Sara Bailey Exclusive Interview: Eyes Dominance in March 7 World Title Defence

Sara Bailey (5-0, 0 KOs) may miss her days as an amateur boxer, but she has high expectations when it comes to her professional career.

The Canadian light flyweight will defend her WBA world title against Cristina Navarro (6-2, 1 KO) on March 7. Their bout takes place on a Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) card at the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto, Canada. Boxing fans globally will be able to catch the action live on DAZN.

Bailey won a secondary version of the WBA title in April 2024 against María Bautista. Later that year, she was elevated to primary titlist and defended the belt against Anabel Ortiz. The fight against Navarro will be Bailey’s second world title defence following her promotion to primary titlist.

Ahead of her world title defence, Big Fight Weekend got to speak with Bailey. Below are quotes from the interview.

Sara Bailey Speaks to Big Fight Weekend

Sara Bailey on Her Amateur Days

As an amateur, Bailey initially represented Canada but later competed for Sierra Leone, qualifying through her grandparents. In 2022, she represented the West African country at the Commonwealth Games. However, she was disqualified after missing weight by 0.1 kg, something she attributed to a discrepancy between the test scales and official scales. Later that year, she became the first Sierra Leonean to win gold at the African Elite Boxing Championships.

When it comes to her time as an amateur in Canada, it was not always smooth sailing.

“Honestly, it was quite tough,” says Bailey. “With amateur boxing there’s low funding. Ontario doesn’t really help you out much. Boxing Canada doesn’t really help you much because they don’t recognize the sport as something big. They’re more into lacrosse, hockey. So it was a lot of just self funding. It was finding the right support team, my gyms helping me out. Sometimes having to do crowdfunding. So that was really difficult.”

However, she does admit to missing those days in spite of the challenges.

“[My amateur days were] fantastic. I miss the amateur days, honestly. Right now I also coach and help out with the team a lot and I just miss being able to fight back-to-back days, doing tournaments. That was some of the best times I’ve had where I got to travel the world a bunch and it was really great. It got me to where I am now with all the experience I have.”

Deciding to Turn Pro

Bailey may have only begun her professional boxing career in late 2022, but the signs that she was ready for it were evident several years prior.

“From the beginning of my career, actually, when I was 15, 16, my coach would always say ‘your style is more suited to pro’ because I’ve got that wide stance. I like to stay low. I like to take my time. And I was succeeding in the amateurs but from the beginning they were always telling me ‘when you turning pro? When you turning pro?’ So it just happened that I was doing well as an amateur and that’s why I did it for so long, but I always knew that I was going to be a professional boxer.”

There are also aspects of the professional ranks that she prefers over amateur boxing.

“I just like how we have more rounds. With amateurs it’s three three-minute rounds. It’s so rushed. I like to start slow. I like to take my time, find my range, find my timing. So, I just really liked that transition and my coach kept telling me ‘you’re gonna really appreciate turning professional.’ I like how we don’t have the headgear. I like how we’ve got the smaller gloves. So, it’s been a lot of fun.”

Sara Bailey: Thoughts on Opponent Cristina Navarro

Bailey’s world title defence will come against 35-year-old Navarro of Spain. It will be the first time the Spaniard has fought outside of Europe in her professional career. As this piece goes published, Navarro is ranked fifth by the WBA at minimumweight, but fought at a weight of 110.25 lbs in her last fight.

“Like all of them, they’re coming to beat me. They’re coming to take my world title away from me. So they’re gonna be tough. They’re going to be rugged. They’re going to be doing everything they can to win and I’ve seen a little bit of her. She’s ranked number five with the WBA so she’s gonna be tough, she’s got experience herself and the Spanish come to fight. So I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be entertaining.”

Her Boxing Goals for 2025

Despite only having five fights as a professional, Bailey has set her sights on world title unifications.

“If we can make it happen, I’d like to be undisputed where I have all four world titles. I feel like it’s a bit of [a] crunch time with who I have to fight next. It’s a bit of a process. It’s a lot of politics, but definitely I want to be unified champion. So I want to have two world title belts minimum. That’s minimum minimum. Within seven fights.”

Big Fight Weekend will be in attendance for Bailey’s upcoming world title defence. Be sure to stay tuned for coverage that will include results, video highlights, and post-fight analysis of the intriguing contest.