AJC Article A fight for legitimacy in the ring
BYLINE: STEVE HUMMER
DATE: August 23, 2003
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
EDITION: Home; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SECTION: Sports
PAGE: C1
The history of women in the ring began long ago with the inspiration that a howling, testosterone-enriched mob might enjoy seeing an almost-dressed model flaunting the round number while the boxers spat in their corners.
The system worked because the fights went at most 15 rounds, therefore almost no math was involved.
They would go on to play a bit role in the sport's most famous fiction, as Mickey the trainer warned Rocky Balboa: "Women weaken legs!"
Next stop 1996, on the undercard of the forgettable Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno matchup, when it is said that the chore of women actually doing the fighting gained semi-legitimacy. Christy Martin, her pink trunks stained red, did war with Deirdre Gogarty. As one of the most competitive bouts of the night, the fight crowd gave it two broken thumbs up. Sports Illustrated put the damaged Martin on its cover, and a spectacle was born.
"We always joke about that being the most profitable bloody nose in boxing history," Martin said. When one makes a mark in this sport, it takes a talented launderer to get it out. In boxing, you must ultimately bleed to succeed.
Tonight in Biloxi, Miss., women's boxing is scheduled to climb its next evolutionary rung when Martin fights Laila Ali for the IBA super middleweight title and unofficial title of baddest female on the planet. So important is the event that to see it, you must contact your cable operator and shell out a suggested $29.95. Whether anyone buys it or not, pay per view still is the greatest compliment a fight can receive.
This is generally regarded as the biggest women's fight in history (OK, so the field is not crowded) because of the principals. Martin (45-2-2) is the 35-year-old midwife of her sport -- "Christy Martin created girl boxing," said old trainer Angelo Dundee. And Ali (15-0) is the 25-year-old daughter of the icon that Dundee trained, Muhammad Ali.
It is the Coal Miners Daughter vs. The Greatest's Daughter. The one familiar face of a peripheral sport vs. its most glamorous face fighting 10 two-minute rounds. Martin is spotting Ali 10 years and at least four inches. "If Laila doesn't beat Martin, she should retire," local promoter David Oblas said.
"She may have the experience," Ali has said, "but she built her record fighting strippers and prostitutes." We'll pause here to allow the crowd's oooohs and the aaaaahs to settle.
These are not a couple women from the Tai Bo class taking their differences outside. These aren't two actresses wrestling over the issue of tastes great or less filling. This is the real thing, filled with all the risks that face the men in trunks.
The two even engaged in a hair-pulling, podium-spilling press conference scuffle a couple months ago, just like the guys. "This conduct is unbecoming of boxing," bemoaned Bill Lyons, the chairman of the Mississippi Athletic Commission. He obviously was working off an outdated book of standards and practices.
Boxing in general is difficult enough to support. Women doing boxing is a concept that strains the point even further. As Martin points out, "I don't know if the general public will ever accept women's boxing, because lot of people don't like men's boxing. And the old guys, the old school, they don't want women in their sport."
Yes, even in this age of enlightened opportunity, as women take to the battlefield, I admit I find myself squirming at the sight of them trying to knock each other out. Make no mistake, there is a market out there for this sort of thing. "The first question I get when I put on a card is, 'Are there any women on it?' " said Oblas, whose card Friday night at the Tabernacle did not. Still, there is an uneasiness factor that can't be discounted.
How tough can it be? In her last loss, in 1998 to Sumya Anani, Martin took a significant beating. "She took like 20 head butts," said her husband and trainer, Jim Martin. "People were wondering, 'Did that woman go through the front window of a car?' Both eyes were shut, the whites of her eyes were red for like a month, her face swelled up.
"She's my wife first and a fighter second. But if I sat there and said, 'Oh, wow, Christy took a hard shot' or 'Christy took a head butt' then I'm not doing my job. She might get hurt worse."
The old trainer has no problem with women in the ring -- Dundee said he'll be watching this fight from his Florida home. Ali, Exhibit A for the toll of the sport, is scheduled to be at ringside tonight to support his daughter.
There is the potential for this one to really set a sensitive guy's stomach on puree. Which, of course, means it is time to pack up all my misgivings and get to Mississippi on the next plane out.
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