New Zealander Vs New Zealander Gets Title Upgrade

Nicila Costello vs Michelle Preston will be happening on the 5th of August at Auckland New Zealand’s ABA Stadium with the fight receiving a major title upgrade.

Born in the small town of Hawarden in the south island of New Zealand, Nicila Costello has returned to her home country to take on UK-born New Zealand boxer Michelle Preston in the fight for the vacant WBA Oceania Super Flyweight title. This is a significant increase for the fighters for multiple reasons. The winner will receive a world ranking with the WBA, taking that big step towards getting a world title fight. This is also historic as this will be the first time the female version of this title will be fought for in New Zealand.

The only New Zealand female to win the title was Gentiane Lupi who won the title in Singapore in 2016 before taking a 3-year hiatus from boxing. Joseph Parker, Jeff Horn and Izuagbe Ugonoh all won the male version of the title back in 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand, during all of the uphill climbs of their careers.

Nicila Costello who is currently the Australian National Champion just arrived in New Zealand today for the fight, will not have her coach, Todd Commons in her corner, however, she will be bringing her teams and her promoter Angelo Di Carlo to support her.

Currently, her record is four wins and one loss with two wins by KO. Her only defeat was against Jasmine Parr who is the daughter of world champion kickboxers John Wayne Parr and Angela Rivera-Parr. Costello's last two fights have ended by TKO within the first two rounds. She is hoping to continue the great success against her opponent.

Michelle Preston is a five-time kickboxing champion and a two-time World title challenger. Preston has been a pioneer for New Zealand boxing as she holds a lot of firsts in New Zealand including the first female ever to win a WBA PABA regional title, the first female ever to win a WBO Asia Pacific title, the first female ever to fight for a WBC OPBF title and first female to win a New Zealand title by Stoppage. Outside of combat sports, she is the Director of Life Plus, a recruitment company for the Health Sector in New Zealand.

Her record currently is nine wins, eight losses and one draw with two wins boxing by way of knockout. Preston originally retired from combat sports in November 2017, however, she decided to make a return this year with success. Her most recent win was her comeback fight when she fought New Zealand national amateur champion, Holly McMath, by split decision.

Craig Thomson who is the promoter of the event has been promoting boxing in New Zealand for 16 years. This will be his 58th boxing event. He is currently working with Jason Suttie to help promoter Michelle Preston in hopes to get her one more world title fight.

The event will be held at ABA Stadium on the 5th of August. Tickets are on sale with limited availability. You can buy tickets from Craig Thomson on Facebook. If you can't get there in person, you can watch the event on PPV at https://www.combatsportsnetwork.co.nz/

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