ASK any boxing writer who they’d like to interview, and chances are the heavyweight champion of the world will be on the shortlist.
Journalists have made their names by writing about the champions of the sport’s glamour division, or by doing so have gained entry to an exclusive club of influence and celebrity.
But there was something different about my first conversation with a heavyweight champ. Something down to earth. Something accessible and honest. Something grateful for the platform I was providing, rather than the other way round. And something… female.
Lani Daniels, you see, is the women’s world heavyweight champion.
Furthermore, she is the only one right now, and one of just five women to ever hold a “big four” belt in the biggest weight class.
To win a ‘world’ title of any description is a proud moment for any boxer, and so it was for Daniels, and all the more eye-catching that it happened at heavyweight – even if it was due to circumstance rather than intent. Daniels just happened to be a heavyweight at the time, as the self-proclaimed “biggest yo-yo” has gone up and down the scales throughout her boxing career, and throughout her adult life. The 5ft 7ins New Zealander has been as high as 240lbs outside the ring, and as low as 158lbs in it. On
