Mackenzie Injured, Bates Steps up to the Plate and Faces Foran on Saturday Live on FITE TV.

Carly Mackenzie has been forced to pull out of her much anticipated fight against ten time Kickboxing World Champion Caitlin Foran, who makes her professional boxing debut this coming Saturday. 

Current Professional Boxing Council (PBC) International Silver Champion Jaime Bates steps up to the plate as a late replacement on the PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA Presented LET BATTLE COMMENCE event at the Northern Hotel n Aberdeen, which will be broadcast live and exclusive by FITE TV from 8pm (GMT) in the UK, 4pm (EST)/1pm (PST) in the USA. 

On making the announcement, promoter Lee McAllister said Mackenzie, who broke two toes at the weekend after a horse stepped on her foot, “will not miss out” the six time, five Division World Champ turned promoter added “we’ll reschedule the fight with Caitlin for later in the year”

Speaking from her home in Orkney, Foran said.

“My heart goes out to Carly, I know how much she was looking forward to fighting me on Saturday, these things happen and I wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to fighting her later in the year.

“I couldn’t be more excited and honoured to be making my professional debut as the main support to such an exciting main card that includes my coach and manager Paul Peers and the comeback of Scott Harrison. 

“I feel this is a great time for me to be starting my career and I will be a hundred percent ready for Saturday. Jaime Bates is a proven Champion so will definitely be a good fight to start off my career.

“And I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to my sponsor, Gary Sutherland at GSRI Shetland”

Caitlin Foran versus Jaime Bates will be the main support when longtime WBO Featherweight King Scott Harrison goes toe-to-toe with PBC International Champion Paul Peers on the first of the Lee Mcallister promoted, PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA presented ‘LET BATTLE COMMENCE’ series of ‘Behind Closed Doors’ events that will be broadcast exclusively live on FITE.TV.

The undercard also features unbeaten Lewis Mulberry (3-0-0) versus Nicaragua’s Johnson Tellez,  Liverpool’s unbeaten Steve Sunners (4-0-0) will be facing off against Perth’s Adam Stewart (1-0-0) and Aberdeen’s Liam Allan making his pro debut against Southend’s Dan Ballard.

The first event in the PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA presented LET BATTLE COMMENCE series takes place in Aberdeen on the 18th July 2020 and will be broadcast live on FITE.TV (worldwide) as well as delayed broadcast in the UK on Sports Channel Network (SCN) Channel 265 on Freeview/YouView.

For PPV purchases ($4.99) please go to https://www.fite.tv/watch/let-battle-commence-harrison-peers/2p7nh/

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Boxing TV’s Dan Hewitt Interviews Former Kickboxing World Champion Caitlin Foran Ahead of her Pro Boxing Debut on the 18th July

Boxing TV’s Dan Hewitt caught up with Kickboxing World champion Caitlin Foran, ahead of her Professional Boxing debut, against York’s Carly Mackenzie on the undercard of longtime World Boxing Organization (WBO) Featherweight King Scott Harrison versus Professional Boxing Council (PBC) International Champion Paul Peers that takes place ‘behind closed doors’ at the Northern Hotel in Aberdeen that will be exclusively broadcast on the 18th July 2020 live on FITE.TV.

Dan: What got you in to the sport of boxing?

Caitlin: So I started kickboxing when I was 8 years old, for no other reason than, I was just an active kid that wanted to do everything. It definitely wasn’t a talent of mine but I started to really enjoy it so I kept going, taking a few beatings a long the way and eventually dropping all my other activities so that I was just focusing on kickboxing. 

I started going away to competitions, winning some, losing some but never giving up and eventually working my way to becoming world champion. 

Myself and my coach started to realise that I was far better with my hands so decided to look into boxing and was giving the opportunity of a UKBC International title fight as my first boxing fight which I went on to win and after that I decided it was time to hang up the kicks and focus on boxing.

Dan: Tell us about the things you achieved in kickboxing

Caitlin: So I was quite a late starter in competing regularly as getting off the island can be pretty expensive and coming from a large family it just wasn’t always possible. So it wasn’t until just before gaining my black belt that I really started competing and won my first fights which was at a Scottish championship where I won 2 golds, I then started competing more often, every couple months and picked up some British and European titles and then went on to world championships where by the end of my kickboxing career I had accumulated 10 World Championships across a few different organisations.

