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5'4" bantamweight Kaliesha
(Kay) "Wild Wild" West
was born on February 11, 1988 in
South Haven, Michigan, USA. Her heritage is
multi-cultural: her father Juan West is of Black, Puerto
Rican
and Seminole Indian descent while her mother Melissa is of Korean
and Mexican
heritage.
She lives in Moreno Valley, California, a small suburb
between
Riverside and Palm Springs. She attended Canyon Springs High
School in Moreno Valley where she was an honors student and ran
cross-country. Her boxing trainer and manager is her
father, who was a US Navy amateur boxing champion and a pro
welterweight from 1994 to 1995. (He left the
competitive sport to support his family better.)
Kaliesha first got excited
about boxing while attending her
father's fights but he was reluctant to involve her in the sport. According
to WBAN correspondent David Avila, Juan West tried to appease
the 10-year-old
Kaliesha by
showing her the proper boxing stance and how to punch then
giving her
monotonous training exercises to discourage her. When she
persisted,
he took her to a gym to fight, and she lost. “I thought that would make her
quit,” Juan West told David Avila, but instead it
made
her more
determined!
Kaliesha went on to become one of the best amateurs
in
California, winning
numerous tournaments and honors including the 2002 and 2003 Junior
Olympic championships and the 2003 and 2004 Silver Gloves and the 2002
125-lb National Golden Gloves championship for ages 13-14. Her
overall amateur record was 98-10
when she turned pro in 2006.
She
made her pro debut on
February 23, 2006 at San Manuel Indian Casino in San Bernardino,
California, weighting in at 118 lbs., and winning a four-round unanimous
(40-35 x 3) decision over Suszannah
Warner. (117¾ lbs). Warner was knocked down in the
second round and fell to 2-3 (1 KO). As West had only just
turned 18, she had to be sneaked in to the fight arena because there
was a minimum age of 21 to enter the casino.
On March 25, 2006
at Fantasy
Springs Casino in Indio, California, Kaliesha won a four-round
unanimous decision over Tonia Cravens of Albuquerque, New Mexico who
fell to 2-2-1 (1 KO).
On May 19, 2006 at the Quiet
Cannon in Montebello, California, Kaliesha (116¾ lbs) won a four-round
unanimous (40-37,39-37,39-37) decision over Elizabeth Cervantes (5'1",
114 lbs) of Lakeside, California who fell to 1-5 (0 KO's).
On July 8, 2006 at the
Conference Center in Monterey, California, Kaliesha won a six-round
unanimous (60-55,59-55,60-54) decision over Maria Contreras of Houston,
Texas, who fell to 1-5 (0 KO's) and has not fought since.
On November 18, 2006
at the Conference Center in Monterey, California, Kaliesha won a
six-round unanimous (59-55 x 3) decision over former amateur standout
Stella Nijhof of New York
who fell to 1-1-1 (0 KO's) and has not fought as a pro since.
WBAN named Kaliesha its
"Rookie of the Year" for 2006.
On
March 30, 2007 at Pechanga
Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, Kaliesha (116 lbs)
won another four-round unanimous (40-36 x 3) decision over Elizabeth
Cervantes (114 lbs) who fell to 1-7 (0 KO's).
On August 17, 2007 at Harrah;s
Rincon Casino in Valley Center, California, Kaliesha (116½ lbs) won a
six-round split (58-56,59-55,56-58) decision over British-born Carly
Batey (116½ lbs) of San Diego, California who fell to 3-2-2 (0 KO's).
On March 29, 2008 at Gimnasio
Oscar “Tigre” García in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico,
Kaliesha TKO'd Flor Verdugo of Mexico at 1:43 in the second round of a
scheduled six-rounder.
On June 27, 2008 at the Morongo
Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon, California, Kaliesha (123½
lbs) won a six-round unanimous (60-54,60-54,59-55) decision over
Elizabeth (Villarreal) Moreno (5'7", 123¼ lbs) of San Antonio, Texas
who fell to 5-7-3 (KO's).
