Undefeated pro boxer Brandi Johnson, a Chicago Public Schools teacher, preparing for next big fight

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Brandi Robinson is an undefeated pro boxer from the south suburbs, who is now preparing for a big fight later this month in Rosemont.

The Sauk Village native and Chicago Public Schools teacher is working hard to make her home city proud.

Before Brandi Robinson became a boxer, she had quite a successful career in karate. A member of Team USA, she spent seven years training in Hawaii before deciding to move back home.

"COVID started 2020. That kinda wiped out my Olympic hopes for karate, because they stopped all of our qualifying meets. I wasn't ready to give up combat sports. I been doing karate since I was 7, but I wanted to move, so I literally googled boxing gyms in Chicago," she said.

Robinson found and began working with Rick Ramos, a future Illinois boxing hall of fame coach and manager who took notice of her skillset and helped shape it for a different combat sport.

"She can move fast, hands and feet. You know, some fighters are strong, but don't have good legs; some move well in bottom, but don't punch hard. She's got a little bit of everything," Ramos said.

"I never was used to being able to hit freely. Karate, you have penalties. If you hit too hard, you get a warning and they stop the fight and reset. Boxing, I got into the ring, and they were like, 'Yeah, you can hit, hit to the face," Robinson said.

It didn't take Robinson long to adjust. She was able to turn pro after finding success in a short-lived amateur career.

"I kept testing her. 'Let's fight this girl. Lets' fight this girl.' And then the last girl had like 50 fights, and that was her 6th fightm and we took the fight and beat her," Ramos said.

"When I won the Golden Gloves, it was like we're going to go pro, I think it's a good time. Boxing is a lot about timing too, and if the market is good, the timing is good. So he wanted to turn me pro, and I trust everything that he says," Robinson said.

Now she is 3-0 as a pro, and it's a record she's worked for.

Robinson trains seven days week and is preparing for the first six-round fight of her career, on top of being a fitness teacher at National Teachers Academy.

"If you can handle a full-time job, and do this sport seven days a week, that alone tells me you're tough. They're here at 4:45 in the morning, and then they come back at 4 o'clock in the afternoon," Ramos said.

"So I usually get here at 4:25, 4:30. The whole team is here, we do our workout. After that I go change and I go straight to work. Kids come in at 8:30, they leave at 3:30, I come back to the gym," Robinson said.

After a busy day teaching, Robinson comes into the gym every day with her goal as a professional boxer in mind.

"I want to be a world champion, whether its karate or boxing. That's been my goal, so I'm looking to do that. I haven't stopped yet, because I haven't reached the goal," she said.

"She's only been fighting for two years. She's 9-0 overall; 9-0 with amateur and pro fights, and it's just impressive. She's never thrown a punch in terms of boxing before. So to do it that fast is pretty amazing," Ramos said.

Robinson is doing all this at 35 years old. She's even incorporated boxing at her school and created a program for the students.
Her next fight is Wednesday night at the Rosemont Rumble.