She's a Knockout!

by L. A. Jennings

  In 1973, two high school girls denied the right to compete with boys in noncontact sports sued their principals in federal court.[29] The girls argued that they should be able to compete against boys in swimming and running. The lawsuit argued that swimming and running were noncontact sports, which meant that the girls should be able to compete alongside their male schoolmates. This argument unfortunately set the precedent that girls could compete against boys, as long as there was no contact. The lawsuit specifically cited wrestling and football as inappropriate for coed play. The language of the case suggested that girls were capable of competing in running and swimming but did not belong in contact sports.

  When school boards and educational leaders denied girls the opportunity to box and wrestle in middle and high schools, people like Doyle Weaver stepped forward to provide training for all kids, no matter the sex. In Atlanta, in 1975, Thunderbolt Patterson, the “King of Wrestling,” created a school of wrestling for young boys and girls.[30] He was joined in his endeavor by none other than a nun, Sister Louise Reese, who was mother of professional wrestler Jerry Reese. Patterson set up his school as a nonprofit designed to keep at-risk children off the streets. The program also provided a space where young boys and girls could learn the art of wrestling from a famous athlete and, presumably, a nun.

  The passing of Title IX opened up a dialogue about what types of sports are appropriate for kids. It did not immediately fix the many problems that faced children in schools who wanted to play sports, but it did force schools to provide equal amounts of funding for sports programs for boys and girls. And that was the primary purpose of Title IX: to stop schools from underfunding girls’ sports. In 1974, in the wake of the legislation, the environment was ripe to start a larger conversation about why women were restricted from certain sports, not just in schools, but on the professional level as well.

  The Fight against the Boxing Commission

  In October 1974, at the New York State Athletic Commission, Marian “Tyger” Trimiar and Jackie Tonawanda applied for professional boxing licenses.[31] The women were reportedly met with snickers as they went through the routine application process. Despite the sarcastic comments made by some men, Trimiar and Tonawanda were excited, as was the young woman accepting their applications, who eloquently said, “This is where it will start.”[32] But it would not be an easy road for Trimiar, Tonawanda, and the many other female fighters looking to go pro in the 1970s. The athletic commission unanimously denied the request for licenses, citing Rule 205.15, which stated that, “No woman may be licensed as a boxer or second or licensed to compete in any wrestling exhibition with men.”[33] The chairman of the commission, Edwin Dooley, admitted that he believed licensing female boxers would “erode the sport’s image as the ‘manly art of self-defense.’”[34]

  But the fight was not over. Tonawanda filed an appeal with the Human Rights Commission in New York, complaining that by not licensing her as a professional fighter, the board revoked her ability to make a living.[35] Dooley’s words were part of the lawsuit she brought to court, hoping they would help her cause. Dooley claimed that, “Licensing of women as professional boxers would at once destroy the image that attracts serious boxing fans and bring professional boxing into disrepute.”[36] He also argued that the commission had a responsibility to protect fighters and the available equipment for female boxers would be “insufficient to protect them.”[37] Hiding behind this argument of safety and benevolence for the well-being of female fighters, the commission continued its refusal to license professional female fighters and remained in litigation with Tonawanda for the next several years.

  Tonawanda and the other women who fought for equality in the boxing world were aided in their quest by a number of male trainers, coaches, promoters, and fellow boxers who supported the idea of professional female boxing. Paul Mitrano, the famous Boston boxing promoter who gave Rocky Marciano his start, said in 1976, at the ripe age of seventy, that when he first heard of female boxing, he “thought it was a gimmick.”[38] But Mitrano soon changed his mind, explaining that once he saw female boxers working in the gym, he realized they were skilled and deserved to be professional. He managed Jackie Tonawanda, as well as Gwen Gemini and Tyger Trimiar, who were granted professional boxing licenses in Connecticut, one of the few states in 1976 willing to allow women to box professionally. Interestingly, the commissioner of consumer protection for Connecticut was Mrs. Mary Heslin, who admitted that she personally did not approve of women in the ring; however, Heslin understood that her personal beliefs could not impinge on the constitutional rights of female boxers, so she granted licenses to women as long as they wore chest protection in the ring.

  Other female skeptics, including Mitrano’s wife Edna, went from doubting women to supporting them after watching Trimiar, Gemini, and Tonawanda practice, and Paul, who spent nearly $50,000 per year housing, feeding, and training his stable of fighters, male and female, believed that women could reinvigorate the sport of boxing. Taking a cue from the wrestling world, which still walked the line between entertainment and sport and included female fighters, Mitrano felt that the presence of women could increase viewership and interest in the sweet science of boxing. Nonetheless, not everyone agreed with him.

