(OCT 13) It's been 21 months
since Minnesota’s only professional female boxer, 23 year old
Amy "Hard Hands" Lemenager stepped into the ring. After winning
her second consecutive professional fight in January of 2020,
the Covid pandemic, coupled with starting her career as a police
officer in Duluth, Minnesota, put the brakes on her boxing
momentum.
"Covid took the wind out of my
boxing sails, just like so many
others that had prepared for future athletic events. I had plans
for three fights that all fell through. Fortunately, I had
a new career I was starting, so 100% of my focus was on my
training, learning my new job and staying in shape so that if
the opportunity came around, it wouldn't be such a push. I knew
I just needed to be patient- eventually something would show up
and things would come back to some kind of normalcy" said
Lemenger.
Lemenager decided that with these
changes, it was also a good time to make another switch: "I
decided to leave Jungle Boy Boxing and continue my training at
Twin Ports Boxing with Aaron Resberg as coach. Zach did a great
job for me in my first two fights, but our two schedules weren't
really working out."
"Aaron was familiar with me and my style- Joe Lorenzi was my
long-time amateur coach, and Aaron was Joe's coach when he boxed
professionally, so he was in our gym all the time. He helped
me with pointers as an amateur and was present at just about
every one of my fights. It was a natural move for me, and I'm
excited to put the things Coach Aaron is teaching me into
action!", added Lemenger.
The move took some time though, as Twin Ports was without a home
for a while. During the interim, Lemenager looked for training
help from some of Minnesota’s icons- making the trek down to the
Twin Cities to work with Ceresso Fort and Caleb Truax.
Lemenger said, "Ceresso is such a wonderful coach. He welcomes
everyone in his gym and the vibe there is awesome. Every time I
visit I learn something. Caleb- what can you say about him? He’s
one of the best boxers to ever come out of our State and is
another class act that is always willing to lend a hand or offer
help.”
Twin Ports Boxing recently moved into a new location inside the
old
Bethany Lutheran Church on West 3rd Street in Duluth. "I love
our new location" Lemenager says. "I'm partial to an old-school
type boxing atmosphere. I like the grind, the no nonsense
approach. So many boxing gyms are moving towards boxing fitness,
which isn't my style. This is a gym where kids in the
neighborhood can come and mix it up with both amateurs and
professionals while getting really good coaching, and at the
same time learn valuable life lessons. Our neighborhoods need
these kinds of places."
Hard Hands is on the "Ignite Fights" card being held at the
Canterbury Events Centre in Shakopee on Saturday, December 4th.
Her opponent is 32 year old “Kaptain” Kate LaVigne, who despite
being relatively new to the sport, had a short but solid amateur
career and has two professional fights under her belt, with one
win and one loss. As an amateur she participated in USA
Nationals and won the Ringside World Tournament in 2017.
LaVigne also juggles a professional career with her boxing—a
business owner, Kate has a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine
degree and spends her days in her clinic (Complete Chiropractic
& Wellness) helping to heal her patients and provide wellness
care. LaVigne fights out of the Pound 4 Pound Boxing Gym in
Kansas City, trained by Master Melvin Wesley.
Tickets are available online at
this link.
Hard Hands is sponsored by Hoops
Brewing, Cost Cutters, Focal Point Home Improvement, Gladiator
Mouthguards and Ignite Fights.
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