Dan: What was the hardest challenge to move from kickboxing to boxing?

Caitlin: In kickboxing, a lot of what you do with your hands is to set you up for kicks and open up targets to get kicks in. So retraining my muscle memory to keep my feet more grounded was definitely a challenge for me in the beginning but didn’t take long before I got used to it.

Dan: What gym do you fight out off?

Caitlin: Currently, Orkney Boxing Club, coached and managed by Paul Peers.

Dan: What do you hope to achieve as a professional boxer?

Caitlin: Becoming a professional has already been a massive thing for me, I am Orkney’s first female professional boxer (and I think professional boxer in general) so that for me is amazing already and now I’m just training hard, I’ll take every fight as it comes, learning and growing from every experience and one day hopefully make it to the top.  Making it to World Champion is the ultimate goal which would be amazing.

Dan: What have you got to say to your fans?

Caitlin: I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone that has supported me so far and continues to do so, it really does mean the world to know I have people in my corner backing me! Also a massive thank you to my sponsor, Gary Sutherland at GSRI Shetland. Big love to everyone and stay safe.

Dan: Thanks for speaking with us Caitlin and good luck in your career

Caitlin Foran versus Carly Mackenzie will be the main support when longtime WBO Featherweight King Scott Harrison goes toe-to-toe with PBC International Champion Paul Peers on the first of the Lee Mcallister promoted LET BATTLE COMMENCE series of ‘Behind Closed Doors’ events that will be broadcast exclusively live on FITE.TV.

The undercard also features unbeaten Lewis Mulberry (3-0-0) versus Nicaragua’s Johnson Tellez,  Liverpool’s unbeaten Steve Sunners (4-0-0) will be facing off against Perth’s Adam Stewart (1-0-0) and Aberdeen’s Liam Allan making his pro debut against Southend’s Dan Ballard.

The first event in the LET BATTLE COMMENCE series takes place in Aberdeen on the 18th July 2020 and will be broadcast live on FITE.TV (worldwide) as well as delayed broadcast in the UK on Sports Channel Network (SCN) Channel 265 on Freeview/YouView.

For PPV purchases ($4.99) please go to https://www.fite.tv/watch/let-battle-commence-harrison-peers/2p7nh/

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UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH 10 TIME WORLD KICKBOXING CHAMPION CAITLIN FORAN AHEAD OF HER PRO BOXING DEBUT

With this pandemic lockdown in full force virtually world-wide, many fights have been already been cancelled, from the biggest, such as Anthony Joshua versus Kubrat Pulev, right through to small hall events.

Whilst clearly the lockdown is affecting everyone involved in our beloved sport, it made me think of those that had been preparing for their professional boxing debut, such as today’s victim, sorry guest, Caitlin Foran, who was due to debut in Orkney on the 25th April.

Caitlin is a ten time Kickboxing World Champion, quite an accomplishment for someone that is still just 19 years of age, let’s face it to achieve such a high status in any sport at such a young age is quite an accomplishment and without doubt her extensive combat sports experience is going to benefit her when this pandemic is over and she makes her pro debut.

I actually had the pleasure of meeting Caitlin back in March at an event in Barrow-in-Furness, where she was supporting Paul Peers when he challenged, and beat, Nicaraguan Milton Arauz for the Professional Boxing Council (PBC) International title, and always intended to cover her pro debut, but with that put back until later in the year due to the current situation decided instead to arrange an interview with her.

Enough of my waffle, let’s get to know this amazing teen star a little better.

(GDC) Hello Caitlin, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for us. My first question is I understand you are a multi-World Champion Kick Boxer, can you please tell our readers a little about your Kick Boxing career?

(CF) So I started kickboxing in 2008 at the age of eight, at the time I was juggling kickboxing with lots of other sports and activities but over time my attention just stuck with kickboxing and it became my life. 

I certainly wasn’t one of these people that had a talent for the sport. I wasn’t flexible, I had no confidence, but the one thing I did have that has carried me through to this day is determination. 

Living on an island we weren’t able to get to as many competitions as other clubs on the mainland could which meant we knew we had to really put in the extra effort to make up for the lack of experience. 

Also coming from a large family where my mother was a single parent to 5 children meant I rarely was able to get away to compete and didn’t really start competing properly until I got my black belt in 2011. 

