King’s Lynn’s Stevi Levy is crowned the new EBU Silver European Super Bantamweight Champion in front of a packed-out arena in Sheffield.
After heart break in Poland on her last outing, where she fell short in her European title campaign to home fighter Laura Grzyb, Levy described her first title victory as “the best day of my life!”
On Friday 9th February at the Park Community Arena in Sheffield, Levy took on Poland’s Dorota Norek for the EBU Silver belt.
Levy was originally scheduled to fight Portsmouth’s Ebonie Jones for the English Super Bantamweight title, but Norek stepped in as Jones’ replacement when the domestic fight fell through.
Norek proved to be an awkward opponent for Levy and a great test for this stage in her career. The first half of the fight was close, and it really came down to which style you preferred.
Levy was patient and showcased some brilliant movement to evade many of Norek’s combinations and landed the cleaner shots. Whilst Norek was wild and unpredictable: constantly switching stance and peddling feints at Levy before catching her with some spiteful blows.
From round 6, Norek appeared to be tiring. She started sitting in her corner until the very last second between rounds and holding Levy during them.
Demonstrating impressive fitness, Levy took advantage of this and comfortably picked up the next few rounds by keeping Norek at range with a beautifully sharp jab.
The final round was messy, with Norek attempting to claw back the fight by walking Levy down onto the ropes with relentless punches.
Ultimately, one of the judges scored the fight a draw and the other two had it 98-92 and 96-94 to Levy, which I thought was a fair outcome.
With tears streaming down her face, Levy said: “I’m on top of the world. I feel amazing. We’ve manifested it over and over and over and over. Best day of my life. It’s the best day of my life, that’s for sure.”
Her close friend and former World Champion Ebanie Bridges who has been by Levy’s side throughout fight week added: “I know all the sacrifices that she’s made, and I know how much this means to her. I mean you can just see her reaction; it means so much to her.
“And especially, I know obviously as a boxer, the sacrifices that you make but she’s had to give up her kid during the week to move up north to train with Dave [Allen] so she can give it her best, so she can come and win this title. So it’s all paid off. And that feeling when you win after all those sacrifices, you know when it all pays off, it means the world.”
