Boxing: Lupi closing in on rare feat

Gentiane Lupi is about to complete a rare combat sports trifecta.

On November 15, she defended her WMC welterweight kickboxing title with a decision win over Natalia Teller before she moved on to her maiden MMA bout against Alex Sorthis two weeks ago, which resulted in a first-round TKO victory at a Princesses of Pain show.

She will take on her third, and final, challenge during this audacious stretch when she meets Daniella Smith for the vacant New Zealand Professional Boxing Association's light welterweight title in Auckland tomorrow night. Taking three different fights in four weeks, two of which were for national titles, is unheard of on these shores.

"I like that you just have to maintain a high level of fitness. That you have goals and that the pressure is constant and that the challenges are frequent. I liken it to metal being tempered," Lupi said.

"I like that people are offended that I fight so often; they say it's disrespectful. I say I show respect by training constantly and backing my ability. I like that I set my own goals and make up my own template. We should celebrate the difference in each other, not try and make everyone follow a norm."

There's certainly very little that's normal about Lower Hutt's Lupi and this might also be a good time to mention that in between training for all these different disciplines, the 39-year-old is also a full-time actor and mother of three children aged 10, 8 and 6.

Lupi took up running a couple of years ago to relieve the stress of looking after her children but decided that wasn't enough and after being recommended to go and hit some pads at a gym, she had found her new calling.

She took her first amateur kickboxing fight in 2012 and has since fashioned a 14-1 record, while she has also had a handful of boxing bouts. Lupi beat Smith via majority decision over six rounds in June during their first showdown.

Balancing home life, work and her training is a full-on existence but Lupi, who's film credits include Kiwi flicks 'Second Hand Wedding' and 'Eagle vs Shark', said it was worth the struggle.

"So why do I keep doing it? Because life is too grey and you need a bit more colour," she said. "So you can sit round home living a pretty sedentary life and you just don't really feel alive, so I want to feel alive."

Her children understand what mum is up to when she gets in the ring and enjoy being part of the show. Lupi's husband Paul Everitt, a digital editor for Weta, is supportive of her pursuit to make it in the fight game.

"He likes it, he's not against women fighting," Lupi said.

For 2015, Lupi wants to expand her horizons and fight abroad -- kickboxing is her preferred discipline -- given she has nearly exhausted all of her options in New Zealand where she holds multiple titles.

She can fight across six different weight classes in kickboxing from bantamweight (55.45kg) to welterweight (66.82kg), which should provide her with a range of potential opponents.

"Next year, definitely all I want to do is concentrate on getting international gigs," she said. "So I've got a list of names I'm going to hunt down and call out."

- by Daniel Richardson of NZME

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