Fifteen years ago, a young girl appeared at the door of Enrique Rodrigues’ boxing gym in Kalihi Valley.

Although somewhat shy, the girl had an attitude that piqued the interest of Rodrigues, a noted boxing trainer.

"My first impression was a pretty tough girl who you could sense had that attitude," Rodrigues said. "You could tell she had the heart and the desire, so I said to myself, ‘I think we can do something here.’ "

That something could become historic on Saturday when 29-year-old Kuulei Kupihea attempts to become the undisputed women’s world welterweight champion against Cecilia Braekhus at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland.

Kupihea (7-1, 2 KOs) has a chance to become what is believed to be the first boxer — male or female — from Hawaii to hold all three world titles at the same time. Braekhus, who is 18-0 with four knockouts, has successfully defended the WBC, WBA and WBO world titles four times since unifying the belts in May 2010.

Before leaving for Finland last Sunday, Kupihea, who has reeled off seven consecutive wins since a loss in her professional debut in 2003, said she’s ready to put an end to Braekhus’ run.

"I just feel it’s my time to shine," she said. "All these years we’ve been waiting for this opportunity, and now that we’ve accepted it, I need to stay focused so I can go into that ring and do what I need to do to win."

The significance of Saturday’s fight is much more than just a world title for Kupihea, who graduated from the Youth Challenge Academy after she was kicked out of high school.

Part of her home schooling involved participating in a physical activity. Three days a week, she would catch the bus to Kalakaua Gym, where the seeds for a potential boxing career were planted.

"This has always been my sport," she said. "I never wrestled and never did any of that high school team stuff. I’ve always been an independent person and done my own thing."

A Golden Gloves champion as an amateur, Kupihea lost her debut fight as a pro against Erin Toughill in a banquet room at a facility in Montebello, Calif.

The fight was four 2-minute rounds and Kupihea lost every one on all three judges’ scorecards.

It was in that fight that Rodrigues, a former professional himself who has been training now for more than 30 years, saw the potential in his young fighter.

"She showed me who she really was," Rodrigues said. "I saw what I needed to see and knew I would try to take her as far as I could."

Since then, the two have developed a close relationship, making every decision together as a team.

Kupihea was offered a world-title shot following a TKO victory over Sarah Kuhn in New York last April.

But because fights have been tough to line up, Kupihea, who had never fought more than once in a calendar year until 2011, decided she wasn’t ready.

"That was my first (six-round fight) and it only went four rounds, and we felt like I needed a little more ring time," she said. "We wanted to make sure we were ready for it when we signed for a world-title fight."

Kupihea and Rodrigues agree she’s ready now following a dominant unanimous-decision victory over Tiffany Junot on the undercard of Brian Viloria’s WBO title fight against Julio Cesar Miranda in July at the Blaisdell Arena.

Two of the three judges gave Kupihea all six rounds, while the third scored one a 10-10 round.

After watching her complete six full rounds in dominant fashion, Rodrigues knew it was time.

"I finally got the call, and when I told Kuulei, she asked me if I thought she was ready for this," Rodrigues said. "I told her, ‘Little girl, you been ready for this your whole life.’ "

The fight is scheduled for 10 2-minute rounds. A sold-out crowd of 12,000 is expected for the event, which isn’t available locally on TV.