Karriss Artingstall will face Lila dos Santos Furtado on the undercard of the IBF world welterweight title clash between Natasha Jonas and Mikaela Mayer on January 20th at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and on ESPN+ in the USA.
Artingstall (5-0, 1 KO) is back in business following a second-round KO win over Vanessa Bradford on October 21st at York Hall. The former WBA world super featherweight title challenger had never been stopped before sharing a ring with Artingstall, who made light work of the Canadian, who had previously gone the distance with Alycia Baumgardner and Hyun Mi Choi.
“Of course, I was happy with my performance. I did something no one else managed to do,” said Artingstall. “I always come to hurt my opponents, to get the win is the most important thing, but to hurt my opponent and to make them quit, there’s no better feeling.”
The 2020 Olympic bronze medallist will be aiming to continue the successful start to her professional career by securing a statement win against the Brazilian dos Santos Furtado (9-1, 1 KO), who returns to the UK following a WBC International Title fight with Raven Chapman earlier this year.
“I think I’ve had a good start to my journey as a professional fighter,” said Artingstall. “I mean, it could be better as I’d like a belt to my name which is definitely the focus for 2024. Next year, I’d like to cement my place at the top of the division and challenge for those world titles.”
Amanda Serrano currently holds three of the belts at 126 lbs, and while Artingstall is focused on working her way into title contention, the 29-year-old has also been linked to fights with domestic rival Raven Chapman and Australia’s Skye Nicolson, who holds the WBC Belt and who Artingstall beat in the 2020 Olympic quarterfinals to claim bronze.
“I’ve mentioned previously who I’d like to fight as I believe it would be great for the fans,” said the 29-year-old southpaw. “But for now, I’m just interested in fighting whoever is going to improve my world ranking.”