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Olivia "The Predator" Pereira was born in
Brampton Ontario on May 1, 1979 and moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
when she was two years old. Pereira, even as a young child participated in
just about everything and anything that was sports related. Pereira told
WBAN, "After having minor surgery on my wrist, I was no longer able
to compete in gymnastics."
Pereira was also involved in soccer and track, and attributes the strength
of her legs due to participating in those sports. She then decided to try
her hand at kickboxing. Pereira said, "I chose a gym called Sik-Tai.
After checking out a kickboxing class of guys only, my mother was
concerned I’d get hurt. So we compromised with martial arts instead. I
loved it----couldn’t get enough of it. I started staying later and later
until I was training both martial arts and kickboxing classes. My trainer
went to bat for me and my mom agreed to let me train and compete in
kickboxing."
Pereira won a few amateur titles,
and then decided to go pro in 1996. Pereira had to admit that she got very
frustrated with not being able to get much action as a pro kickboxer.
Then in 1997, Pereira’s gym
received a call for her to fight as a professional boxer. Pereira said,
"Scary, because at the time I wasn’t all that good with my hands.
My legs were the heart and soul of my fighting."
But, regardless of how Pereira
felt about her hands vs. her feet, she went on to win that first
professional fight. "Since I never boxed as an amateur, I had to
learn my skills along the way and mostly in the ring," said Pereira.
Pereira accumulated a 8-1-0 (3KO) record as a kickboxer. Her current
record as a boxer is 5-6-1 (1KO). Another boxer is a deceiving record when
you find that she fought the world finest boxers, as Kathy Collins, Fredia
Gibbs, and Melissa Delvalle (Salamone).
Presently Pereira is putting on kickboxing and boxing clinics both in and
out of the ring. Pereira also teaches women-only kickboxing classes.
Pereira said, "Boxing is a sport I fell in love with a long time ago.
It is as much a part of me as the blood running through my veins and as
long as it’s still pumping strong, I will be involved in boxing in one
way or another." |
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