(APRIL 4) Recently Melissa
McMorrow just defended her two world titles in Germany and
successfully defeated Nadia Raoui in that defense. She is
now in Mozambique, in Southeast Africa!
WBAN asked Melissa
earlier today what brought her to Mozambique. Melissa told
us, "I have a sister who lives in Mozambique. I have
been interested to do sports diplomacy work and the US embassy
in Mozambique was excited about the idea. The US has embassies
in almost every country and Hillary Clinton has rolled out a
formal sports diplomacy program that I would very much like to
get involved in on a larger scale.
The us ambassador to
Mozambique and a team of people working with the embassy and
American cultural center do a lot of work to foster
relationships between the us and Mozambique. Besides having
family in Mozambique, I have a particular interest in Africa
because the continent is very under-represented in amateur
competition. In order to really grow boxing, the sport will need
to grow worldwide. From my experience here, I hope I can work
with AIBA to create more opportunities for African boxers to
reach international competitions."
Blanca Gutierrez of BabyFace
Beautiful Brawlers said, "Melissa Mc Morrow, B
Street Boxing, San Mateo has been in Mozambique and has gone a
tour of four boxing gyms . She has met with the Federal Boxing
Commission and has completed a project with an orphanage outside
of Maputo. She had a press conference this morning and has one
more event on Saturday to celebrate women’s day in Mozambique
which she will do another boxing demonstration."
"She has been accepted by the people with open arms and love.
Melissa Mc Morrow is more than just a boxing champion. She is a
role model and is using her status as World Champion to do Great
things."
"She is our local hero and BabyFace Beautiful Brawlers is
always a HUGE FAN. So proud of you Melissa! Thanks for sharing
your journey. Melissa McMorrow supporting female boxing around
the world," added Gutierrez.
Photo credits: Facebook/Melissa
McMorrow
WBAN
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