  In the wake of the popularity of Tyger Trimiar and other female fighters, two approaches to women’s boxing emerged. One delighted in the new opportunities for women, while the other decried female pugilists who infiltrated the last “men-only” space. The women’s liberation movement was blamed for women’s boxing, and numerous male journalists made it a point to emphasize their disgust for feminists and female pugilists. In 1978, Nick Thimmesch wrote in the Chicago Tribune that he felt women’s boxing was “awful” and a product of the same feminist movement that promoted gay rights and abortions. He describes people of both sexes who attended boxing matches between women as either “fools” or into some sort of kink.[39]

  The women who were seeking boxing licenses would stop at nothing for the right to box. Although Maine, Connecticut, and several other states licensed professional female boxers, New York remained firmly opposed. By 1977, thirteen states allowed women to box, although California and Nevada did so with strict restrictions: Women’s bouts were limited to four 2-minute rounds, the fighters had to go through rigorous physical evaluations, and both women had to sign affidavits confirming that they were neither pregnant nor menstruating at the time of the fight.[40] After Tyger Trimiar, Claire Piniazik, and Jackie Tonawanda were refused licenses in New York, fighter Cathy “Cat” Davis put forth her concerted efforts to have the ban on female fighters lifted, but not without creating controversy of her own.

  Cat Davis

  Cat Davis was a twenty-five-year-old lightweight fighter with fourteen wins and only one loss. She lived with her manager, Sal Algieri, a former fighter with a murky reputation, and the two struck out to create a women’s boxing federation in 1977. Although the federation did not take off, Davis’s career certainly did. She was featured on the cover of Ring magazine in August 1978, beneath the headline, “Is Women’s Boxing Here to Stay?” Davis was the first and only female boxer to appear on the cover of a major athletic magazine until Christy Martin appeared on a 1996 Sports Illustrated cover. She was praised for her beauty, diligent training, and diet. She advised fighters to eat plenty of vegetables and, for breakfast, a raw egg with tomato sauce.[41]

  Apparently her diet and her media appearances paid off, because in March 1978, Davis signed a contract to fight twenty-one-year-old Chicago fighter Jo Jo Thomas in Fayetteville, North Carolina, for an astounding $20,000.[42] Whether Thomas received the same payment remains unknown, but $20,000 was a record amount for women’s boxing. Only months after fighting Thomas, the Chicago Tribune published an article that revealed several suspicious circumstances that placed Davis in a difficult position. According to the article, several people were claiming that Davis and Algieri were guilty of fixing fights.[43] The two argued that any accusations of corruption w
ere caused by jealous rivals because Davis was pretty, well-educated, and white.

  Although she may have felt unfairly criticized for her white privilege, Davis was able to back up her accolades in 1979, when she defeated German boxer Uschi Doering for the women’s world lightweight title.[44] The fight ended in the sixth round, when Davis drove Doering against the ropes and scored a technical knockout through a series of jabs. The German fighter felt that the bout had been called too soon, complaining that she “was not hurt at all” and that “they never would have stopped that fight in Germany.”[45] The crowd apparently agreed with her, because the referee was booed and catcalled when he stopped the contest.

  Davis continued to rouse interest in the nonboxing-related news media. In 1978, People magazine published an article in which she explains that she disrupted the stereotype of the female boxer because she did not have a pug nose or cauliflower ear and was not a 180-pound Amazon.[46] The magazine praises her girl-next-door good looks and skills in the ring.

  As before, women’s boxing uniforms reflected the fashion trends at large. In the 1970s and 1980s, women wore rather short shorts, revealing a great deal of thigh, just as miniskirts were worn ubiquitously in the United States and Europe. Most women wore chest protectors, as dictated by their state’s boxing commission, which often meant that they wore short-sleeved tops. But for the most part, women’s boxing uniforms were similar to those sported by their male counterparts, although they were altered to fit the female physique. It was not until later in the twentieth century that uniforms became standard for female athletes.

  New York Relents

  In 1978, after numerous lawsuits, the athletic commission finally agreed to license professional female boxers, but the historic moment was overshadowed when Tyger Trimiar challenged Cat Davis to a fight at the athletic commission office. When the commission handed out the first female professional boxing license, it was Cat Davis who received it, not Tyger Trimiar or Jackie Tonawanda, who had been fighting for licenses years before Davis came onto the scene.[47] This was a source of animosity between the women, especially Trimiar, who challenged Davis to a fight at the commission the day the licenses were finally granted. Davis retorted, “You’ll have to learn to box first,” and the two were in one another’s faces within minutes.[48] Although some felt that this spat was theatrical and in the style of Muhammad Ali, promoters for both fighters swore that the animosity was long-standing.

  It is easy to see the case for enmity between Davis and Trimiar, both of whom had names of the feline variety. Davis was often described as graceful and beautiful in news stories, while Trimiar and Tonawanda were typically referred to as Amazons. In one story, writer Prentis Rogers asks if Davis is the “Great White Hope” and again compares her to the Amazonian and nonwhite Trimiar.[49] Rogers argues that in the era of the unbeatable Muhammad Ali, the only chance for a white boxer to rise above the domination of the black race was, perhaps, in the female division. Rogers also praises Cat’s looks, commenting, “In thinking of a woman pro boxer, images of hard-toned, muscle-bound Amazon-like women come screaming into mind. But Davis belies that. She looks more like a ballet dancer than a lady whose right hand has cut the lights out on fifteen foes.”[50]

  Race was, of course, still a major issue in American sports in 1978. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, undeniably the largest social movement in twentieth-century America, was articulated in the fighting world through various channels. Many states still banned bouts between white and black fighters, although other ethnicities did not seem to come into any such strictures. Because of these separations, some boxing and wrestling events featured fight cards of entirely African American or Mexican fighters. In 1962, in Cleveland, Ohio, one wrestling show included “four outstanding Negro girl wrestlers.”[51] Champion fighter Muhammad Ali used his boxing fame to aid the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Whether Cat Davis received the first professional boxing license in New York because she was white is unclear, but for Tyger Trimiar, race was only one of the components that she would have to overcome to attain her dream of becoming the first lady of boxing.

