Local champion recovers from shot to win split decision over
McGee
BAKERSFIELD – After being dazed in the opening round of Friday’s eight-round bout against Valanna McGee in Bakersfield, local champion Kelsey ‘The Road Warrior’ Jeffries shook off the cobwebs and fought back to win a split decision, 78-74, 77-74, 75-76.
“She hit me with a really good shot in the first round. I didn’t go down, but I had to hold on,” said Jeffries, who came back in round two and clobbered McGee with a vicious overhand right. “I was still dazed. I didn’t even know it, but I caused a huge hematoma on her head. I was still out of it.”
McGee’s left eye blew up so badly that Jeffries thought the fight might be stopped. Instead, Jeffries went to work on the weak spot and dominated in the latter rounds for her fifth straight win at Centennial Gardens in Bakersfield.
“I just took it to her after that,” said Jeffries, who lifted her record to 22-8 with one knockout. “I was just working it.”
Once McGee was hurt by Jeffries, she backed off from her aggressive style and Jeffries became the busier fighter.
“She stopped being aggressive. She didn’t want it as much as I did,” Jeffries said. “It was a good fight. It was back and forth the whole fight.”
McGee had studied Jeffries by watching some of her fights, while Jeffries knew nothing about McGee – except she was bigger at five-foot-seven and coming down to fight at 129 pounds.
“Apparently this girl has been studying me for a long time,” Jeffries said. “I had no idea about her. The first time I saw her was at the weigh-in on Thursday. She was huge.”
Jeffries noted that the punch she took from McGee was the hardest shot she’s taken in her professional career. But the garlic slugger recovered quickly and used her speed to outpoint McGee.
“I think my heart won the fight and my conditioning,” said Jeffries, who trains at the Gilroy Community Youth Center Gym on Sixth Street in Gilroy. “She was tired out after three rounds. I just kept coming.”
Jeffries – who is midway through her training to become a firefighter – is scheduled to fight again on Oscar De La Hoya Promotions’ ‘Fight Night At The Tank’ on November 6. She does not know who her opponent will be as of yet.
“I’m hoping for a title defense,” said Jeffries, who holds the 126-pound world featherweight title but has run into trouble finding fighters at her weight.
