Canadian bantamweight boxer Amanda Galle signs with MVP, looks to add titles

Amanda Galle of Canada, left, lands a blow to Lorena Cruz Aispuro of Mexico during their bantamweight bout in Laval, Que., Thursday, March 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

TORONTO — Canadian boxer Amanda (Bambola) Galle already holds the IBO bantamweight title. Now the 36-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., wants to add to her collection.

Galle (11-0-1) will get a bigger platform to do so, having signed with Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) co-founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian.

“I know it’s going to put me on big cards with tremendous viewership … Just a bigger stage, a bigger audience,” Galle said of what she expects from the new partnership. “Family members having the ability to tune in from their couch and watch me on TV.”

After signing with MVP, Canadian lightweight (Prince) Lucas Bahdi found himself on the undercard of Paul’s November 2024 bout with Mike Tyson before a crowd of 72,300 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where Bahdi won a majority decision over Italian Armando (La Furia del Quadraro) Casamonica.

Shown on Netflix, the main event maxed out at 65 million concurrent streams.

In addition to fighting before a bigger audience, Galle is looking to “take my career to the next level and go collect all the goods that I’m working so hard for.”

That would be the big four WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles.

“I want all the (championship) belts,” said Galle.

The undisputed bantamweight (118-pound) title is on the line July 11 on MVP’s all-women boxing card at Madison Square Garden, headlined by the trilogy fight between Ireland’s Katie Taylor and Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano for the undisputed super-lightweight title.

The card sees American Shurretta Metcalf take on New Zealand-born Australian Cherneka Johnson with the bantamweight titles on the line.

Galle won the vacant IBO title by in December 2023 defeating Venezuela’s Niorkis Carreno and won a rematch last time out in December. She has won five straight since a draw with Mexico’s Jaqueline Mucio Munoz in July 2022 and says she is ready to go again.

“I’ve been in the gym the last six months … feeling very strong, healthy and in shape,” she said.

So ready that she told MVP that she is ready to step in, if needed, on the July 11 card.

Denmark’s Dina Thorslund was originally slated to face Metcalf in New York but has stepped away from fighting to have a baby.

The MSG show also features Canadian Tamm Thibeault, a former Olympian and world amateur middleweight champion from Shawinigan, Que., who takes on American Mary Casamassa. Montreal’s Jessica Camara takes on England’s Chantelle Cameron on the card for the WBC interim super-lightweight title.

Galle was handled previously by DiBella Entertainment and Toronto-based Lee Baxter Promotions.

“I have to give them gratitude that they did keep me busy” Galle said. “And Lee Baxter brought the IBO world championship belt to my backyard in Toronto, so I was able to fight for it in front of all my fans … I displayed an Italian buffet of punches.”

She said that win made her realize “I could be the best. I can beat the best.”

That’s because Carreno fought Thorslund in April 2022, losing a unanimous decision for the WBO bantamweight title. “And she gave (Thorslund) a hell of a more difficult time than she gave me,” added Galle.

Galle started in combat sports at age six, earning her black belt in karate after being inspired by TV’s “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” Switching to boxing, she had her first fight at 16 and went on to win three national titles (on 2009, 2013 and 2018).

Galle turned pro in 2019. Her nickname Bambola is Italian for doll.

“Fourteen years as an amateur (boxer), six years as a pro, I’m doing 20 years of boxing and I still classify my face as being a beautiful doll. So I’m fulfilling that name all right,” she said with a chuckle.

A graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) in early childhood education, Galle has always trained at All Canadian Martial Arts Academy in Mississauga. Today she teaches boxing at the gym’s academy.

She is also an ambassador for Fight To End Cancer in honour of her mother, who died in 2022 — nine years after being diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. Galle won the Canadian super-bantamweight title two weeks before her mother died.

Article by Neil Davidson.