  “Lady” Tyger Trimiar

  Cat Davis and Jackie Tonawanda received a great deal of media attention during and after their fighting careers. Their colleague, Tyger Trimiar, also had an interesting career, filled with the drama of calling out Davis during their licensing, initiating a hunger strike against promoter Don King, and, of course, compiling her stellar boxing record. Trimiar was one of the more vocal advocates of women’s boxing; in the 1970s, she recognized that boxing would be the next great sport for women and sought to create a supportive environment for current and future fighters. In addition, she was stunningly beautiful. She had a smooth, shaved head; ebony skin; chiseled cheekbones; and beautiful hands. Trimiar looked like she belonged on the pages of Vogue magazine rather than in a boxing ring, although Davis received more attention and praise, perhaps because she was white. The style section of the Washington Post dubbed her “Lady Tyger” for her delicate features and elegant attire but located women’s boxing in the fringes of society, “somewhere between freak shows and the strange little tidepools of the demimonde.”[52] This statement is, indubitably, hyperbolic, since women’s boxing has never been confined solely to the realm of freak shows.

  In March 1980, famed boxing promoter Don King wrote an editorial that appeared in the newly formed WBB magazine, the first publication focused solely on women’s boxing.[53] In the piece, King explains that he supported women who wanted to compete in boxing because he believed in human rights and equality. He also claims that he would be willing to promote women’s boxing, but, said Tyger Trimiar, he did nothing of the sort. In 1987, Trimiar went on a hunger strike to protest King’s lack of initiative to help promote women’s boxing; however, King did say publically that he supported women’s boxing, and a few years later, he signed Christy Martin to appear in his professional boxing pay-per-view promotions. Nevertheless, the battle was still on to legalize all aspects of women’s boxing in the United States.

  USA Boxing Lifts Their Ban on Female Boxers

  In 1988, Sweden became the first country to remove the ban on women’s boxing, and the rest of the world soon followed. While New York’s acquiescence to license professional female boxers was an important milestone in fighting history, the big move came in the 1990s, for it was not until 1993 that the USA Boxing Commission, the national organization that supported the U.S. Olympic boxing team, officially lifted the ban on female fighters. Prior to USA Boxing’s decision, individual states could license women, but there could be no national competition and no federal regulation of rules and titles. It took a lawsuit brought by sixteen-year-old Dallas Malloy to force USA Boxing to rewrite their policy on women’s boxing. In November 1993, only a month after the end of the ban, Malloy fought Heather Poyner in Lynwood, Washington, in the first official women’s boxing match. That year, Malloy not only won the right to fight, she won her bout against Poyner. According to the new ruling, women could now register with USA Boxing and compete in sanctioned amateur bouts. Fifty-four women registered in the first year, and thus began the era of legalized female amateur boxing.[54]

  But women’s boxing in the 1990s was still marginalized in the sporting world. Female fighters were anomalies, and everyone wanted to try to diagnose why a woman, particularly a good-looking or petite one, would want to fight. In an article for Playboy magazine in 1997, Amy Handelsman shares her experience training and interacting with some of the best female fighters in Los Angeles. Handelsman offers several explanations for why women would want to box: because they can, because they are good at it, or because it makes them feel sexy.[55] Sex has always been inextricably linked with women’s sports, from the bucolic farms with young country girls wrestling during their shifts, to the 1990s, when newly licensed female boxers wore makeup in the ring. The following chapter on mixed martial arts (MMA) discusses this topic in more detail, but in the 1990s, people crit
icized certain female boxers for looking glamorous in photos, while simultaneously praising them for having strength and beauty.

  Golden Gloves

  In 1995, more than thirty amateur female boxers competed in New York’s Golden Gloves tournament. This was the first time women had entered the famous amateur boxing tournament, and it ended in a highly publicized showdown in Madison Square Garden. The 106-pound Jill Matthews defeated Dee Hamaguchi to become the first female champion. Hamaguchi famously applied to fight in the tournament as D. Hamaguchi, concealing her gender and allowing her to register for the event. Once Hamaguchi’s sex was discovered, the Golden Gloves allowed other women to sign up, lifting the ban on female boxers. Prior to this breakthrough, the national Golden Gloves tournament had been reserved for male fighters, but that did not stop Hamaguchi and Matthews from making headlines as the first female fighters to participate. After the Golden Gloves, Matthews began her professional career, but she also played guitar and sang in a punk rock band called “Times Square.”[56] Hamaguchi also had an interesting career outside the boxing ring. A graduate of Yale University, she is a judo expert who teaches the art to women and schoolchildren in Harlem.[57]