5. “Bio File: Get to Know Christy Martin.” BoxingInsider.com. n.p. [Boxinginsider.com]
6. Steve Buffery. “Tyson’s Trainer Confident.” Toronto Sun, June 26, 1997, n.p. [Google News]
7. Bob Raissman. “Christy Won’t Pull Punches vs. Tough Foe.” Daily News, June 29, 1997, n.p. [New York Daily News Archives]
8. Don King. “Is a Woman’s Place in a Boxing Ring?” WBB, March 1980, n.p. [WBAN.com]
9. Bernard Fernandez. “This Lady’s a Real Knockout.” Spokesman-Review, September 8, 1996, n.p. [Google News]
10. Dee Williams. “Dee Hamaguchi.” Women Boxing Archive Network. January 2, 2005. [WBAN.org]
11. George Diaz. “Boxer Wears Lipstick, and She Is a Winner.” Orlando Sentinel, January 29, 1994, n.p. [Orlandosentinel.com]
12. “Martin Wins Women’s Fight.” The Day, January 30, 1994, p. 23. [Google News]
13. Christy Martin’s official fight record notes that she defeated Susie Hughes by a first-round TKO on January 29, 1993. A newspaper article that came out two weeks before the fight, however, indicated that she would be fighting Susie “Sluggin” Melton. It is unclear if Susie Hughes was a substitute or if Melton’s name was incorrectly listed on the records that are now listed on Martin’s official record of fights. See: “Title Fight Slated for Township.” The State, January 12, 1993, p. 4C [Newslibrary.com]
14. George Diaz. “No Ordinary Ring Girl.” Orlando Sentinel, April 15, 1994, n.p. [Orlandosentinel.com]
15. Richard Hoffer. “Gritty Woman.” Sports Illustrated, April 15, 1996, n.p. [Sportsillustrated.com]
16. “Laura Serrano.” Women Boxing Archive Network. [WBAN.com]
17. Ron Borges. “Deirdre Gogarty Is Still Blazing Trails.” The Sweet Science. May 10, 2008, n.p. [Thesweetscience.com]
18. Ibid.
19. Malissa Smith interview with Deirdre Gogarty, June 2, 2012.
20. Gamini Perera. “Women Invade the Boxing Ring.” Sunday Times, January 31, 1999. [Google News]
21. Malissa Smith interview with Deirdre Gogarty, June 2, 2012.
22. Ron Borges. “Deirdre Gogarty Is Still Blazing Trails.” The Sweet Science. May 10, 2008. [Thesweetscience.com]
23. Ibid.
24. Malissa Smith interview with Deirdre Gogarty, June 2, 2012.
25. Bob Raissman. “Holmes’ Hook Stuns Taylor for KO in 9th.” Daily News, March 17, 1996. [New York Daily News Archives]
26. Robert Mladinich. “Deirdre Gogarty, No Titillating Sideshow.” The Sweet Science. January 15, 2007. [Thesweetscience.com]
27. Aimee Berg. “Boxing: This Fighter Is Making Fans of Her Skeptics.” New York Times, March 17, 1996, n.p. [NYTimes.com]
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Christy Martin on E:60, ESPN Sports, October 4, 2011.
31. Lacy J. Banks. “Women’s Matches Stir Furor.” Chicago Sun-Times, July 27, 1987, p. 114. [Google News]
32. Ken Hissner. “Lucia Rijker Interview—More Than the Greatest Women’s Boxer of All Time!” Doghouse Boxing. [Doghouseboxing.com]
33. George Diaz. “Orlando’s ‘Queen of Boxing’ Checks out the Competition.” Orlando Sentinel, September 12, 1997, n.p. [Orlandosentinel.com]
34. Terry Price. “Rijker a Unanimous Women’s Winner.” Hartford Courant, May 15, 1997, n.p. [Courant.com]
35. George Diaz. “Orlando’s ‘Queen of Boxing’ Checks out the Competition.” Orlando Sentinel, September 12, 1997, n.p. [Orlandosentinel.com]
