Professional boxer Kaliesha West will be the featured speaker at the Redlands Rotary Club on April 26.
West, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion, lives in nearby Moreno Valley and is also an emergency room host at Loma Linda University Medical Hospital.
“I’m really looking forward to my speaking engagement at the Redlands Rotary Club,” West said. “I’m excited to meet new people, many of them being my neighbors.”
West, 24, is currently in training for a title defense against Claudia Andrea Lopez at the Ernesto Ruffo Appel Municipal Gymnasium in Rosarito B.C. Mexico.
West, or “Wild Wild” West as she is referred to during her ring entrances, is 14-1-3 with four knockouts. Lopez is 18-5 with four knockouts of her own.
“I can’t wait to share my passion for boxing with others,” West said. “Thank you to Redlands Rotary Club for supporting female athletes. I’m really thankful that I’m being given this opportunity to share my story.”
West’s 10-round, WBO title defense will be featured on the Mexican television network, Televisa, as part of the weekly boxing series “Sabados de Corona.”
West turned pro in 2006 after establishing herself as a star in the amateur ranks, where she won nearly 100 bouts, including the 2003 National Golden Gloves title.
In 2010 West became a world champion when she won the vacant Women’s WBO Bantamweight title with a seventh-round knockout of Angel Gladney on the undercard of the “Sugar” Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora Golden card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
West last fought in August of 2011 when she defeated Jessica Villafranca by unanimous decision in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico.
The Redlands Rotary Club will host this engagement at the Masonic Lodge in Redlands (131 Cajon St.). The Club meets on Thursdays.
http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/sports/ci_20357215/boxing-champion-kaliesha-west-speak-rotary-club