Kali Reis Talks True Detective, Jake Paul, Amanda Serrano and More in B/R Interview

Former two-division boxing champion Kali Reis has fought in 27 professional fights, so overcoming pressure and nerves is nothing new for her.

Still, she found it surreal to be cast as the co-lead in the fourth season of the hit HBO anthology series True Detective after having previously acted in just two independent films.

"This doesn't happen, this must be meant to be," Reis told Bleacher Report. "A week prior to the director reaching out to me on Instagram, of all places, for Catch the Fair One, I was really wanting to get into acting and didn't really know where to start, and I'm like, 'If it's meant for me, it'll find me.' Oh, it found me, tenfold."

Reis co-wrote the 2021 film Catch the Fair One and earned a nomination for Best Female Lead at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards for her role in the film. The following year, she landed a role in Black Flies. She spent the first quarter of 2023 acting alongside two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, who is the other lead in the show.

"It was like being a 4-0 boxer and then getting told you get to work with Mike Tyson in his training camp in like 1986," Reis said of working with Foster.

Officially dubbed True Detective: Night Country, the six-episode season is set to premiere on Jan. 14. The show's premise states: "When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice."

Reis is a Rhode Island native who is used to the harsh winters in New England, but she said, "Nothing prepares you for the wind in Iceland," where the season was filmed from November 2022 to April of this year. Reis was a fan of True Detective when it debuted to critical acclaim in 2014, but what really drew her to the project was the deeper story told by writer/director/showrunner Issa Lopez that involves the indigenous population in Alaska.

"Especially being an indigenous, mixed indigenous, afro indigenous, Cape Verdean Wampanoag woman... the biggest theme is that the land does not belong to us, we belong to the land, and I hope that people get a glimpse at a part of the world that we forget about," said Reis, who identifies as being of Native American descent and is an active supporter of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement.

Even though acting has been her focus for the past couple of years, Reis has kept a close eye on the landscape of women's boxing, which has grown in popularity thanks to the rise of stars like Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields and Alycia Baumgardner. Reis is a pioneer of women's boxing who was a part of the first women's fight ever broadcast on HBO. The 37-year-old hasn't fought since her last victory in November 2021, but she's not retired just yet.

"To see women's boxing on the rise and see where it's at from when I started to where it's at now and where it's going, I've been a part of that. I like to say I'm the J. Cole of women's boxing because I ain't retired, and I'll drop a hot 16 on you real quick," Reis said. "Put me up in that title fight and I've been there, I've seen things. I ain't completely a veteran yet, but I'm in that good 'Middle Child' situation."

A former titleholder in the middleweight and light welterweight divisions, Reis has used her time off to address her reproductive health issues, which she previously explained during a podcast appearance in October 2022. She relinquished her light welterweight titles and doesn't have a firm timetable for her return, but she is on a six-fight win streak and has a record of 19-7-1 with five knockouts.

During Reis' time away, the rise of influencer boxing has ushered in a new generation of fans. YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul has helped create a new genre in the sport that sometimes relies more on entertainment value than actual skill.

"Do I think it's a clown act? The only time I think it's a clown act is when you get two influencers who ain't trained a day in their life and they're throwing punches looking worse than like two-year-olds," Reis said. "That's the only thing that I can't stand."

However, she added that she has respect for Paul because of his commitment to supporting new stars and improving his own skills.

"Jake Paul's doing his thing, he's helping real female fighters. Shadasia Green and Amanda Serrano are his people, and he promotes the hell out of them," Reis said. "He makes opportunities for them, sponsorship, eyes, just the networking part and the part that I think a lot of athletes, especially boxers, forget about, the brand and the marketing part, he's got that down pat. The boy puts in work and I've seen him improve, for him. So, I'm not even mad at that."

Serrano recently made headlines when she vacated her WBC featherweight title after the organization's refusal to allow her to compete under the same ruleset as men's boxing with 12 three-minute rounds. Women's championship fights are typically no longer than 10 rounds with each round lasting two minutes.

Reis said she believes Serrano proved women can fight under the same rules as men when she defeated Danila Ramos by unanimous decision in October in the first women's title fight to be fought with 12 three-minute rounds. However, she also offered another option that she believes in more viable.

"Would you do twice the amount of work for the same amount of money? No. I wouldn't either, and I think the quality of female fights, the skills that we have, I personally think we should start with 12 [two-minute rounds] and then eventually get to 12 threes," Reis said. "But I love seeing 12 threes, I mean look what Amanda Serrano did with her last fight, the punch output was great. So she just proved that we can do it, it's just that business-wise we gotta go about it the right way. ... It's not the question of can we, it's when should we."

But for now, Reis is focused on the upcoming premiere of True Detective: Night Country, which she hopes will hook fans the same way the first season did 10 years ago.

"I hope that the Inupiaq indigenous people can see themselves on screen not being portrayed as the typical drug addict, alcoholic, womanized, abused victim, that they can see themselves in their community. ... I did the best I could to collaborate with actual Inupiaq people so they can see themselves represented on screen, so I hope that comes through," Reis said. "And also the True Detective fans, I hope they find a home like we did in season one, I hope that feeling gets back in our bones again watching season four."