36. Malissa Smith interview with Bonnie Canino, September 7, 2013.
37. Christy Martin vs. Sumya Anani. U.S. Satellite Network. December 18, 1998. [YouTube.com]
38. Stephanie Dallam. “Dallam: Setting the Record Straight.” Women Boxing Archive Network. April 22, 2005. [WBAN.com]
39. Mia St. John. “Mia St. John—A Girl and Her Title.” Videojug, n.p. [Videojug.com]
Chapter 10
Women’s Boxing and the Fame Game
I wouldn’t compare myself to my father because we’re two different people, but I know that because I am his daughter that I naturally have boxing skills that most people probably don’t have when they start. At the level that I’m at, I would rate myself as excellent.
—Laila Ali, September 1999[1]
With the clamoring for more and more “product” came gimmicky female boxing matches that bordered on “cheesecake.” Bob Arum’s decision to sign Mia St. John—who looked more like a ring card girl than a professional athlete despite her years as a martial artist—was a case in point. The question was would Arum’s apparent success push other promoters to do the same.
It was the sudden appearance on the scene of famous boxing daughters, however, that really began to change the sport. Beginning with Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Laila Ali—who combined marketing savvy, beautiful looks, and a star quality—the sport underwent yet another metamorphosis. Promoters—eager to cash in on the latest craze—put together the “famous daughter” matches in the hopes of capitalizing on a viewer interest peaked by a somewhat tangential stardom, especially after Muhammad Ali began showing up at his daughter’s fights.
Meanwhile, female boxers began to feel whipsawed between the pressures to “feminize” boxing and the new attention (and major paydays) now given to the famous, if questionably skilled, daughters. A sanctioned female-male bout in Seattle, Washington, also did little to promote the sport, as the backlash was decidedly negative from most boxing quarters including from some women.
Professional fighters who weren’t boxing in pink or famous daughters continued to box, but felt as if they were now being left with the scraps. This meant—except for a small minority—that there were fewer opportunities for matches, continued low payments for fights—even championship bouts—and the reality of having to work a “day” job just to make ends meet.
Women’s Boxing as Carnival Sideshow
It’s a circus, it’s a sideshow. It’s an old carnival act, updated for the 1990s.
—Burt Sugar, October 1999[2]
October 1999 proved to be a banner month for women’s boxing. In the span of a few weeks, three events rocketed women’s boxing onto the news around the country.
Laila “She Bee Stingin’” Ali, the twenty-one-year-old (and youngest) daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his third wife, Veronica Porsche Ali, stepped into the ring for her professional debut against April Fowler, a novice boxer and waitress from Indiana with an 0-1 record and no apparent boxing skills. The contest, a four-round co-feature promoted by Mike Acri—and not associated with “Big” promotion—was held on October 8, 1999, at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York.
Ali made short work of her opponent, winning by knockout thirty-one seconds into the fight. Given the quality of the bout, it was an inauspicious beginning; however, it proved that Ali might have inherited some of her father’s abilities.
At the beginning of January 1999, Laila Ali, a community college graduate and owner of a nail salon in Los Angeles, had made the decision to box professionally. She’d been taking boxing lessons as part of a weight-loss exercise program. Her exercise program morphed into Layla Ali training in earnest with her boyfriend, cruiserweight champion Johnny McClain, at the L.A. Boxing Gym, also home to boxer “Sugar” Shane Mosely.
She was making an impression. As gym owner Richard Allen put it, “She works really hard. She wants to learn. And she’s not a prima donna.”
Visiting her father, who was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, she said, “Well, Daddy. I want to tell you I’m going into professional boxing.” After the elder Ali expressed his concern, she said, “I'm going to be fighting women, not men. And I have your genetics.” This brought on a laugh followed by the two of them mock sparring and practicing the stare down—a ring staple between two fighters as the bout is ready to get underway.[3]
The press first got wind of the story in mid-January at Muhammad Ali’s fifty-seventh birthday bash in Las Vegas. A guest at her father’s party, Laila Ali tol
d the press, “It’s in my blood. . . . What can I say.”
