Kaliesha West

Kaliesha West (born February 11 1988) is an American former professional boxer who held the WBO female bantamweight and International Female Boxers Association super-bantamweight World titles during her career.

Biography
West has a multi-cultural heritage. Her father, Juan, is of African-American, Puerto Rican and Seminole Indian descent while her mother, Melissa, is of Mexican and Korean heritage. She was first introduced to boxing while attending her father's matches. Despite initial reluctance to involve her in the sport, Juan eventually taught her the basics and then took her to a boxing gym.

As an amateur, West had over 100 fights and won numerous tournaments and honors including the 2002-2003 Junior Olympic championships, 2003-2004 Silver Gloves and the 2002 125lb National Golden Gloves championship for ages 13-14.

Shortly after her 18th birthday, West made her professional boxing debut on February 23, 2006, at San Manuel Indian Casino in San Bernardino, California, recording a four-round unanimous decision win over Suzannah Warner.

On September 18, 2010, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, West won the vacant WBO female bantamweight World title with a seventh-round technical knockout victory against Angel Gladney. She made boxing history, as she became the first boxing champion from the Inland Empire region in Southern California. West successfully defended her title against Ava Knight (split decision draw) on 18 June 2011, Jessica Villafranca (unanimous decision win) on 20 August 2011 and Claudia Andrea Lopez (majority decision win) on 14 April 2012.

On October 6, 2012, at the Finish Line Sports Grill in Pomona, California, West won the vacant International Female Boxers Association World super-bantamweight title with a unanimous decision success over Christina Ruiz.

West retired from professional boxing in 2017 and was inducted into the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame in 2023.