Sarah Long (fighter)

Sarah Long (born Te Haroto, New Zealand 27 April 1987) is a New Zealand professional boxer and kickboxer. She is the current NZPBA New Zealand national heavyweight champion. She has peaked in the world rankings when she ranked 10th in the World Boxing Council and 4th on BoxRec.

Professional Boxing Career

first year 2016

Sarah Long made her professional boxing debut against three time New Zealand amateur national champion Nailini Helu on 18 June 2016. This was the beginning of change in New Zealand regarding women's boxing as this was the fourth women's heavyweight boxing fight in a space of 10 years. After this fight, women's heavyweight boxing fights became more frequent. This was also deemed as a New Zealand heavyweight title fight eliminator, where the winner will go on to fight for the New Zealand title. Long lost the fight by unanimous decision. A few months later Long took on another former New Zealand amateur national champion Cheyenne Whaanga on 24 September 2016. This was Cheyenne Whaanga one and only fight of her career. Long lost this fight by unanimous decision. A couple of weeks after that fight, she took on Hamilton boxer Tash Pakai on the show that her trainer Terry Tuteru promoted on 8 October 2016. Long took her experience from her previous fights and showed how much she had improved, especially when she knocked her opponent down in the second round. Long won her fight by unanimous decision.

Win over future world champion & New Zealand title 2017 - 2018

On 10 March 2017, Long took on Geovana Peres. At this time Geovana only had one amateur title underneath her, winning the North Island Golden Gloves amateur title the previous year. The fight was a close fight but in the end Long fought marviously and won by Unanimous Decision. Geovana Peres after this fight went on to not only become a 2 time New Zealand national champion but also a WBO World Light Heavyweight Champion. Little that was known at the time, this made Long the biggest win of her career and the only person to have beaten Geovana Peres in her professional boxing career. On 11 November 2017, Long took on Alrie Meleisea for the NZPBA New Zealand national heavyweight title for one of the biggest New Zealand women's title fights New Zealand has ever seen. It was such a close fight that there was only one fight between them in the final result. Long lost the fight by a close unanimous decision. Long weighed-in in the fight at lightest of her career and actually was weighed in as a Light Heavyweight. The two eventually announced their rematch the following year in June, however, Alrie Meleisea pulled out of the title defence due to her mother dying the previous week before the fight. Alrie vacated her title which gave Longan opportunity to fight for the title against someone else. On 13 October 2018, Long took on Hamilton boxer Ashley Campbell for the vacant NZPBA New Zealand national heavyweight title. Long's boxing skills had improved so much since her debut in 2016, she simply outboxed Ashley, almost winning every single round. Long won the bout by unanimous decision. After the fight, her family erupted into a haka in celebration of her title win.

Rematch & World ranking 2019 - Present

On 28 September 2019, Long took on her biggest boxing rival, Alrie Meleisea in Alrie first fight in almost 2 years. This was also Long's first fight in almost a year as well. The fight was an entertaining bout but the result ended in a controversial draw. The reason why it was controversial in this 4 round fight was that one judge gave all the rounds to Alrie, one judge gave all the rounds to Long, with the last judge gave the fight an even 38 - 38. Both corners weren't particularly happy with the scoring of the cards, however, it was probably the most fairest result. In 2020, Long wasn't able to get a professional boxing fight in New Zealand due to COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand which resulted in the country getting locked down twice throughout the year. In January 2021, it was announced with World Boxing Council in their January ratings that Long would be ranked 10th in their World Heavyweight women's boxing rankings.

Professional boxing titles

*New Zealand Professional Boxing Association
**New Zealand National Heavyweight Title (185¼ ''Ibs'')

Professional boxing record

Kickboxing career

Kickboxing titles

*International Kickboxing Federation
**New Zealand National Heavyweight Title

Awards and recognitions

*2019 Gladrap Boxing Awards Female Boxer of the Year (Nominated)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lupi, Gentiane
1987 births
Living people
New Zealand women boxers
New Zealand female kickboxers
Sportspeople from Auckland
New Zealand professional boxing champions
Boxers from Auckland
Sportspeople from the Hawke's Bay Region