Professional boxer Jaala Tomat has been pinching herself in hopes of waking up after adding the ANBF Australian Featherweight Title to her name, and securing the final in a trifecta of boxing belts.
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"I think it's a bit surreal to be honest, I still think I'm dreaming. I can't actually believe it, it's crazy," Tomat said, after beating her opponent Krystina 'Mousey' Jacobs on June 22.
Growing up in Merimbula and going to high school in Eden, Tomat said it was a trip back to the region that set her path on developing and competing in boxing, and she hadn't looked back.
On March 27, Tomat was set to face off against the aggressive and undefeated 7-0 Beck Hawker.
However, within a week of the fight and after months of training, she was informed it was called off due to an injury.
"There was no end result, so it hit me quite hard, and it was really hard to get myself motivated to go again, but we did.
"And then this training camp was the worse, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
"But I think that makes the victory even better, and thought, 'If I can get through this, I can get through anything'."
The fight was held at The Croatian Club in Footscray, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne.
Her opponent was Tasmania's first female world champion and winner of the WIBA Super Featherweight Championship in 2021.
Tomat was aware of Jacobs' previous fighting history, and noted how she had more experience but took a few years from the sport, had a slower pace, and could play into the hands of Tomat.
Half way through the eight rounds, Tomat said she saw Jacobs begin to break, and ended up putting a cut on her cheek after Jacobs kept coming in close and bruising Tomat with accidental headbutts.
"[Since] I have such long gangly arms, the only way she could get me was to rush me, and she was coming in way too close, and as a result of that she kept clashing her head on my cheek because she was smaller than me," Tomat said.
"And holding me, which was very annoying, to protect herself, and I use my jab hand by keeping it out there, so it's harder for them to come in," she said, and explained how for her 170cm height, she had a 180cm reach.
"There was no other option in my mind except that I was going to win the Australian title, and I needed the trifecta - the Victorian, the Australasian and the Australian."
Since winning, the 34-year-old said she found it strange how people know and talk about her boxing style as well as asking for selfies, something that comes with the professional nature of sportspeople.