I then started competing usually once a month with the first big one being the WKA Scottish championships in Glasgow where I won 2x golds, that was my first big confidence booster and I went on to compete more often winning more Scottish titles as well as British and European. 

I then got invited to my first world championships in 2013 in Italy where I came away with a bronze medal. 

I always preferred points fighting when I was competing, which is a more karate style, ‘start stop’ style of fighting, but at my second World championships in Prague in 2014, there was a woman without a fight for her ring Continuous section so I was asked if I would take the fight. 

I’ve never been one to turn down a fight so I took the fight and ended up winning it as well as two others so I came away with my first three World titles and new love for ring fighting. 

From 2014 to 2017 I went on to win seven more World titles in various countries. 

By 2016/17 my kickboxing career was really taking off and I was looking at turning professional sometime soon, however at the end of 2017 my coach Ryan Reffell sadly passed which put an end to my kickboxing career.

(GDC) What influenced you to switch from Kick Boxing to Professional Boxing?

(CF) As I mentioned previously, I have never been a naturally flexible person so in kickboxing my legs were predominantly used for powerful body single kicks. 

While I was still training with Ryan as part of Nemesis Kickboxing, at the end of 2015 we decided I was getting better with my hands and started thinking about switching to boxing. 

This lead Ryan to start boxing classes on a Monday night as well as the kickboxing classes through the week. 

I was offered my first fight that September with 4 days notice for the UKBC featherweight international title. I went on to win the fight and defended it in a rematch that December. 

2017 was when I really started to focus more on boxing and less on kickboxing and had two more fights, with the last fight in my unlicensed career being a Five Nations title fight in April 2017 which brought my record to 4-0-0. 

I thought my boxing career had ended then, until Paul Peers moved to Orkney in 2018 and got in touch via Facebook which then kickstarted my training again as he showed great interest in my boxing and was a massive help in getting my love for the sport back and showed that he believed in me which made me more confident in myself and got myself back to training properly again ahead of signing my professional contract in January this year.

(GDC) You were due to be undertaking your professional boxing debut in Orkney on the 25th April, obviously this is being rescheduled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, so firstly how have your preparations been going? 

(CF) Yes, it was devastating when all this started but I am making sure to keep as active as I can with daily running and home exercises making use of the little space I do have at home.

(GDC) Has the Government ordered lockdown had an effect on your preparations?

(CF) Prior to lockdown we were getting sparring in at least once or twice a week at the club and had started our partnership with Lee Mcallister at Assassin’s boxing in Aberdeen in order to mix Orkney Boxing Clubs fighters with theirs for some sparring at weekends. 

We only managed this once so far with weather being bad and boats not certain to run but were planning more in the lead up to the show.

(GDC) When the lockdown ends and the new date is announced, your opponent is stated to be Carly Mackenzie, do you know much about her?

(CF) I was originally due to fight Carly Mackenzie however my opponent recently changed to Professional Boxing Council (PBC) International Silver Champion Jamie Bates Wallis. I don’t know a great deal about Jamie to be honest but from what I’ve seen she is a strong orthodox boxer with a strong offence and sharp defence. 

I took the fight knowing it would be a challenge especially being my first fight back in 3 years. 

She’s proved to be a champion so in order for me to become a champion I must beat champions.

(GDC) Moving away from your career to date, who is your favourite boxer, male or female, and why?

(CF) My favourite boxer to date has got to be Katie Taylor. She has played a massive part in getting Women’s boxing to where it is today and is a real inspiration to any athlete out there as she has shown that any obstacle can be overcome if you really want something.

(GDC) In the same vein, which is your all time favourite fight, and why?

(CF) It is so hard to choose a favourite fight but one has to be Katie Taylor’s most recent fight against Christina Linardatou as she continued her winning record and added WBO Super-Lightweight world title to her ever growing list of achievements. Usually Taylor would be getting stuck into the fight, firing shot after shot. However she kept to the outside this time boxing smart and not wasting energy.

(GDC) Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, finally is there anyone you would like to mention with regard to your upcoming debut?

(CF) I would like to give thanks to my sponsor, Gary Sutherland at GSRI, Steven Logie at Strength 101 for keeping me in shape and Paul Peers for everything he has done over the last year and a half to get my confidence back up and reignite my love for boxing. I would also like to give a shout out to all of my old teammates at Nemesis kickboxing Academy and Nemesis Boxing Gym without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.

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