Boxer Kelsey Jeffries earns award, set to fight on May 15 on
FSN
Here is your mission if you choose to accept it:
Wearing a 50-pound vest, with 25 pounds added on the shoulders, run up a stair-stepper for three minutes and 20 seconds.
Then drag 200-feet of hose 100 feet.
Now pick up and carry two chainsaws 150 feet.
Next, pick-up, raise and extend two 24-foot ladders.
After that, pick up a 10-pound sledgehammer and slam a target that simulates forcible entry.
Then crawl through a darkened tunnel, approximately 64-feet long, and slither and slide your way around an unforeseeable maze.
Don’t forget to drag a 165-pound dummy 70 feet.
And lastly, push a pike pole through the roof to simulate a ceiling breach.
Complete four sets.
All of that in 10 minutes and 20 seconds, or you’ll receive a failing grade.
It’s called the Candidate Physical Ability Test (CPAT), and is essentially a “drivers exam” for future firefighters – only so much more difficult says Kelsey Jeffries.
Jeffries, the IFBA (International Female Boxers Association) Featherweight champion, who recently earned Co-Fighter of the Year honors for the second time in her career, completed the rather uncomfortable CPAT in a somewhat comfortable 10 minutes.
While preparing online and with the help of the Hollister Fire Department, Jeffries passed the physically exhausting test, and perhaps passed a sense of nervousness into the male firefighters-to-be that witnessed her successful completion.
“That was a very hard test. A lot of the guys were failing and they were big men,” said Jeffries, who gave a “big thank you” to the Hollister Fire Department for their effort in helping to prepare the prize fighter. “I prepared for this agility test like it was a fight … It was tough. I felt like I just won the world title – an awesome feeling.”
Jeffries also prepared and succeeded in defending her title three times in 2007, and was rewarded for her efforts with the IFBA’s fighter of the year title.
Sharing the honors with Holly Holm of Albuquerque, N.M., the Hollister boxer received the award at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula recently.
After earning the same title from the IFBA outright in 2004, Jeffries said this year’s award was even more special.
“They have more champions now and a lot more fighters to select,” she said. “I didn’t expect them to select me at all. They have a couple of great fighters that are more in the public eye, but they picked me, which is pretty cool.
“The IFBA is probably the best organization that women’s boxing has ever seen, so it’s a tremendous honor to be selected just once by the IFBA and a huge honor to be selected twice.”
Jeffries, who recently defeated Jun Yun Jung by unanimous decision in South Korea on Dec. 23, has a career record of 40-9-1.
Last year alone, she defeated Donna Biggers and Rhonda Luna, in addition to Jung, in three title defenses. In another 2007 bout, she defeated Elizabeth Villarreal to earn the Global Boxing Union’s Featherweight title.
In regards to her IFBA belt, though, Jeffries has successfully defended it eight times since she earned it in 2004.
“I’m very honored to be their champion,” she said.
Also taking a full load of classes at Gavilan College, Jeffries never seems to slow down. And while no opponent has been officially announced, Jeffries has an IFBA title defense lined up for May 15 on Fox Sports Net, and another bout in June slated for the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, Ore., according to Jeffries’ manager, Bruce Anderson.
With a bout just three months away, and no official opponent slated, it’s business as usual for Jeffries, who’ll likely tackle her next opponent with the same fire as she did her CPAT exam.
“It’s normal,” she said. “Let me know (who my opponent is) a couple of weeks out, and I’m cool.”