She also admitted she’d just seen her first female fight the night before at the MGM Grand—a four-round bout between two novice fighters.[4]
By late February, the New York Times ran a feature piece about Laila Ali. While she’d found a promoter, her pro debut wasn’t planned until the summer.
Her possible entry into the ring, however, became news with much speculation about the ramifications for the sport.
Christy Martin, when asked for a comment for the New York Times piece, said:
She is Muhammad Ali’s daughter and that’s fine. . . . But at some point, she’s got to prove that she can fight. People are really going to be waiting to see that. It won’t last long if she can’t fight. It won’t take many fights, maybe two or three, before people turn away.
The New York Times also approached Jackie Kallen, a former commissioner for the IFBA, who had started out as a boxing journalist before becoming a boxing manager for fighter James Toney. Kallen was quoted as saying, “Everybody is well-aware of Laila, and everybody is waiting to see what she is going to do. She has the looks, the background, and if she has the skills, she will be the whole package.”
Kallen also felt that due to Ali’s name she’d have a higher “earning potential” as “the marketing factor alone [would] . . . set her apart.” Her words proved to be prophetic and were a source of contention among elite female fighters such as Lucia Rijker who earned considerably less per fight despite her exceptional ring skills and her own star power.[5]
The next round of press coverage began in September when Laila Ali’s first fight was announced. Much of the coverage centered on whether her father would be in attendance, and the truth was, the prospect that he might be there certainly sold seats. By fight night on October 8, the frenzy of publicity included camera crews and photographers with press from as far away as Great Britain and Germany in attendance.
As the Boston Globe’s boxing reporter, Ron Borges, put it at the presser before the fight, the excitement was palpable. The assembled members of the fourth estate ignored all of the other proceedings as they waited for the five-foot, ten-inch statuesque young woman who “sauntered through the door with the regal carriage of Xena the Warrior Princess.” Borges further wrote:
When the 21-year-old daughter of Muhammad Ali began to speak, it was clear no one else was in the room. Though it was jammed with bodies, no one else mattered now that she had arrived.
Same as it was for her father.[6]
As frenzied as was the press coverage for Laila Ali’s fight and the possibility of getting a glimpse of Muhammad Ali, publicity for her debut bout was in competition on the sports pages with an explosive women’s boxing event: a mixed-gender bout set for October 9, 1999, at the Mercer Arena in Seattle, Washington—a day after Laila Ali’s pro debut.
Margaret “The Tiger” MacGregor, a thirty-six-year-old female boxer from Bremerton, Washington, sporting a 3-0 record had been having trouble finding an opponent. In talking to her fight promoter, Bob Jarvis of O’Malley Promotions, she had casually said since they couldn’t find a female opponent, why not match her against a man.
Fighting as a lightweight and usually weighing in at around 130 pounds, MacGregor had a black belt in karate and moved on to a kickboxing career amassing an 8-0-1 record with several wins by KO. She felt certain that both she could hold her own against a male opponent and it would be a highly competitive fight.
Her promoter, Jarvis, game to the idea and thinking of the promotional opportunities, put out feelers. He found some interest in Vancouver and offered the fight to a part-time jockey and former kickboxer originally from Hong Kong named Loi Chow, who had a 0-1 boxing record. After Chow turned him down, he signed one of Chow’s sparring partners, Hector Morales, a lightweight fighter looking to make his pro debut.
What made the fight feasible were the gender-equality laws of the state of Washington. While boxing itself was regulated, there was nothing in those regulations that gave the state authority to segregate fights by gender. Fights were solely approved based upon “weight, skill level, a physical-health test, vision exam, and blood and urinary tests.” The only gender-specific requirements had to do with protective gear: breast protectors for women and cups for men. This effectively meant that male and female boxers could compete against each other in sanctioned matches.
