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5'5"
junior featherweight Heather "The
Heat" Hardy was born on January 25, 1982, and was raised
in the
tight-knit Irish-American community of Gerittsen Beach, Brooklyn, New
York. A single mom, Hardy began taking kickboxing classes to get back
into shape after giving birth to her daughter, . She was soon asked to
join
the fighting team - after just three weeks of ever having laced up
a pair of gloves, she won her first kickboxing match. She went on to
win the WKA Regional Kickboxing title and was ISKA East Coast Muay Thai
champion in 2011.
Hardy gained the attention of trainer
and manager Devon Cormack, (brother and trainer of WBC World Champion Alicia
Ashley) and began training with him at Gleason’s Gym. After 11
months
of boxing training, Hardy took silver at the 2011 NYC Golden Gloves,
captured the 2011 USA Boxing Metro (125 lbs) and Regional
Titles then went on to win the USA Boxing 2011 National Title.
In 2012 Hardy won the New York Daily News
Golden Gloves title and was awarded the honor of "Best Female Boxer of
the Tournament. Shortly after this, Hardy and Cormack together
decided that she would move on to fight professionally.
Hardy's pro career started amidst a string
of setbacks
outside the ring. Her apartment burned down shortly
before her debut pro fight, so she and her daughter Annie moved in with
her mother, only to see the home inundated by eight feet of water from
Hurricane Sandy later that same Fall.
Heather made her pro debut on August 2,
2012 at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. She weighed in at 119
lbs
and won a hard-fought four-round unanimous (38-37x3) decision over
Mikayla
Nebel (117 lbs) of Las Vegas, Nevada. Hardy was knocked down
by a short right during the first round but she responded well by
stepping up her aggression and
taking the fight to Nebel the rest of the way (see video above). On October 24, 2012, at the Roseland
Ballroom, in New York, New York, Hardy (124 lbs), fought her second pro
bout against Unique Harris (120 lbs) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
USA, who was making her pro debut. Hardy was cut over
her right eye in the second round but she outpunched Harris to win a
toe-to-toe
four-round battle by a unanimous (40-36,39-37,39-37) decision.
Less than two months later, on December 8,
2012, at the Resorts World Casino, in Jamaica, New York, Hardy,
122, won her third pro fight by a
four-round unanimous
decision over Ivana Coleman, 123.5, of Slidell, Louisiana.
Hardy was now 3-0-0 (0 KO).
On January 23, 2013, at BB King Blues Club
and Grill
in New York City, Heather Hardy (122 lbs) won a four-round
unanimous (39-37,39-37,40-36) decision over Peggy Maerz (119 lbs) of
Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada. Maerz fell to 2-3-1 (0 KO's).
Word to WBAN was that the fight was action-packed, and that Heather
Hardy was "On
Fire!" and began the fight very aggressively. Maerz landed some good
rights in the second round but tired and was overwhelmed by Hardy in
the fourth.
On April 4, 2013 at the Roseland Ballroom
in New York City, Heather Hardy (122 lbs) won a six-round unanimous
(60-53,60-54,60-54) decision in a rematch with Mikayla Nebel (123 lbs)
who fell to 0-5.
On July 24 2013 in the co-main feature at
the Roseland Ballroom in
New York City, Heather Hardy (121 lbs) won by a TKO at 1:30 in
the fourth round of a scheduled six-rounder with Cassie Trost (121 lbs)
of Seattle, Washington, USA , who fell to 1-2-1.
On November 9, 2013 at the Aviator Sports
Complex in Brooklyn, New York, Heather Hardy (122 lbs) won the vacant
UBF junior featherweight title with a TKO of Laura Gomez (124 lbs) of
Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico at 1:44 in the second round of a scheduled
eight-rounder. Gomez fell to 4-4 (0 KO's) with the loss.
On February 12, 2014 at the Roseland
Ballroom Heather Hardy (121¾ lbs) won a hard fought eight-round split
(77-75,77-75,75-77) decision over Christina (Mandy) Fuentes (121¾ lbs)
of Laredo, Texas who fell to 2-5-3. Fuentes' paper record is deceptive
as she is a heavy hitter who had previously tested some strong
competition during her losses. She began aggressively and took the
fight to Hardy in the early rounds, but Heather's conditioning and
combinations were just enough to earn her the split.
