Hollister – Kelsey “The Road Warrior” Jeffries is like most people. She doesn’t particularly like getting hit in the face.
The difference is that International Female Boxers Association (IFBA) world featherweight champion Jeffries, unlike most people, is in a profession where getting hit in the face is a regular occurrence.
Just not for the Road Warrior. Not much anyway.
Kim Colbert of Southfield, Mich. only managed to land one punch in the Road Warrior’s grill Saturday evening at Legends Casino in Yakima, Wash. in a fight Jeffries dominated for a unanimous decision and her 12th straight win.
Colbert, a big fighter who sacrificed 20 percent of her share of the purse – about $320 – in the non-title bout after weighing in over the 122-lb. limit, brought significant firepower to bear against Jeffries. But the Michigan bruiser simply couldn’t get her licks in where they counted against the agile Hollister-based champion, whose record now stands at 32-8-0 with 2 KO’s.
“She was big and strong and she really could punch,” said Jeffries of Colbert (2-8) after the fight. “She brought a lot more than I thought she was going to bring. I’d slip a punch and feel a gust of wind rush by. Like when she would hit my arms or my shoulders with glancing blows, I could feel that the girl could really punch.”
Jeffries put together a tactical fight against the left-handed Colbert to win her second bout in as many weeks. The Buddy McGirt-trained Road Warrior moved around the ring well, staying away from Colbert’s long reach and picking her spots to attack.
Saturday’s fight went the scheduled six rounds, with Jeffries winning each of them on all three judges’ scorecards for 60-54 scores across the board and a unanimous decision. She had taken apart Philadelphia’s Lakeysha Williams at Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, Ore. just a week earlier in a fight that was also a unanimous decision for Jeffries.
Now, it’s time for the Road Warrior to take a break. Well, a little, tiny bit of a break anyway.
Jeffries returned to Hollister from Washington early Sunday afternoon. And, despite taking several body shots from the powerful Colbert the night before, as well as operating on very little sleep and less in her stomach, Jeffries completed one of the last physical tests she had to take before becoming a full-fledged firefighter in San Benito County. It was a grueling test for the already exhausted Jeffries, one that involved running with an ax and a line of fire hose for a good distance, all while in full protective gear, oxygen tanks included.
They don’t call her a physical specimen for nothing.
Jeffries passed the test with flying colors and finds herself one step closer to realizing her dream of becoming a firefighter.
The Road Warrior will now get a few days to rest but her hectic summer fight schedule has her back in action in July for a very special bout in her own backyard. Jeffries’ camp is currently looking at opponents for a fight on July 21 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Bruce Anderson, Jeffries’ manager, says he is concentrating on finding a quality opponent for the fight at the Tank, one who will give Jeffries a legitimate challenge but who is also the kind of fighter who will allow the hometown favorite put on a show for her local fans.
“There aren’t too many fighters out there, male or female, that could do what (Kelsey’s) doing,” said Anderson of Jeffries’ back-to-back fights and her upcoming bout in San Jose. “But we’re looking at some entertaining things for the fight in San Jose and it should be an exciting one.”
