Katie Healy says defeat to Nina Hughes will make her a better fighter, as she heads into her next huge boxing assignment.
The Wolverhampton HR manager gets a fantastic opportunity on December 8th when she takes on Canada’s Shelly Barnett for the Commonwealth Silver Super Bantamweight Title in the beautiful surroundings of the Cayman Islands – LIVE/FREE on Fightzone.
Healy versus Barnett forms part of a great undercard to the headline bout on the night which will see Birmingham’s Matt Windle defending his Commonwealth Light Flyweight belt against Doncaster’s Craig Derbyshire.
After turning over in 2021, Healy raced to 6-0 before getting a very late-notice opportunity in June to take on Hughes for the Essex fighter’s WBA World Bantamweight Title.
Despite giving her all, Katie went down to a wide points loss on the night at Wembley Arena, but believes the experience will still stand her in good stead as she prepares to bounce back against Barnett.
“To be quite honest, I wasn’t disappointed at all,” said Healy about her only career loss. “It was a fight that we took on short notice and we always knew it would be a challenge, but it was one I was really up for.
“I had such a fantastic week at Wembley and made the most of the whole time. I came away from the fight really enjoying the experience and felt like I had learnt a lot from the whole thing.
“I’ve always been my biggest critic so there are obviously areas that I look at now and would do differently, but I think these are the sort of fights that shape fighters.
“I have personally always learnt more from my losses [back in my kickboxingcareer] and come back as a stronger fighter – just as I’m looking to do on this Cayman show against Shelly.”