By Tyler Lewis
“We all watch fighters, but I try and do my own thing – because you can’t always be like your favourite fighter.”
Local sensation Melisa Murselovic isn’t hung up replicating the best fighters in the world, instead focusing on becoming one herself.
It appears to be a successful approach for the 16-year-old kick-boxer, who recently returned from the 2022 WAKO World Championships in Italy with a World Champion title.
Murselovic fell in love with the sport from early sparring sessions with her brother in the garage, before her dad encouraged her to head to the local gym to train.
There she met Peter Hatton, who has coached her for her short – but accomplished – career.
“I trained and fell and love with everything… the fitness, hitting the bag, I met my trainer – Peter Hatton – and it just blew up from there,” Murselovic said of her first session.
After being invited to represent Australia in Europe, Murselovic then endured a gruelling preparation period.
“I was of course over the moon, but from then I was training six days a week, doing everything I could to get fit and prepared,” she revealed.
“On September 24 we flew to Italy to do a five-day training camp before the fight which was intense, we were training three times a day for about two hours.
“I had a good team and good coaches to push me through when I was injured and tired and wanted to give up.
“I wanted to win gold for Australia, I wanted to represent my country and bring a medal home.”
Win gold Murselovic most certainly did, and it came with some difficulty, considering she needed to conquer much bigger opponents.
“I found out I was fighting Morocco first and I think the toughest part about both of my fights was fighting girls heavier than me,” she said.
“I think I was the lightest girl in my division… in the final I ended up fighting the US and she ended up being seven kilos heavier than me.
“But I had a game plan, listened to my coaches and ended up winning.”
The laconic youngster was sharp in announcing her end goal, but will ultimately never forget why she originally began fighting.
“Hopefully go pro one day… sign a contract with a big company and make some money,” she joked.
“Other than that, get fit, get strong, stay on top of my game and keep improving.”
The Murselovic family were extremely grateful to all the parties that assisted Melisa in achieving her goal.
“We would like to say a quick thank you to Francis WAKO for inviting Melisa and Team Australia for supporting her,” they said.
“Astro Rodrigues and Luke Draper for being in her corner during the fights, and Peter Hatton, who has been training her since she was nine-years-old.
“We also wanted to thank Fighters Xpress for preparing her physically for this big event.”
Melisa was thankful for her parents support and her sponsors: Allover Welding, RJB Construction, Fork One Motorsport Wheels and Tyres, Uncle Sam’s and Specsavers.
