Correio newspaper | ‘I want to be the first woman to win the title unification’, says Bia Ferreira

Boxer came to Salvador to visit her family and hand out medals during the Petrobras Running and Walking Circuit

“I want to make history in the professional ranks, just like I did in the Olympics and be the first woman to also achieve title unification.” Silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Two-time world champion and two-time Pan-American champion. As soon as she said goodbye to the Olympics, Bahian Beatriz Iasmin Soares Ferreira, 31 years old – or just Bia Ferreira – wants to continue marking her presence in the ring and soon become the first woman to unify the belts in professional boxing, just as she did in four-time world champion Acelino Popó Freitas.

“I’m very proud of my entire history and now there are new ambitions, new goals. At the end of this year and at the beginning of next year, I am dedicating myself to focusing my career completely on the professional side. I’m going to defend the title now on December 14th. It will be my first defense and I am very excited for it, firm and strong”, she added.

Preparation has already begun for the fight scheduled in less than two months, where Bia will defend the International Federation (FIB) lightweight world belt, in Montecarlo, Monaco. Until then, the multi-time champion took a break from training this weekend to leave São Paulo, see her family in Salvador and also participate in the 1st Edition of the Petrobras Running and Walking Circuit.

“I was very happy. I think sport has everything to do with health. I saw children, adults, elderly people running and this is very good, they have my full support, I thought it was super beautiful. It was a ‘back and forth’, in fact, I’m doing all my preparation in São Paulo, but I took some time to come and recharge my energy, miss my mother too. For me it is an honor to be here in Salvador, a privilege”, he said.

The event aimed at company employees took place this Sunday (20), in Jardim de Alah. The Petrobras Team athlete took photos, received affection from the runners – especially the young ones – in addition to handing out the medals in the men’s and women’s 5 km and 7 km races, in the children’s races and the 3 km walking circuit.

“I love this child’s energy. I like being that reference because I had that reference as a child. We have to be a good positive mirror so that we can encourage, have good adults. I think the beginning is very important. And children have a surreal energy, I love being with children. I am an eternal big child and it was wonderful to share a little of my story and my energy with them.”

After ending her Olympic career and becoming the Brazilian with the most medals in the sport, Bia Ferreira’s focus is entirely on professional boxing. Daughter of the three-time Bahian and two-time Brazilian champion in bantamweight and super bantamweight, Raimundo Oliveira Ferreira, better known as Sergipe, her father has always been an inspiration for the fighter who began learning to box at the age of 4, in the Nova Brasília neighborhood.

“My father was my role model when I was a child. I box because he was a high-performance athlete, so I grew up watching my father train, accompanying my father in fights and everything. I had him as a great reference”, he said. From the Olympics were the medals he won in the up to 60 kilos category and the pride of being there representing Brazil:

“In fact, we experience the challenges well beforehand, with all the preparation and the fact of being able to qualify to perform well during the games. But there? Everything was wonderful there. I think that during the games, whoever manages to qualify to be in the Olympic games is a surreal experience. Of course, in any competition there are some setbacks, but nothing that could take away my focus and concentration at that moment. I was with a wonderful team that filtered everything, made everything easier there. I was feeling really good.”

Even though she was prepared and knew the opponents she faced, Bia stated that the gold didn’t come because it wasn’t her moment. “The thing is, it wasn’t meant to be. I managed to prepare well, I knew my opponents, I knew that the fight with the Irishwoman would be an early final, I knew what I could optimize, but I also knew that she was going to have an anti-game and that’s what she did. It was her day, her moment. I delivered everything I had to deliver that day and managed to get another medal and finishing my time in Olympic boxing with two medals was very important. I’m very proud of my entire story, the trajectory I’ve had.”

As a professional, Bia Ferreira has five victories, two of them by knockout. The boxer’s mother, Suzana Pereira Soares, said that she lives with several ‘Bias’ before each fight: “Being Bia’s mother is not easy. It’s not easy because Bia before the fight is one, Bia after the fight is another. It’s a whole process. Bia before the fight is annoying because she is restricted to a lot of things. Bia afterwards is wonderful. And Bia Daughter is careful. Bia listens, talks, is extroverted, we get along very well. She, I, and her sister Samira, are very close.”

Regarding watching the fights, the mother says that she follows them all and does not accept anyone telling how it was. “I have to watch. Do I get nervous? I am. When it ends I scream and as soon as it ends I immediately want to see the body, if she was hurt, if everything is okay. My concern is this, if something happened, if everything is ok”.

Once, Suzana even watched the wrong fight, but she never stopped rooting for her daughter. “There was a fight that I was watching and I started looking for her tattoo and then I couldn’t identify it. And then, I took off my glasses, put them on and I didn’t see the tattoo, but I was hoping because the person looked very similar. Afterwards I tried to talk to her, another fight was already going on and when she answered me, she turned to me and said: ‘my mother, I won, the one you saw was my colleague’. I just don’t want her to take too long with this thing of being there in the ring so that she can better enjoy the gains of this moment, of the things she is achieving. That’s what I wish for her, but I always tell her to do what she wants.”