This Toronto boxer became a world champion in just 4 matches

It took Sara Haghighat-Joo 4 matches to develop into the World Boxing Affiliation’s Mild Flyweight Champion this yr — she stated it is the quickest a Canadian boxer has ever develop into a world champion. 

“In professional boxing, there’s 4 world titles. Till I’ve all of them and I am [the] undisputed champion, that is once I’ll be actually glad and pleased,” Haghighat-Joo informed CBC Toronto.

Boxing wasn’t Haghighat-Joo’s first alternative of sport. She performed basketball at her highschool in Surrey, B.C. However when her coach informed her she can be benched for the season, she went from the courtroom to the ring.

She stated her household inspired her to make the change. 

“Martial arts form of runs in my household,” she stated. “My dad was on the Iranian nationwide workforce for wrestling. So, my brother grew up doing wrestling and kickboxing and all types of various martial arts. And they also had been 100 per cent for it. My household usually could be very aggressive.”

Haghighat-Joo stated she began coaching together with her brother, Sasan, just a few instances every week, by no means intending to really combat. However six months after she started, coach Terry Cooke on the Astoria Boxing Membership informed her she was prepared. 

At 16, she gained her first match towards a woman her age. The subsequent day, she beat a 24-year-old boxer.

It was whereas combating on fractured toes at her first nationwide occasion in 2013 that she met her present coach, Stevie Bailey. Bailey supplied to coach her and, after attending a two-week camp with him, she made the transfer half-way throughout the nation to hitch his fitness center in Toronto. 

Haghighat-Joo stated she determined to go skilled when her brother died in September 2023. She stated her brother at all times believed in her and informed her she can be champion, and he or she proved him proper when she gained the World Mild Flyweight Championship on Apr. 27.

“I really feel like he is virtually my guardian angel,” Haghighat-Joo stated. “I am doing this for him.”

CBC Toronto met with Haghighat-Joo on the West Finish Athletic Membership in Etobicoke. Bailey stated she’s the membership’s first world champion, they usually even promote pink T-shirts with “Workforce Sara” written on them.

Haghighat-Joo stated she plans to place her belt on the road for a shot at one other title this fall — a step towards claiming all 4 skilled boxing championships and changing into the undisputed world champion. 

 Typically the largest problem is getting Haghighat-Joo to decelerate, Bailey stated.

“She would not wish to take many breaks,” he stated.