As an ambitious young person, Lia Lewandowski is a living exercise in the duality of the human spirit.
On one hand, she is a Drexel University graduate who had dreamed of working in national security, stacking up classes while double majoring in International Area Studies and Political Science.
On the other, Lewandowski is the fighting pride of the Philadelphia suburb of Berlin, New Jersey, drawn to combat by an intrinsic desire to push herself to her athletic limits.
That next test comes on March 7, when the 27-year-old Lewandowski puts her 3-0 (1 KO) record on the line against rugged journeywoman Indeya Rodriguez, 6-8-3 (1 KO), in a six-round fight at The Tropicana in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The fight will be part of a Boxing Insider Promotions card, and will be her second six-round assignment.
For Lewandowski, the duty to maximize her education opportunities were instilled in her as a child. After graduating from high school, she enrolled in Drexel University, just a half-hour from her home, but still across state lines, meaning she would pay more expensive out-of-state tuition. She made the most of the opportunity, picking up a minor in Middle Eastern and North African studies, while looking for an attempt to study abroad in Jordan or Egypt, which fell through due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She acknowledges that her life could have taken a very different course.
“They always drill into your brain to get the best education and then being prepared to work nine-to-five, Monday through Friday,” Lewandowski told BoxingScene. “And I was fully prepared at that point to put my hours in beyond nine to five, I was prepared to move to Washington D.C. or New York.
“Then once I started fighting, and then seeing the all the possibilities that opened up with that, and creating my own schedule, it's more convenient and satisfactory to me when I'm my own boss. How I perform depends on what time I dedicate into it.”
Lewandowski didn’t begin training in combat sports until 2020.
However, the seed was planted in her mind four years earlier, when she accompanied her friends to New York City to watch their friend compete in a Muay Thai smoker, or unsanctioned fight. The scene was something out of a 90s martial arts movie, with the venue being a basement in a New York City alley.
She took note of some of the women warming up on the heavy bags. Though this experience was foreign to her, she saw part of herself in them.
“I remember looking up to them, like they scared me. And I just wanted to have that power to myself,” said Lewandowski.
“I don't know if I can speak for everyone on this, but I think that everyone would want to be a fighter, or at least know how to fight, whether or not they actively did or not. Whether or not I knew I could take a punch at that point, I had no idea. But luckily, as I went along with it, we're still here, and we're still rocking with it.”
Lewandowski took up formal training in late-2020.
It began with South Jersey Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in her hometown, learning the disciplines of mixed martial arts, like kickboxing, jiu jitsu and Muay Thai. She competed in a few grappling matches and had an amateur kickboxing match, but began to gravitate towards boxing when she met her boxing coach, Milton Davis.
Boxing made more sense to her.
At 5’7”, she was taller and rangier than most at her weight. Additionally, she always appreciated the impacts of her striking game more than her work on the ground.
USA Boxing, the governing body that oversees amateur boxing in the United States, also offered more structure to compete, with tournaments both local and national. Slowly, she began to see her future more in boxing, as she traveled to Texas, Michigan and Louisiana to compete in national tournaments.
She turned professional in 2024, and added two more fights in 2025. By her third fight, Lewandowski was advanced to six-rouners and won a majority decision over Chantal Sumrall at junior featherweight.
Lewandowski also gained valuable experience in Team Combat League (TCL) as part of the Boston Butchers, fighting rounds against far more experienced former national champions like Christina Cruz, Alexis Araiza Mones and Shera Mae Patricio. That experience, and the fact that she was fighting above her natural weight, gave her the confidence to move up to six rounds quicker.
To keep the lights on as she pursues her boxing dream, she works weekends as a bartender. She often brings tickets to her fights to work, in case any of the regulars wanted to see her fight.
Roughly 100 supporters are expected to be in attendance when she faces Rodriguez, a 29-year-old from Dallas who has far more professional experience.
Rodriguez has never been stopped in her 17 pro fights, and has gone the distance with world champions Gabriela Fundora and Miyo Yoshida in decision losses, plus the aforementioned contender Cruz and national amateur standout Ginny Fuchs. Her biggest win came on a previous Boxing Insider Promotions card, when she upset former title challenger Sulem Urbina in 2022.
Lewandowski says she had boxed against people who train with Rodriguez in Texas, and that Rodriguez had reached out to Boxing Insider to make the fight.
Boxing Insider’s Larry Goldberg says that Lewandowski’s willingness to challenge herself shows her seriousness about the sport.
“Lia has been great to deal with. She checks off all the boxes, she’s willing to get in there, she’s fighting a real fight. Indeya Rodriguez is tough, and Lia is a real fighter,” said Goldberg, who will air the fights for free, live on his company’s YouTube channel.
As for Lewandowski’s future, she has no intentions of slowing her ascent through the boxing world.
She expects to move to eight rounds after this fight, with a world title opportunity hopefully to follow. And if her educational background came calling again, being world champion would be a pretty good cover for someone working in the CIA or FBI.
“My goal is definitely to make it to the top. I want to be a world champion, and unless I have some kind of injury that prevents me from doing so, I'm just going to keep going at it until I get to the top,” said Lewandowski.
“Fighting isn't a long career, but if you do it right, you could retire early and happy.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
