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CAROLINE SVENDSEN
(Information provided
by newspaper articles and
interview with Bill Dickson. I interviewed Dickson in October of
1999. Sue TL Fox)
Caroline Svendsen, a 34-year old
woman, who decided to become a boxer, was the first woman in the United
States to receive a boxing license.
She was managed by Ted Walker, out of
Carson City, Nevada, (Walker died last year 1998). Walker had
originally brought up the idea to Bill
Dickson [now deceased], about having women boxers. Dickson told
me, "I have to admit, that I was not crazy about women's boxing at
the beginning."
According to Dickson, this was the
beginning of the women's boxing in Nevada. Svendsen received
her boxing license in 1975, and proceeded to have about six fights
before calling it quits.
Most of her opponents, were women who
knew little about boxing which was not bad for the fact that her
skills were not fine tuned. She did pave the way for past
women boxers, and it was Svendsen who got enough public exposure to
get other women interested in the sport.
I can personally thank
Svendsen for coming to Portland, Oregon, to be the first woman to box in
Oregon in October of 1975. She was the fighter who gave me the idea
to start boxing. Sue TL Fox
Gal KO victim subs
News
article on Caroline Svendsen when she fought at the Exposition
Center in Portland, Oregon, (October 23, 1975) Columbian
Newspaper. Permission granted to print article. )
Lang is 5-foot-7 1/2 and weighs 134 pounds. Her opponent is 5-8 and 138
pounds. Lang looks athletic. Svendsen seems more delicately boned.
Lang said in an interview that she didn’t actively plan for a boxing career.
"I’ve had a few amateur wrestling matches. I was in the ring once before. I
was challenged to a match by an Indian lady in 1973. It ended in a draw,"
she said. Several weeks ago, she said, "I got this offer to fight
Caroline and I though "This is great."
"I think women
should be in boxing. I think women should do anything they think they’re
capable of doing," said Lang. "If I could have started when I was about 16
years old, I probably would have done it." Lang, not currently
married, has a 9-year-old son: "He thinks it’s really great," she said.
"There’s not too many kids around who can say, "My mother’s a boxer."
Lang, like
Svendsen, works out every day. She jumps rope, runs, does pushups and goes a
few rounds with sparring partners, who are male.
Newspaper article - Exposition
Center, Portland, Oregon February 12, 1976 (permission granted to use
newspaper article written by the editor Dave Fielder, Columbian Newspaper. PORTLAND, Ore.
(AP) – On 2 1/2 hours’ notice. Jean Lang jumped on a plane in Phoenix and
flew to Portland for a boxing match. She won’t watch comfortably from
ringside, however. Lang, 35, will be in one corner of the ring
tonight for Oregon’s first professional bout between women. In the other
will be Caroline Svendsen, 34, Virginia City, Nev., the first female to be
licensed as a professional boxer in the United States.
Lang is
substituting for Jennie Josephs of Manteca, Calif., who bowed out Wednesday
night because of influenza and laryngitis. Despite such short notice,
Lang is physically ready and has been training "ever since she beat me the
first time."
Tonight’s
four-round welterweight bout will be a rematch. Svendsen knocked out Lang
with a left uppercut in 50 seconds of the first round during an exhibition
in Nevada City, Sept. 19. "I really expected it to last a little
longer," said Lang, 35. "I think the altitude got to me. I’m a pretty
physical person. I always keep myself in good shape."
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