(NOV 3) Christine Gillespie has won the New Zealand national (NZPBA version) Bantamweight title after a shutout win against Sarah Linton in Christchurch on Saturday night.

This was a historic win for Christine Gillespie as she became the first female to win the New Zealand title in the bantamweight division. To add more history to the fight, Gillespie has also become the first person to win the New Zealand title in the bantamweight division since 1954. The last person to hold the title was World War Two veteran Lyn Philp who won the title in 1948, before vacating the title in 1954 after his retirement.

Gillespie said after her win “I loved the fight feeling on top of the world at the moment”. Finding out that not only is she the first champion since 1954 but the first female champion, she reacted with “Oh wow that's even more special than this title meaning even more to me”.

Gillespie had an excellent amateur boxing career before turning pro, becoming a three-time New Zealand national amateur champion between 2020 and 2022, representing New Zealand at the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships in India, representing New Zealand at the 2023 Pacific Games at the Solomon Islands, winning the 2023 Australian Golden Gloves and winning the Bobby Johnson Cup for National Championship Most Scientific Elite Female Boxer at the 2021 New Zealand national amateur championships.

In March this year, she turned pro when she fought one of her biggest rivals in her amateur boxing career, Anna Collie, for the New Zealand national Bantamweight title, however, the fight ended in a draw. Unfortunately, a rematch could not be agreed upon.

A month later in April, she got a call to fight on the big stage in Australia at No Limit Boxing card. Gillespie took on the Australian national Super Bantamweight champion Shanell Dargan. However, the fight ended in a very close Majority decision loss, (meaning one judge scored it a draw).

Last Saturday saw Gillespie finally capturing her first professional boxing win, increasing her record to 1-1-1 after almost winning and dominating every round of the eight-round fight against journeywomen from Masterton Sarah Linton. It has been a while since Gillespie has fought in the South Island saying “Loved fighting in the South Island again as well, haven't done that for a few years”. Gillespie paid respects to her opponent saying “Sarah was awesome I thought we put on a great show”.

What is next for Gillespie?

A New Zealand title defence against Anna Collie would be a great start. Apart from that the Bantamweight is a difficult weight division on this side of the World. There are a few excellent fights that can be made in Australia. However, for domestic fights, there are not that many. Even the IBO World champion Mea Motu at Super Bantamweight had to fight four weight divisions above her usual weight just to be able to keep busy during the first 10 fights of her career. Alternatively, she could fight Thailand boxers, however, getting boxers over here from other countries can be increasingly expensive and not many promoters are willing to take the risk.

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