To many, Holly Holm has supplanted Christy Martin and Laila Ali as the face of women's boxing.A winner of 19 consecutive bouts, the 28-year-old Holm (25-1-3, seven knockouts) will take on Melissa Hernandez (11-1-2, four KOs) on Friday night in a welterweight (147 pounds) matchup for the WIBA title before what should be a partisan crowd of Holm's hometown fans on Friday night at the Isleta Casino and Resort in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
FanHouse caught up to Holm (pictured, right at the 2008 ESPYs) recently, when she discussed her upcoming bout, what it's like being the fighting, daughter of a preacher, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old MMA fighter, Joey Villasenor (27-6, 11 knockouts, 10 submissions), among other things.
Fresquez Productions Inc. is offering the live via webcast for $8.95.
Check out what Holm, a southpaw who is nicknamed, "Hottie," had to say after the jump.
FanHouse: So are you getting ready?
Holly Holm: I'm getting ready. This is my last hard week of training.
FH: How many weeks have you trained?
Holm: It's been about eight weeks. I'm always training. But as far as just focusing on the fight, it's been about eight weeks.
FH: Have you seen Melissa Hernandez fight?
Holm: I did see her fight when she fought the same night that I fought. I think she's a little scrapper. She's a little fighter. She's got a lot of fire in her.
She has a different style than maybe some of the girls that I've fought. I think that she's going to be definitely a really tough opponent.
FH: So I understand that your father is a preacher?
Holm: He's been a preacher since before I was born. There were a few years when he was resigned from the Church of Christ. He had a few years off and he started to teach and to help with a few other families out in the mountains.
And they kind of started their own little congregation. They used to get together and worship out of an airplane hangar, and then one of the members was an elementary school teacher and so they kind of worked out of their class.
Now they have their own building, and their highest membership has been around 70-some in the mountains, which is really good for them starting out. Especially for them, because the population out there in Edgewood isn't like it is in Albuquerque.
They're in Edgewood, about a half-hour to 40 minutes East of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
FH: Was your father always supportive of your fighting?
Holm: Anything that we wanted to be competitive with and be self-motivating with, he's always going to support. A lot of people always ask about my dad being a preacher and me being a fighter, you know.
I think people have a big misconception of the fact that fighting is not an evil thing, it's a sport. People who get into the ring have an even higher respect for each other because they know what it takes to get in there.
So when I got involved with it, he just said, 'It's the oldest sport in the book anyway, and everybody has a little fighter in them.' My father supports me because he knows how much I love it.
FH: Did you play any other sports growing up?
Holm: I did. I was in gymnastics for quite a while. I did soccer for many years and I swam pretty much every summer in a competitive league from when I was about six years old until I was about 15.
FH: When did you first start boxing?
Holm: I had my first fight when I was 18, and I started training when I was 17. I started doing an aerobics class when I was 16 years old, just to keep in shape. And it happened to be out of the same gym that I was taking the aerobics in.
Some fighters actually trained there. I thought I would just like to try it. So I started training, and the instructor said, 'I'll let you know when I think that you're ready have your first amateur fight.'
So I started training, and I had my first amateur fight when I was 18. I just got addicted, I guess.
FH: How well did you do as an amateur?
Holm: I only had about nine fights as an amateur. Really didn't have a lengthy career, but I did well. I don't think that I lost as an amateur. I had a couple of draws.
FH: When were you nominated for an ESPY?
Holm: Not this year, but in 2008. I think it was that I had been really active and that I had fought a lot of the top girls leading up to that. But then, that year, I fought Mary Joe Sanders and she had had a lot of attention.
She had been trying to get a fight with Laila Ali and she was considered the best pound-for-pound female in the world. So when I beat her in 2008, that's kind of what drew them and the attention to me.
I dominated her. I think that the scorecards were like eight rounds to two.
FH: How did you meet your boyfriend, MMA fighter Joey Villasenor?
Holm: He's actually a very, very good fighter. We met in the gym. We just saw each other there for a few years. We had a lot in common outside of the gym. We started talking, hanging out and now we've been dating for about four years.
FH: So when is the big day -- the wedding?
Holm: I don't know [laughs.] It could happen, but I'm not really in any rush. I'm not ready to have kids until I'm done fighting. That's something down the road. Every year, I say that I'll fight for about five more years.
But I've been saying that for the last three years, so I don't really know. I still feel like I have plenty of time left.
FH: This next title -- the WIBA crown -- how meaningful is that belt to you?
Holm: I honestly don't want to take anything away from the organizations that work hard for us to have the opportunity for us to be able to fight for the title. But I don't want to win any more for a title as when I want to win when it's not for a title.
I want to win just as bad -- whether it's for a title or not. I don't put any more emphasis on whether it's for an actual title or not.
FH: How motivated are you to beat Melissa Hernandez?
Holm: She's kind of been on a roll and she's had a lot of wins. A lot of people know that she's been very cocky. It's one of those fights where I really feel like I've got everything to lose in other people's eyes, anyway.
FH: Why do you believe that?
Holm: I know that I'm up against a tough opponent, but a lot of people are like, 'Oh, she's fought at 126, and you've fought at 154.' But 154 is not my normal weight and I didn't weigh in at 154 when I fight at that weight.
My normal weight is around 140, and Melissa usually fights around 135, so a lot of people are making it this 'David and Goliath' story, like she's fighting this huge fighter.
I am taller than her by quite a bit -- at 5-8, and she's 5-3. But I feel like I have a big test in front of me -- I just don't think that people are putting the amount of attention on it that they did for the Mary Jo Sanders fight.
For me, and myself, I know that I'm up against a totally different style and a very tough fight. I feel like I'm doing something for my career, but I don't know how the media sees it.
FH: Do you feel like you just need to win or make a statement?
Holm: I always feel like I want to make a statement. I don't want to just get by. I want to feel like I did everything that I could in the ring. Otherwise I feel like I've wasted so many hours of training to not make it worth something.
I want to do my best every time that I'm in there. I don't ever get in there thinking, 'Oh, I just need to do just enough.'
FH: How will you measure success in this fight -- a knockout?
Holm: I don't feel any pressure to have to knock her out, but I definitely want to dominate, no matter what. That's what I want to do, is just want to dominate.
