JENNY SAVAGE is the bare-knuckle star named after a WWE legend who is challenging for Elle Brooke’s Misfits Boxing throne.
Savage – real name Jennifer Clausius – faces Brooke at Misfits 18 in Newcastle on Saturday night.
The American has also earned the nickname “The Tennessee Gangster” throughout her bare-knuckle and MMA career.
But she now crosses over to boxing in a move which has been a long time coming.
Savage, 31, told Fred Talks Fighting: “I’ve always wanted to be a boxer, with gloves on, not without.
“This is actually a dream come true to have what I would consider my first boxing match.
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“I’ve had two exhibitions prior. But I’ve had to find them myself at the last minute in weird circumstances and I feel like this will be my first boxing test.
“I haven’t worn 8oz gloves at all. I mean, I’ve had 6oz gloves, MMA gloves but this will be my biggest fight to date and my first time wearing these kind of gloves.
“It’s not like bare-knuckle boxing, I believe it’s more comparable to a collision where bare-knuckle is more superficial with the cuts and things of such, you can break your hand like I did.
“But I feel like I’m battle-tested because of bare-knuckle, I’m battle-tested because of my mixed martial arts background and overall I’ve just been submerged in boxing.
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“Overall, I just feel like it’s going to be my night and I have no doubts.”
The boxing newcomer took inspiration from WWE icon “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
But she earned her nickname the hard way having debuted in MMA professionally in 2018.
That night, she featured on UFC boss Dana White’s “Lookin’ for a Fight” series but she suffered defeat to Jamie Milanowski.
After seven MMA fights and three losses, she crossed over to bare-knuckle boxing where she had six fights, winning three.
Now it is time to put on the boxing gloves to fight Brooke – in what is a literal dream come true.
Savage said: “I predict that I’m going to knock her out in the second round or I’m going to TKO her. I’m going to stop her.
“I just have dreams about it. I have actually had dreams about getting this opportunity before.
“I want to say, I was really down wondering what I was going to do next.
“My first boxing fight in Nashville almost didn’t happen due to confusion in information.
“I was like, ‘Dude, I really want this fight.’ I asked myself why and I went within.
“And then I took a nap and had a dream that I was fighting Elle.
“I’m pretty prophetic and when I commit, when I get away from fear and doubt, magical things happen.”
Savage has a teenage son Cayden – whose father tragically committed suicide during the coronavirus pandemic.
And she uses his sad passing as a form of inspiration to better her and son Cayden’s life.
Savage opened up: “He lit a fire underneath me for my son – not spitefully because I was upset with him – but just to be the strong person that my son needs.
“Because my son is just like his father; he’s bright, intelligent, misunderstood, a very beautiful human and I believe we all have our own beauty that we should embrace for ourselves.
“We always anticipate the love for others but at the end of the day we’re the ones in that ring, in that cage, on that mat in the gym a lot of the times alone.
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“We’ve got to have that inner strength and be reminded that life is within us and we’ve got to pull it out sometimes ourselves.
“It’s not easy but I believe it’s worth living and life is beautiful.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk