Holly Holm spoke about how she maintains her composure and focus amid being trash talked after returning to the win column in her first boxing bout in over a decade. The former UFC bantamweight champion donned the big gloves once again on Saturday night with
Holm securing a unanimous decision victory over Yolanda Vega. It was an impressive return to form for Holm with the former three weight boxing champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee looking like she hasn’t lost a beat competing under Queensberry Rules.
The victory took place as part of the Jake Paul vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. event which went down on Saturday, June 28th concurrently with the pugilistic proceedings of UFC 317. When addressing on-site media members in the aftermath of this win, with footage provided by MMA Fighting, ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ was asked for her thoughts on pre-fight comments from Vega that were oriented to wanting to send Holm into retirement.
When responding to those comments from her opponent and if the smack talk gave her a bit of extra fuel, Holly Holm said,
“I use anything as motivation. They could be being too friendly, and I’m like, ‘I’m not your friend.’ They could be talking a bunch of trash, and you’re like, ‘Don’t talk like that.’ It’s just leading up to a fight—you’ll use anything for motivation. So, yeah, it’s motivation, but really my motivation is just in me. I fight for me, and for the support that I have for my team. I want to win.”
Holly Holm and ‘a sweet victory’ that was twelve years in the making
Holm continued, “I don’t want to fight somebody who’s not there to win. I don’t want to fight somebody who’s not at their best. I want to beat them when they’re at their best, so I wanted her to come with everything she had. That makes it more of a sweet victory. It doesn’t bother me, it does fuel me, but I want them to come. I don’t want to beat someone at their worst. I want to beat them at their best.”
