Heather Hardy
Heather Hardy (born January 25, 1982) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. In boxing, she held the WBO featherweight title from 2018 to 2019. She is also a trainer, living and working in Brooklyn, New York. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the world's third best active female featherweight by BoxRec and fourth by "The Ring". Early life and family. Heather Hardy was born on January 25, 1982 to John and Linda Hardy and is of Irish descent. She has two younger siblings, Kaitlyn and Colin. Hardy had married her highschool sweetheart  in 2004, but after some hard times the pair divorced in 2010. Hardy was raised in Gerritsen Beach in South Brooklyn. While in school, Hardy was active in athletics, aspiring to become the first female pitcher for the New York Yankees. Hardy went on to major in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. She graduated at the age of 22. Boxing career. Heather started boxing in 2010 when she was going through a rough patch in her life: she was working a series of miscellaneous jobs to support her daughter, sister, and nephew and finalizing  a divorce with her husband who would not pay child support. Within three weeks of training, Hardy, a 28 year old rookie, had her first fight in front of an average sized audience in Long Island, and won. Even though her first fight was just meant for fun, it helped her find out that boxing was her calling. Mixed martial arts career. Invicta Fighting Championship. Hardy was scheduled to make her professional MMA debut against Brieta Carpenter at . However, the bout was cancelled due to an injury by Carpenter. Bellator MMA. Hardy made her professional MMA debut at Bellator 180  in a flyweight bout against Alice Yauger on June 24, 2017 at the Madison Square Garden. She won the fight via TKO in the third round. Hardy faced Kristina Williams in a flyweight contest at Bellator 185. She lost the bout via TKO due to a doctor stoppage in the second round after a head kick from Williams shattered her nose. Hardy faced Ana Julaton on February 16, 2018 at Bellator 194. She won the fight via unanimous decision. Hardy faced Taylor Turner at Bellator 222 on June 14, 2019. She lost the fight via first round TKO. On July  10, 2021, it was announced that she was no longer under contract with Bellator. In the media. Following her rise to fame, Hardy has been a persistent voice for women's boxing. In 2013, shortly after women's boxing was declared as a featured sport in the 2012 London Olympics, an independent film director named Natasha Verma tackled the subject of the gender wage gap in boxing through her film "Hardy". She interviewed Hardy on her experiences and talked about how she was changing the face of a generally male dominated sport. In 2016, Hardy partnered with Dove on their  #MyBeautyMySay campaign.