Chei Aleta Kenneally is an Australian professional boxer born February 2, 1995, in Sydney. She stands 6’0″ with a 72.8-inch reach, fights southpaw, and competes at light heavyweight out of Port Botany, New South Wales. Before boxing ever entered the picture, Kenneally was a competitive track and field athlete. As a young girl on the Gold Coast, she represented Queensland at the 2005 Pacific School Games in under-10s shot put — and went on to compete in multiple Australian national championships in shot put, discus, and hammer throw. She didn’t discover boxing until she was 15, a genuinely late start for someone who would eventually become a world champion. The multi-sport background gave her an athletic foundation that translated naturally to the ring.
Kenneally turned professional in 2023 and rose quickly through the ranks in Australia, collecting regional titles along the way. She claimed the ANBF Australasian Women’s Light Heavyweight title in June 2023 and added the ANBF Australasian Women’s Heavyweight title in October of that year, defending it in a rematch in March 2024. In her fifth professional bout, on July 20, 2024, in her hometown on the Gold Coast, Kenneally stopped Colombia’s Angie Paola Rocha in the third round to capture the vacant WBA Women’s Light Heavyweight World Championship — becoming a world champion with a perfect 5-0 record. She signed with Salita Promotions in April 2025, which brought her onto the international stage and into bigger fights.
Her first defense came on February 22, 2026, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on the undercard of Claressa Shields vs. Franchon Crews-Dezurn II. Facing the veteran Danielle Perkins — a former professional basketball player and two-time World Amateur Championship medalist — Kenneally ran into the most dangerous opponent of her young career. After a competitive early stretch where she used her counter-punching to weather Perkins’ pressure, she was stopped in the sixth round by a left-right hook combination at 1:45, surrendering her WBA title. Now 5-1 at just 31 years old, Kenneally remains one of the most physically gifted fighters in the women’s light heavyweight division, and with her size, athleticism, and improving ring craft, a path back to world title contention is entirely realistic. The first loss is often the most instructive — and for a former shot put champion turned world champion, the story is far from over.
Chei Aleta Kenneally is an Australian professional boxer born February 2, 1995, in Sydney. She stands 6’0″ with a 72.8-inch reach, fights southpaw, and competes at light heavyweight out of Port Botany, New South Wales. Before boxing ever entered the picture, Kenneally was a competitive track and field athlete. As a young girl on the Gold Coast, she represented Queensland at the 2005 Pacific School Games in under-10s shot put — and went on to compete in multiple Australian national championships in shot put, discus, and hammer throw. She didn’t discover boxing until she was 15, a genuinely late start for someone who would eventually become a world champion. The multi-sport background gave her an athletic foundation that translated naturally to the ring.
Kenneally turned professional in 2023 and rose quickly through the ranks in Australia, collecting regional titles along the way. She claimed the ANBF Australasian Women’s Light Heavyweight title in June 2023 and added the ANBF Australasian Women’s Heavyweight title in October of that year, defending it in a rematch in March 2024. In her fifth professional bout, on July 20, 2024, in her hometown on the Gold Coast, Kenneally stopped Colombia’s Angie Paola Rocha in the third round to capture the vacant WBA Women’s Light Heavyweight World Championship — becoming a world champion with a perfect 5-0 record. She signed with Salita Promotions in April 2025, which brought her onto the international stage and into bigger fights.
Her first defense came on February 22, 2026, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on the undercard of Claressa Shields vs. Franchon Crews-Dezurn II. Facing the veteran Danielle Perkins — a former professional basketball player and two-time World Amateur Championship medalist — Kenneally ran into the most dangerous opponent of her young career. After a competitive early stretch where she used her counter-punching to weather Perkins’ pressure, she was stopped in the sixth round by a left-right hook combination at 1:45, surrendering her WBA title. Now 5-1 at just 31 years old, Kenneally remains one of the most physically gifted fighters in the women’s light heavyweight division, and with her size, athleticism, and improving ring craft, a path back to world title contention is entirely realistic. The first loss is often the most instructive — and for a former shot put champion turned world champion, the story is far from over.