The announcement to the press in early September was the next step, with both fighters available for comment. At the presser MacGregor was clear on why she wanted to fight a male opponent. “I’m looking to improve. But it’s not going to happen if I’m restricted to fighting only women. I’m not saying I want to fight men all the time, but I don’t see why my options should be limited.”
As for Morales, he admitted that the prospect of fighting a woman was “embarrassing,” especially when he told his mother, but he still offered that he would “knock [MacGregor] out in the second round.”[7]
Within a few days of the press event, Morales pulled out. Promoter Bob Jarvis said, “I think the publicity got to him. . . . And when I heard he was embarrassed to tell his mother . . . that really scared me. . . . We didn’t expect all of this attention.” Jarvis also quickly announced that Loi Chow, his original choice, would be fighting MacGregor.
Jarvis, MacGregor, and her trainer, Vern Miller, had all been assailed with questions and opinions. It was also beginning to take on the atmosphere of the famed Billie Jean King v. Bobby Riggs tennis match of 1973—with much pandering to women and verbiage on the superiority of the male sex. Chow, however, seemed ready for the onslaught.
Miller, in his statement to the press, said, “All the chauvinists are saying ‘There’s no way a woman could beat a man.’ That may be, but look who has the courage to go through with it.” To those who were saying it was denigrating the sport—including negative remarks from some members of the team backing Martin O’Malley—the only answer seemed to be the brisk ticket sales, which were ahead of expectations.[8]
By the third week of September, the issue of the mixed-gender fight was being pushed to the desk of Washington’s governor, Gary Locke—mostly spearheaded by former boxing commissioner Dale Ashley. In a statement to the press, Ashley called the bout “ridiculous . . . this is just a gimmick to sell tickets.” He went on to state, “Someone is going to get killed and then what is the Department of Licensing going to say?”
Ashley, who had been the commissioner in place when Dallas Malloy won her lawsuit in 1993 (eventually authorizing her bout), had seen his share of controversy. When it came to the issue of mixed-gender boxing he was adamantly opposed and not only spoke out to the press but bombarded officials with a letter-writing campaign. The state’s position, however, was clear. The fight would go on as long as the two fighters met the basic criteria, which included tests seventy-two hours before the bout. The state attorney’s office was also being dragged into the fray, but Marty Brown, the deputy chief of staff for the governor, definitively said, “If the gender question is the only issue, they’ll most likely go ahead and approve the fight . . . otherwise you’re looking at a lawsuit.”[9]
By early October one other bombshell hit the press—with the pun intended by a lot of reports. Mia “The Knockout” St. John, Bob Arum’s female boxing sensation—whose presence in the ring had already elicited a string of negative press based on her hyperfemininity and mismatched bouts—appeared on the cover of the November issue of Playboy magazine with an accompanying twelve-page spread.
Shown wearing red boxing gloves that barely covered her breasts and short red shorts with a Playboy logo belt and white side stripes with blue stars, the “bunny boxer,” as she came to be known, shared the cover with the headlines for Playboy’s interview with former professional wrestler and newly elected governor of Minnesota Jessie Ventura.
To be sure, St. John was neither the first nor the last female athlete to appear nude for a Playboy spread. Given the precarious place of women’s boxing
and its struggles for legitimacy, however, her appearance only added to the controversies afflicting the sport.
With this last piece of the puzzle—the entry of Laila Ali into the ring—Mia St. John’s Playboy cover and the MacGregor/Chow fight were conflated into a general condemnation of women’s boxing, with the MacGregor/Chow fight leading the pack.
Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Tampler told reporters, “It’s a freak show. . . . If he beats the crap out of her to teach her a lesson, I’m all for it. But if she wins . . . they should put him in a dress and buy him a ticket out of town, never to show his face again. This is ridiculous, and I would never set something like this up.”
Some female boxers even objected on the basis that there were indeed quality fighters willing to take on MacGregor. Tracy Byrd, ranked number two in the lightweight division, who had recently lost a title bout to Laura Serrano, was particularly incensed and told the press, “Nobody called me . . . and I could name 10 more looking for a fight.”
A History of Women's Boxing Page 38