew that's how I could beat her, and I knew that was the way to safely get the victory. Then, in my last fight, I fought an 11-time amateur champion, and she was good and she was a southpaw. What I had to do to beat a southpaw was to pressure her non-stop, and I had to let both hands go. I told everyone, 'This is gonna be like a Chavez vs Leonard thing, and it's gonna be non-stop pressure. I kept coming forward, had good defense, and threw both body and head punches. I was a brawler, and she was a mover." When it comes down to fight night for Kaliesha West, it's still all about the man who inspired her in the first place. Her relationship with her Dad always takes center stage before the action starts. "Me and my Dad come out in the corner, and one thing I do is choose a song we both like, and we both get pumped up to that song," she explained. "The whole crowd gets so hyper, and my Dad is real loud, and he starts waving a towel around, and he gets the crowd to stand up and cheer. That's one thing that I love about boxing is the crowd. I love to fight for the crowd. The crowd is my best friend when I fight, and it keeps me going in a good, strong way. It's so awesome to have a lot of people cheering my name, and I love the fight fans." With Kaliesha's mature outlook on the sport and phenomenal potential to reach her dreams, it's clear that wherever she goes, the fight fans will definitely love her, too.
Also see: www.kaystar.net
