Kali Reis | |
---|---|
Statistics | |
Real name | Kali Reis |
Nickname(s) | K.O. Mequinonoag |
Weight(s) |
Lightweight Middleweight |
Nationality | American |
Born |
Providence, Rhode Island |
January 1, 1986
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 17 |
Wins | 10 |
Wins by KO | 4 |
Losses | 6 |
Draws | 1 |
Kali Reis is an American professional female boxer. She is the first professional Native American boxer to hail from New England, and the first Native American fighter to win the International Boxing Association (IBA) middleweight crown. She is also a former WBC World Middleweight Champion and WIBA World Champion.
Kali Reis was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on January 1, 1986 and is the youngest of five children. Kali has Cherokee, Nipmuc, and Seaconke Wampanoag ancestry. Reis and her siblings were raised by their mother in a rough neighborhood. Reis was an athletic child often playing rough sports with the neighborhood boys. As a child she attended and competed in powwows regularly. Since junior through high school she was active on basketball and softball leagues. At age 15 she picked up boxing, and began to be coached by a friend of her mother's Domingo Tall Dog. Reis later went to school for criminology and also learned how to fix mortorcycles at MTTI. Reis continued her training at Peter Manfredo's Sr. gym to improve her skills.
After competing in more than a dozen sanctioned and unsanctioned matches as an amateur, Reis turned pro in 2008. But she only had one bout in each of her first three years in the professional ranks. Reis stated, "I haven't been as busy as I wanted to be." In 2012, Kali was involved in a serious motorcycle accident which put her out for the boxing season, but she returned in 2013. Kali fought for the IBA title in November 2013, but Virginia's Tori Nelson defended her Women's International Boxing Association crown with a unanimous decision. Through the fight Reis gained a lot of respect in the sport. On November 12, 2014 Reis won the WIBA crown defeating Teresa Perozzi in Bermuda. Reis also coaches boxing for youth and works as a trainer. In April 2016, Reis won her first major world title in New Zealand against Maricela Cornejo for the vacant WBC World Middleweight title. Kali Reis vs. Maricela Cornejo was broadcast on gladrap channel on youtube.