While the world might have been surprised when Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey on Nov. 14 in Australia for the UFC bantamweight championship, Heather Hardy wasn’t.
“Holly might not have been well known in MMA, but in the female boxing world, she’s one of the names that everybody knows,” Hardy said.
As one of the top female professional boxers in the tri-state area, Hardy was rooting for Holm mainly for the exposure her victory would bring to not only women’s mixed martial arts, but women’s boxing. Holm was 33-2 and a multiple belt-holder in boxing before turning to MMA and her second-round knockout of Rousey was credited to her striking and athletic skills.
“All female boxers are jumping on the Holly Holm bandwagon,” Hardy told The Post. “It was really awesome to see. Not to show that Ronda Rousey couldn’t fight, but to show there were more of us girls out here that know how to fight, and it doesn’t have to be just one girl that can fight. A whole bunch of us are out here.”
While many onlookers thought Rousey made a mistake by trying to beat Holm at her own game, Hardy saw it differently.
“Holly Holm was already great at boxing and Ronda Rousey was great at judo,” Hardy said. “I think the girls went in there going with what they were great at, trying to use what has always worked best for them. In this instance, Holly came out on top.”
Hardy is carving out her own space in the world of women’s boxing. The Brooklyn native is unbeaten in 14 fights with three knockouts and will be part of the undercard supporting the middleweight championship showdown between Daniel Jacobs and Peter Quillin on Dec. 5 at Barclays Center.
She will face Noemi Bosques (10-3-2, 2 KOs) of St. Petersburg, Fla., in a rematch of their May 29 bout at Barclays Center where Hardy won a split decision.
“When I got out of the ring, I was surprised by the split decision,” said Hardy, who thought she won more easily. “But it was a really exciting and fan-friendly fight. People enjoyed watching it. She wanted to come back and try for the victory and I decided why not.”
The bout is scheduled for eight rounds, but won’t be part of the major telecast on Showtime. In many ways, boxing is behind MMA when it comes to offering women exposure, though promoter Lou DiBella has made Hardy a top ticket seller on his Broadway Boxing cards.
“Dana White took a chance on Ronda Rousey and putting girls on big cards and exposing them to mainstream media,” Hardy said. “It got a lot of attention. We need the networks to take a chance on some of us girls. It’s not like the 1990s when they first showed women’s boxing on TV and it wasn’t competitive. Now we’re everywhere. We’re teachers; we’re doctors; we’re lawyers; we’re artists; we’re parents; we’re everywhere.”
Hardy has a background in kick-boxing and briefly considered trying MMA. But New York remains the only state that does not sanction professional MMA.
“I’d never done any of the ground game before,” Hardy said, “and my coach said my boxing was OK and I needed to be great something. So I said, ‘Let’s be great at boxing.’ I’m not great but I’m pretty damn good.”
Wladimir Klitschko defends his heavyweight titles against Tyson Fury at 4:45 p.m. Saturday on HBO from Germany. The 6-foot-9 Fury (24-0, 18 KOs) of Cheshire, U.K., is the latest challenger to Klitschko (64-3, 54 KOs), who won his first title in 2001 and has held some portion of the heavyweight title since 2004. This will be Klitschko’s 19 consecutive world title defense. A replay of the bout will be shown at 10:15 p.m. and be followed by a replay of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto last Saturday in Las Vegas.