'CAT Woman is hiss-tory!' is the warning from Warrington Thai boxing champion Julie Cross as she flys out to meet top American fighter Kathy Long.

Long is best known for her martial art film appearances and she also worked as Michelle Pfeiffer's stunt double for 'Batman Returns'.

Long's showbiz profile is expected to attract a lot of interest for what will be Julie's first ever fight under the Marquis of Queensbury rules.

But the 24-year-old legal secretary is unphased by the prospect due to the fact she already holds the British Thai boxing featherweight title and was narrowly defeated in a world title contest in Hong Kong 18 months ago.

Her impressive record led to Julie being the only British fighter invited by promoter Don King when he set up a series of women's fights involving Americans and 10 guests from around the world.

And Julie has brushed aside British boxing chiefs' claims that women bruise more easily than men when she accepted the invitation to jet out to Texas for a showdown next month.

While the sport is growing rapidly across the water, Julie is particularly unimpressed with the decision last week to refuse British champion Jane Couch a licence to fight in her own country.

"Everyone bruises the same whether they are male or female. As long as people are trained properly, it's ridiculous to say it's safe for men to box but women can't," she said.

"There are none of these problems in Thai boxing - everyone just gets on with it. It's so old fashioned to still be thinking women can't fight because of things like PMT."

Julie's trainer Dave Jackson said: "Don King has been pushing women's boxing very hard recently and putting women on the undercard for all his big fights.

"This is a great opportunity for Julie and she'll give Kathy Long a good fight. She's proved what a great Thai boxer she is and her fist technique is very strong."

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