BANFF – It was a flash in the pan debut for Banff's Maddie MacPherson.
It took less than one minute for MacPherson to defeat Saskatchewan’s Charlene Clarke in her Canadian debut at the Muay Thai World Cup’s Prospect Series at Bullhead Community Hall in Tsuut’ina First Nation near Calgary on Saturday (Sept. 4).
The 22-year-old fighter won by technical knockout (TKO) just 51 seconds into the first round of what was supposed to be a 10-minute, two-round bout.
“I was a little disappointed to be honest. I wasn’t super happy about it because I trained really hard and I was kind of hoping to get to fight for longer and show off what I had been working on," said MacPherson. “Having the fight be that short isn’t satisfying.”
Leading up to the bout, MacPherson said she felt confident and excited at the prospect of fighting again, but on the day of the fight things changed. She admitted to feeling nervous and anxious because it had been nearly two years since she last stepped into the ring.
Luckily for her, those feelings quickly passed once she started her routine getting ready for the bout.
“As always, right before the fight something just switches over and I lost all my nerves and I had such a big smile on my face. It was funny my coach came up to me and said he’s never seen me smile so much.”
MacPherson said that sense of nervousness and anxiety giving way to excitement was the same mental roller coaster she felt before fights in Thailand.
“I think once I start getting my hands wrapped my feelings shift to excitement," she said.
Recalling the fight, she remembers touching gloves, landing a punch, clinching, landing a knee, taking a knee. She then disengaged and landed a right hook, followed by catching her opponent's kick causing her to fall to the ground.
MacPherson thinks the initial fall injured Clarke and after that she quickly knocked down the Saskatchewan-based fighter two more times, forcing the referee to call the fight.
“You can’t be knocked down more than three times in a round or else it counts as a TKO,” said MacPherson.
After the debut, she is already turning her sights on an October fight.
“Because it was so short and not really satisfying, it doesn’t feel like it’s over so I feel like my mindset is still the same and I will be ready to go in October.”