On March 21, 2014 at the Aviator Sports
Complex in Brooklyn, New York, Heather Hardy (121 lbs) won an
eight-round unanimous (79-73,78-74,78-74) decision over Nydia Feliciano
(119 lbs) of the Bronx, New York. Hardy threw plenty of
combinations to the head and body in a spirited fight while Feliciano
hung tough until the end and did her best work with a followup straight
right behind her jab in the final rounds. Hardy improved to 9-0
(2 KO's) with this win while Feliciano fell to 7-5-3 (0 KO's).
On December 5, 2015, at the Barclays Center, in
Brooklyn, New York,
Hardy, 127¾, of Brooklyn, won an eight-round unanimous decision over
Noemi Bosques, 122¼, of Saint Petersburg, Florida. Final judges
scores were 73-79, 72-80, and 72-80. Hardy remains undefeated at
15-0-0 (3KO), and Bosques is 10-4-2 (2KO).
On April 16,
2016, at the Barclay Center, New
York City, New York,
Hardy, 123 1/4, now 16-0-0 (4KO), of Brooklyn, New York, won by a
fourth round TKO over Sweden's Donatella Hultin, 123, 8-3-0, in a
scheduled eight round bout. Team Hultin made some comments on
Facebook, "First of all we want to thank everyone that's been in
this journey. Anna will be back even better and stronger. We also
want to thank DiBella entertainment for this great event and making
us part of it. Love to all our friends that came to the arena to
support Anna."
On August 21, 2016, in New York, Hardy and Shelly Vincent brought their unbeaten records to
the southernmost tip of Brooklyn, commonly known as Coney Island,
staging a ten round donnybrook that stole the show at the Premier
Boxing program, promoted in conjunction with Lou Di Bella's Di Bella
Entertainment at the open air Ford Amphitheater, hard by the Coney
Island boardwalk, on ..Full
Story
On March 4, 2017, at the Barclays Center, in
Brooklyn, New York,
Hardy, 124½, now 19-0-0 (4KO), of Brooklyn, New York, won an
eight-round unanimous decision over Edina "DNA" Kiss, 124¼, now
13-3-0 (8KO), of Budapest, Hungary. Final judges scores were 72-80,
72-80, and 73-79.
On May 18, 2017, at the Paramount Theater, in
Brooklyn, New York
Hardy, 125.5, won an eight round unanimous decision over Edina Kiss,
124.5. This was a rematch for the two where Hardy defeated her by
decision earlier this year. Hardy was defending her WBC Inter.
Featherweight title.
On
April 21, 2018, at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York,
Hardy, 126.2, now 21-0 (4KO), of Brooklyn, fought
and won an eight-round unanimous decision over Paola "La Fiera" Torres,
126.8, 12-3-1 (5KO), of Monterrey, Mexico. The female bout was
untelevised.
The Premier Boxing Champions event was headlined by Adrien
Broner who fought battled Jessie Vargas to a 12-round bout
majority draw that was televised live on Showtime. The event was
promoted by Mayweather Promotions, DiBella Entertainment and TGB
Promotions.
Full Story
On October 27, 2018, at the Madison Square Gardens
Theatre, in New York
in
a long-awaited rematch between Heather "The Heat" Hardy vs.
Shelly "Shelito's Way" Vincent in an action-packed contest in a
scheduled ten round bout, vying for the vacant WBO Featherweight
world title.
Full Story
On September 13, 2019, at the Madison Square
Garden Theater, in New York, New York,
Amanda "The Real Deal" Serrano won a ten-round unanimous decision
over Hardy.
The two were fighting for the WBO Featherweight world title,
and the WBAN Independent Featherweight Belt This is the Second WBAN world title bout for Serrano that fought for
it in another weight class ...Full
Story
Hardy works at Gleason's Gym as a cardio
and instructional boxing and kickboxing trainer
between doing her own workouts there. Her web site describes her
training philoshophy: "I place heavy
emphasis on endurance and stamina, and using your mind to push your
body past where it wants to go. Nobody in my classes stops at the last
ten seconds, or quits for the last push up or we start over. Boxing is
about outlasting your opponent, and I use that mindset in everything I
do. I also do every exercise with my classes and students, right
alongside them."
She has been promoted by Lou DiBella
Entertainment since September 2013. Photo Credits: Facebook
Page
last updated Wednesday April 16, 2014
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