Ignacio boxer Thaddine Swift Eagle Johnson had to fight more than her opponent in the main event at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Albuquerque.
Johnson also had to battle sickness and fatigue a major bout of sickness compounded by the fatigue from frantic late weight loss.
But as has been the custom during her boxing career, Johnson found the path to victory again.
Johnson scored a unanimous eight-round decision over Nancy Bonilla of Puerto Rico late Saturday night in Albuquerque, winning no less than six separate titles in the unification bout.
It was hell, Johnson said in recounting the Saturday night showdown in Albuquerque.
Worried at the last minute that she might not make weight for the scheduled bout, Johnson said she had to drop a number of pounds just a day before the weigh-in.
The process, she said, left her famished, weak and with symptoms of heatstroke.
She successfully made the 128-pound weight limit but woke up on the day of the fight with chills.
It all just caught up to me, Johnson said. Id only had ... like four hours of sleep a night (for weeks).
Yet she decided to enter the ring and test Bonilla.
I didnt want to let the sanctioning agencies down, especially the Native American Boxing Council, Johnson said. There was a big crowd ... a lot of people from Durango came to watch me fight.
She hoped to finish the bout quickly, as she had done in her previous five professional bouts.
I caught her in the corner (in the first round). But she was holding a lot ... and she was hanging on me. By the second round, I hit the wall, Johnson said.
But instead of throwing in the towel, she changed her strategy to conserve energy for a few strong shots.
I felt like quitting ... but I decided to stick and move, stick and move, Johnson said.
I couldnt throw that many punches, but the punches I threw hit, she said. My jabs were sending her backward.
In the fifth round, Johnson nearly knocked out her opponent.
She was pretty much out on her feet the rest of the fight, Johnson said after dominating the final four rounds in the unanimous decision of the three ringside judges.
If I was able to throw more punches, she would have been (knocked) out, Johnson said.
She breezed through the final rounds, winning the bout without a mark on my face.
Her sixth consecutive pro victory improved her record to 6-0 and gave her titles from six different sanctioning agencies.
She claimed the Native American crown along with titles from the Womens International Boxing Association (WIBA) and Womens International Boxing Council (WIBC), among others.
In three divisions, Johnson qualified for world title fights.
Two other groups want Johnson to fight in October in Africa.
But first, she said, she has to recover from the onset of pneumonia, which was diagnosed Tuesday in Durango.
[email protected]
Reader Comments