All Eyes on Brooklyn Barwick

Coming off a first round stoppage victory in her professional debut, Brooklyn "The Big Deal" Barwick hopes to reenter the ring in May. Her plan is to compete somewhere between bantamweight and featherweight this year, but the Laguna Beach native is willing to take on all comers from flyweight up to lightweight. She just wants to fight.

The 25 year old came to boxing later than most. A former gymnast and wrestler, the 4'11" fun-sized fighter broke into the sport through the world of influencer boxing two years ago. Though Barwick became disgusted by the antics she was required to perform in order to hype those events, she found she enjoyed this brutal sport. "I actually started to love boxing and decided to take it seriously," she told The Jewish Boxing Blog.

Barwick not only trains out of New York but also worked out at Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas. She employs a coterie of coaches. The hard work has already begun to pay off. Compared to her influencer days, she showed noticeable improvement in her debut against Alejandro Marrufo in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico on March 1. Barwick hounded her opponent with relentless pressure, eating a few shots on her way to an exciting, albeit brief, first round TKO win after just 54 seconds of action.

The Big Deal has big dreams. The only active female Jewish pro boxer in the United States, she's aiming for a world title and has already called out Francesca Hennessy, an undefeated British junior featherweight.

Barwick knows she's not yet ready for the big fights. "Now it's all about proving myself and working my way up," she said. But she's uniquely situated to succeed in boxing. The combination of her fan-friendly style and her expansive social media reach will serve her well in this business. Despite Turki Al-Sheikh and Dana White's proposed league, there's no current centralized marketing push in boxing. It's every boxer for themselves. In this climate, Barwick's ability to draw eyes will surely be an asset as her career progresses.