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(JUNE 30) George Bush was in the White
House. It was the father, George H. W. Bush and few of us realized,
at the time, that we were watching the best that family had to
offer, by a big margin. The year was 1989 and in September, in a
town flush on the Virginia border, Bristol, TN, Christy Martin
stepped into a professional boxing ring for the first time against a
woman named Angela Buchanan. And few of us realized, at the time,
that we were watching the best the sport of Women's boxing had to
offer, then and for quite a few years to come, by a big margin.
On July 18, Christy Martin, almost two decades from that first bout
in Bristol, TN, who continues to step into professional boxing
rings, goes to the Reliant Arena in Houston, TX for a ten round bout
with Valerie Mahfood for the vacant NABF Female middleweight title.
Of at least equal import is the fact that, in this era in which
there seems to be a title belt for almost every barely competent
female fighter, it is surprising, no make that shocking, to realize
that if Martin wins the bout in Houston, the NABF crown will be her
first professional boxing title. That one fact alone may be enough
of a compelling reason for the Martin/Mahfood bout to be sanctioned
for the NABF title.
"At the time I was coming up," Martin said last week from her
training base in Florida, "the title belts in our sport were
slightly less than meaningless and I turned down a number of title
offers. I thought I'd wait until the belts had achieved at least a
bit of prestige." The resulting irony is that today, when Christy
Martin is fighting for a title for only the second time in her
career (the Laila Ali bout was for the IBA middleweight crown) the
sport has been overrun with far too many "slightly less than
meaningless" titles in subdivided weight classes, provided by far
too many meaningless sanctioning bodies. While headlines announcing
a female bout for "six or seven titles" are maddeningly frequent and
just as maddeningly ludicrous, the woman who carried, figuratively,
the sport of Women's boxing in the early, formative years of it's
existence, has yet to strap a title belt around her waist. File that
under: "What's wrong with this picture."
As far as the fighters for the Houston bout are concerned, the
match-up is, quite frankly, a bit more problematic. Valerie Mahfood
has been competing in the ring for eleven years and, in fact, July
18 will mark the anniversary of her first professional bout, in New
Orleans, a one round TKO of Jeanne Martinez. Mahfood, however, has
not had a win in the ring in over three years, a span during which
she has had two draws and six losses, the last coming against Yvonne
Reis, a 6-12-1 fighter, in November. But, at the peak of her career,
Mahfood was a major factor in the middleweight ranks, splitting two
bouts with Ann Wolfe, winning over Trina Ortegon and Mary Ann
Almager. In addition, it can be argued that Mahfood probably
represented the lone quality opponent in the long lay-up line that
was Laila Ali's twenty-four bout career. Of course, that was then
and the question needs to be asked whether Valerie Mahfood is, now,
a credible opponent for an NABF title.
Martin endorses her occasional sparring partner, "Valerie is always
in great shape and given her overall record in the ring, I have no
problem with her getting one more opportunity to fight for a title (Mahfood
has held four titles at various times in her career). "She has great
local appeal and is a big draw in the Houston area and there are a
lot of boxing fans eager to see her fight. And even with the number
of times I've been in the ring with her, Valerie never comes at you
the same way; she brings something different to every bout. I expect
a tough fight form a very tough fighter and, of course, there's
always the consideration that almost every fighter I get in the ring
with seems to get up, just a bit higher, for me."
Jill Diamond, Chairperson of the NABF Women's Division, concurs,
"Christy Martin is Women's boxing history and the sport owes her
more than it can repay. If she only gets to wear one belt, I'm proud
it could be the NABF belt. As for Valerie Mahfood, her record, over
the years, has been marked by her never saying 'No' to a fight,
particularly the tough fights and this is a tough fight. I have
enormous respect for both boxers, both of whom possess skills
comparable to any female boxer competing today. It should be an
exciting bout featuring two accomplished female fighters."
I might be tempted to dial down Diamond's assessment of the match-up
just a bit, given the recent records of the fighters, particularly
Mahfood. But Diamond's point about the skill level of Martin and
Mahfood is valid. Combined, both fighters have competed in the ring
for nearly thirty years and have ninety professional bouts against
almost every fighter of note in the sport. Valerie Mahfood and
Christy Martin do, indeed, know how to fight and their career work
in the ring is proof positive. Martin needs no further qualification
as a title contender. Are there other, better opponents for her?
Most certainly! But every once in a while, in every sport, the
spotlight needs to be expanded just slightly to include an athlete
who has given more to their sport than that athlete has taken away.
Houston, TX, July 18, the NABF middleweight title and Valerie
Mahfood are a good confluence of circumstance for exactly that type
of spotlight.
But certainly, as with almost every one of her bouts, beginning back
in Bristol, TN, July 18 in Houston will be, primarily, about Christy
Martin. Asked about her plans after the NABF title bout, Martin,
initially, provided the obligatory "one fight at a time" response.
But then, after a slight, contemplative pause, she continued, "I'm
certainly still thinking about 50 wins (a win on July 18 would be
48) but I'll take a close look at my performance in Houston before
making a decision about continuing." Fifty wins is a nice round
number, but that's all it is, a number, just like 48 or 49 and
Christy Martin's legacy in the sport of Women's boxing never was and
never should be based on a number. Her legacy is quite simply what
she has meant to the sport of Women's boxing and that's not
contingent on anything as flimsy as a certain round number of wins.
For those who weren't there in the nineties when Martin was the
sport of Women's boxing or who, for some reason, have forgotten, a
convenient reminder was provided in last week's Sports Illustrated.
The recent Holly Holm/Mary Jo Sanders bout received four lines of
copy in a front-of-the-book column titled "What's Hot" an "oh by the
way" compilation of notable sports events during the week. On April
16, 1996, shortly after her six round win over Deirdre Gogarty and
under the cover headline "The Lady Is A Champ," Christy Martin was
the subject of the featured story in the magazine. The headline on
the SI cover was true then and, on July 18, it has a chance to come
to realistic fruition, for the first time. Martin/Mahfood won't make
the list for "Fight of the Year" but it's hard to argue against at
least one really good reason for the bout: the lady is, and always
has been, a champ.
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