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MILWAUKEE (July 3) The crowd
got enthused about amateur boxing right off the bat here Saturday, June
29, when the first and second bouts of the evening were women's matches at
Al Moreland's Blast from the Past show at the Martin Luther King Center,
1531 W. Vliet Street.
First off, Naquana Smalls, 1-0, Peshtigo Boxing Club, was up against
Melinda Torres of Waukegan's North Shore Boxing Club, in a hot 139-pound
Junior Olympic event. The two wasted no time getting started as both moved
into the attack mode at the opening bell. Each used good, hard punching to
bring the crowd to its feet. It appeared that a considerable number of the
spectators had never been exposed to female boxing before and the two
aggressive amateurs gave them a great introduction to the women's side of
the sport.
Smalls used her counter punching ability to take the advantage from Torres
although it didn't stem Torres willingness to mix it. Torres showed her
good coaching as she covered up well and then as the contest went on she
went on the offensive more often forcing Smalls to regroup and dig deep.
The second round showed both women's boxing skills to their best and at
that point the bout was. about even. In the third Smalls scored a standing
eight against Torres and used her counter punching and solid right
overhand to punish her game opponent. Despite Smalls hard punching ability
Torres kept up the pressure making the match one of the top recent women's
bouts in the Badger state. Smalls was elated at the win. A great
introduction to women's boxing for the crowd who showed their enthusiastic
appreciation.
In the second match, Faizah Ami, 3-2, of the Ace Boxing Club in Milwaukee,
handled Alicia Walcher of Peshtigo Boxing Club, who started 0-0, in
official bouts.
It was Walcher's first real contest and Ami's sixth making it a somewhat
uneven contest. Walcher had been in this same ring a year ago when she
boxed a friend in what was actually an exhibition but not billed as such
at the time. Then, the two Peshtigo club teammates both held back and the
bout was lack lustre. Walcher found herself in second place then and the
reality of the game of boxing, even against a friend, was accurate enough
to bring tears to her eyes.
Walcher scored well Saturday in the first round rocking Ami several times
but she took some punishment when her jobs and rights remained out too
long and she left herself open to shots from her more experience opponent
who quickly found the range. The second round saw some good exchanges as
Ami appeared to allow her novice opponent to come inside then rapped her.
Walcher, to her credit, accepted the invitation but took some shots that
were waiting for her when she moved in because she failed to recover her
defense quick enough. After enjoying the result of rocking Ami a couple of
times in the first two rounds, Walcher got the same treatment in the third
and although both women had obviously lost some steam they made a spirited
contest of it. Walcher came away with a bloody nose and a loss for her
trouble but she shows real promise. Ami appeared pleased with her
performance.
This time, the match for Walcher was officially a real bout but not in the
win column. She showed distinct improvement over her earlier outing before
a crowd in this very ring. After this bout she didn't seem too happy with
the results but she had faced a comparative veteran and turned in a
respectable job. She brightened a little as the crowd was leaving the gym
and an official congratulated her on her showing.
Speaking with Walcher after the match, she was asked by WBAN if she still
was as enthusiastic about boxing as when she first began training. She
smiled, somewhat weakly and dabbed at her bruised nose but insisted she
"loved the sport." With her determination she is sure to
advance.
Ami gave her usual satisfactory performance. It appeared as though she was
doing enough to take the win but not really hammering her neophyte
opponent boxing in her first actual bout. There were good exchanges
through the match but both showed caution as they moved about the ring. A
good match that pleased the crowd.
In the first bout, Smalls had but one bout under her belt and Torres
experience was unknown but they lacked nothing in the determination
department as each moved in enthusiastically landing good shots and taking
some punishment, too. Their skills showed some need for polishing but they
showed no lack of willingness to mix it up. Willy Price, Peshtigo coach,
mentioned after the match that Smalls needed to work on her stamina as she
faded some in the third round letting Torres advance but not quite enough
to take the decision. The crowd showed its respect for women's boxing with
enthusiastic applause and yelling.
Moreland introduced about a dozen former boxers who had been in the ring
in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and, of course, some from the 21st
century. There were 13 other bouts besides the women's contests and all
proved entertaining and solid demonstrations for amateur boxing in these
parts.
As has become common with Moreland programs, the sound system, although,
sophisticated and powerful, was misused by the announcers so anything said
was virtually unitelligible. A power sub-woofer in the system was definte
overkill for a public address system that was dedicated to voice
annoucements only. The announcers insisted on practically putting the
microphone in their mouths thus overmodulating the signal and making
anything said incomprehensible.
The lengthy introductions in the ring of the boxers from the past
were wasted on the crowd as they talked among themselves and took
advantage of the break to visit the concession stand. A later intermission
allowed the concessions to do additional brisk business but it was too bad
the idea of the Blast from the Past flopped because of technical problems.
Moreland assured WBAN a couple of days before the show that there would be
a good card. "There always is," he said and he was right. He
also said that women were most welcome and they were warmly applauded for
their efforts. Its just that not enough females showed up to make matches
for all the women boxers present. From this perspective it appears there
are more and more women boxing in Wisconsin and nearby. That interest,
hopefully, will be nurtured by the coaches so that more women will show up
at programs making more matchups possible.
Boxing clubs were present from Gary, Indiana; Waukegan, Illionois;
Peshtigo, Janesville, Madison, Racine, Marquette, Michigan's Northern
Michigan University and two Milwaukee clubs, Ace Boxing Gym and United
Community Center Boxing Club. About 250 to 300 watched the program. |
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