The element of irony is never far from
the story line of sports. How else to provide a full perspective on
the success of Tiger Woods at the once lily white Augusta National
golf course? How else would one view the six round women's boxing
match last Friday in Merrillville, IN?
Brooke Dierdorff, a
professional boxer for seven months and three bouts, all wins
against opponents with a combined record of 4-9, won a split
decision over Mia St. John, a ten year professional, who came into
the bout with 43 wins in 53 fights and who had a seven pound weight
advantage over Dierdorff, a late replacement for undefeated Chicago
lightweight, Rita Figueroa. Surprising result? Yes. But the ironic
aspect is that after a career in the ring defined more for
celebrity, and notable, initially, for four round wins over
overmatched and under-skilled boxers, Mia St. John may be on the
verge of becoming exactly the type of fighter her career had been
built on: Mia St. John may be closing out her tenure in the ring as
an "opponent." I sincerely hope not.
The six round bout in Indiana, despite being the biggest win in the
short professional career of Brooke Dierdorff had nothing to with
the fighter who was expected simply to "fill in" against a "big
name."
The bout in Indiana, as with almost every one of St. John's
53 previous bouts, whether a sure-win four rounder or a ten round
fight against a quality boxer, had everything to do with Mia St.
John. She began her career with nine bouts, over a 22 month period
in 1997 and ' 98, against fighters who did not have a win on their
record. While this is a usual start for a debuting fighter, the
total of nine bouts, over nearly two years, is a long initiation
period for any beginning fighter and the fact that the first nine
bouts included fighters without a win on their record spoke volumes
about the extremely "careful matchmaking" that attended St. John's
career right from the outset. Further, over St. John's first five
years in the ring, "opponents" made up the vast majority of the
fighters that Mia St. John was matched with. In fact, the supply of
"opponents" for bouts with St. John became so depleted that she was
forced to fight the same boxer multiple times and names such as Amy
Yerkes made multiple appearances on the Mia St. John record.
The
winning streak reached 22 until a draw with Imela Arias in July ' 01
was followed by a TKO loss to Rolanda Andrews in November. Both
fighters had losing records, going into the St. John bout, and
return bouts, although called for, never materialized.
Following another four wins, giving her a record of 26 wins in her
first 28 fights, all four rounders, St. John, to the surprise of
most in the boxing community, agreed to her first ten round bout,
with an icon in the sport, Christy Martin. On December 6, 2002, over
a very desultory ten rounds, Martin won an easy decision in what she
(Martin) later termed a "fiasco." Whether Martin was referring to
the performance in the ring or the disappointing "live gate" and PPV
tune-in, or both, was never really clear, but that bout did signal a
"sea change" in St. John's quality of opposition. From that point
until the present, essentially the second half of St. John's ten
year career, she has been in the ring with significantly better
opposition: Jenifer Alcorn (July ' 03), Jessica Rakoczy (April ' 04
and February ' 05), Holly Holm (December ' 05), Jelena Mrdjenovich
(June ' 06) and Jaime Clampitt (February ' 07).
While St. John was
unable to beat any of these fighters and, in point of fact, lost
most of the bouts by substantial margins, Mia St. John began
competing against significantly better opposition than those
fighters that almost solely comprised the opposition during her
initial five years in the ring. Utilizing a great deal of motion,
St. John went the distance in all these bouts against good fighters,
except the second fight with Rakoczy which was stopped, on a cut, in
the second round.
This is not to say that St. John totally abandoned her "opponent"
strategy during the second half of her career. During that five year
period, St. John continued her forays against lesser opposition, the
difference being that she now felt comfortable at longer distances
and not all these bouts were limited to four rounds. However, the
strategy of multiple bouts against the same fighter persisted: St.
John fought Jessica Mohs three times in seven months in 2003 and
battled Janae Archuleta three times in two months (twice in eight
days) in 2004. However, St. John, periodically, stepped in with the
top fighters in her weight class over that five year period and for
that she is due credit, since the sport of Women's boxing continues,
from top to bottom, to be replete with fighters who continually look
down the rankings when seeking future opponents, rather than, even
occassionally, stepping up to compete against quality opposition.
Did St. John look past the late substitute, Dierdorff, in Indiana
last Friday? It's possible, but the NABF had Dierdorff as the sixth
ranked featherweight and, despite her limited professional
experience, Dierdorff had a successful amateur career in the
Midwest. It is conceivable that St. John, on a bad night, may have
simply run into a good fighter. When you step in the ring 50 plus
times, over a ten year period, that can happen. What happens now as
far as Mia St. John and her boxing career? That is, of course, a
decision that Mia St. John will make after due consideration. When I
spoke with her shortly before her bout in Vancouver with Jelena
Mrdjenovich which was, coincidentally, the day before her 39th
birthday, St. John felt that "I won't be fighting when I'm forty."
That birthday milestone is two months hence.
Mia St. John, over her ten year career, has maximized a level of
boxing talent that would have relegated a less determined athlete to
the middle of the pack of boxers in the sport. With a keen business
sense and a finely honed marketing direction, St. John has
positioned herself near the top of the sport of Women's boxing in
terms of recognition. She deserves to finish her career in any
manner she chooses.
I wouldn't like to see her serve as an
"opponent" for up and coming young fighters and neither would I like
to see St. John revert to fighting the overmatched opponents that
characterized the earlier part of her career. Instead, I'd like to
see St. John rematch Brooke Dierdorff who, in post fight quotes, had
some particularly harsh things to say about a fighter who, in a
fifty-four fight career, has done more for the recognition of a
sport that both St. John and Dierdorff share than Brooke Dierdorff
may do in three careers. It was a "rookie mistake" and, hopefully,
Dierdorff learned as much from those ill timed comments as she did
from the six rounds with St. John.
I hope Mia John extends her "won't be fighting when I'm forty"
promise a couple of months and seeks a return bout against Dierdorff.
Even ESPN should to be able to grasp the value such a matchup
represents and if they don't (and they might not), Rick Kulis and
Fox Sports (where St. John has been a frequent guest and
commentator) certainly should. And if it happens, the Dierdorff/St.
John return bout could, likewise, be tinged with a touch of irony:
It's entirely possible that a scribbler of words about the sport of
Women's boxing, a scribbler who has been, in the past, a critic of
Mia St. John, might cast aside reportorial objectivity and be
rooting for Mia St. John to go out with a win that night.
Bernie McCoy
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