Niagara Falls’ Mikiah Kreps returns to action Tuesday at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan, where she puts her perfect 4-0 record on the line against 12-fight veteran Indeya Smith. The fight will be televised online at www.fite.tv (19.99).
While both fighters share the same goal – defeating each other, they also have one thing in common, they are insanely excited to be fighting two days before Thanksgiving so they can partake in eating lots of holiday food.
When asked about the prospect of being able to eat as much as they want on the holiday, Kreps, who admittedly plans her post-fight meals almost as meticulously as she does her pre-fight game plan, and Smith, had the same exact response, verbatim, when asked about Thanksgiving.
“I’ve had a fight after Thanksgiving before, and it sucks,” they both said, unwittingly in unison.
Kreps (4-0, 2 KOs) and her team are finally getting their wish – getting her back in the ring as soon as possible after a successful fight. She is fighting just 39 days after her last fight, a unanimous decision victory over Carmarie Vargas in Niagara Falls. The plan, if all goes well, is to have Kreps fight for a world title in early 2023.
“It’s your obligation to stay ready as a fighter whether your fight is next week or a long ways away,” Kreps said.”Fat camp sucks, so I try to stay as close to my fighting weight as possible and not have to worry about it during training. I can just naturally bring my weight down.”
Kreps, who was encouraged by her training staff, led by world champion trainer Manny Robles, to get off to a quick start in her last fight, did so by dropping Vargas with a left hook early in the fight. Kreps is hoping for a similar start Tuesday
“I can box, or I can mix it up inside,” she said. “I’m going to take the first few seconds to size up what’s going on in the fight and go from there.”
Smith, a New Orleans native who now resides in Dallas, has been fighting for ten years and is 5-5-2 with one knockout in her career. However, she is currently riding a three-fight winning streak.
“I’ve been able to stay consistent with my training lately,” said Smith, a UPS employee by day. “I’ve been working on defense and head movement, and it’s shown in my last fights. I’m very excited to be fighting someone as accomplished as Mikiah.”
Smith is no stranger to spoiling a fighter’s perfect record. She began her current winning streak by defeating Ashley Sciscente, who was 5-0, and then defeating her again in the subsequent rematch.
“It was wild, all the fans were booing me,” Smith recalled with a laugh about her first fight with hometown favorite Sciscente. “But, they all know who I was at the end of the fight and the boos went away.”
For the first time, Kreps will be fighting on a card run by her promoter, Lou DiBella, and will be represented in the crowd by former world champion Jamel Herring, who is one of her managers at First to Fight Management.