On July 23, 2008 at Morongo
Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon, California, Kaliesha (123½ lbs) KO'd
Elizabeth Cervantes (124 lbs) of Lakeside, California at 0:55 in the
first round of a scheduled six-rounder. Cervantes fell to 2-9 (1 KO). [Video]
On November 18, 2008 at Table
Mountain Casino in Friant, California, unbeaten Ava Knight (117½ lbs) of Chico,
California won the IFBA
North American Bantamweight title with a hard fought eight-round
unanimous (77-75x3) decision over Kaliesha (117¾
lbs). Knight improved to 5-0-2
(2 KO's) with the win.
On
August 1, 2009 at Aqua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California,
Kaliesha (125 lbs) won a
six-round unanimous decision over Rolanda Andrews (124 lbs) of Atlanta,
Georgia who fell to 8-8-1 (4 KO's) and has not fought again. Kaliesha
had moved up to featherweight because of difficulty obtaining opponents at bantamweight.
On January 21, 2010 at San
Manuel Indian Casino in Highland, California, Kaliesha (120¾ lbs)
battled to a six-round majority draw with former IBF and WIBA world
bantamweight champion Ada Velez (121½ lbs) of Hollywood,
Florida. Velez moved her record to
16-3-3 (6 KO's) with this, her first fight after a 26-month layoff.
On March 26, 2010 at Arena Midt in Kjellerup,
Denmark, Kaliesha (117¾ lbs) fought to a
10-round majority (95-95,95-95,94-96) draw with former WBC,
WBA, WIBA, WIBF and GBU world bantamweight champion Anita Christensen
(116½ lbs) of Randers, Denmark for the vacant World Professional Boxing
Federation bantamweight belt. West moved her pro record to 11-1-2
(2 KOs) while Christensen's went to 24-1-1 (8 KOs).
On June 26, 2010 at the Jockey
Club in Lima, Peru Kaliesha (119¼ lbs) TKO'd Vannessa Guimaraes (5′0½″,
118¾ lbs) of Curitiba, Brazil who fell to 8-3 (7 KO's).
On
September 18, 2010 at the
Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Kaliesha (118 lbs) won the
vacant WBO Bantamweight title with a TKO over Angel Gladney (5'1", 117
lbs) of South Carolina at 0:59 in the seventh round of a scheduled
ten-rounder. Gladney fell to 6-3-2 (5 KO's).
Boxing writer David Avila named West's
knockout of Gladney the "Knockout of the Year" and West the "Fighter of
the Year" for 2010.
On
June 18, 2011 at the Sports Arena in Pico Rivera, California, Ava Knight
(117 lbs) of Chico, California and Kaliesha West (118
lbs) fought
to a 10-round split draw in a rematch for the WBO Bantamweight title. The scores
were: 96-94 West, 96-94 Knight, and 95-95. Knight's record moved to 6-1-3
(3 KO's).
On August
20, 2011 at Casino Black Pyramid in Manzanillo, Colima, México, Kaliesha West (118 lbs) won a 10-round
unanimous (97-95,99-91,96-94) decision over Jessica Villafranca (118
lbs) of Nicolas Romero, México defending
the WBO Bantamweight title. West wrote on her Facebook page
that "The fight was tough. Jessica has
a big heart.”
Villafranca fell to 12-3 (6 KO's).
On
April 14, 2012 at Gimnasio
Municipal Ernesto Ruffo Appel in Rosarito, Baja
California, México,
Kaliesha West won a hard fought ten round majority (98-92,98-92,95-95)
decision over Claudia Lopez of Argentina defending the WBO Bantamweight
title. The action went back and forth throughout
a battle in
which West at first looked off balance and awkward against the sturdy
southpaw. Lopez was busier when the early action got
to
close quarters but West found her composure and distance
better in
the later rounds and also landed the straighter, harder punches of the
two as Lopez began to tire. Lopez kept coming
forward and
gave a good account of herself in a match that was far from
one-sided. West improved to 15-1-3
(4 KO's) with the win while Lopez fell to 18-6 (4 KO's).
On October 7, 2023, at the Orleans Hotel & Casino,
in Las Vegas, Nevada, Kaliesha West is being inducted into the International
Women's Boxing Hall of Fame.
Page
last updated: Monday, 16 April 2012
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