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NATIVES By
"Michelle Genz"
April 12, 1998 - The Miami Herald
It’s nearly impossible to imagine former
women’s boxing champion Barbara Buttrick with a bloody nose, harder still to imagine
the diminutive English-accented 68-year-old bookkeeper bloodying someone else’s. But
as "The Mighty Atom of the Ring," she not only bloodied but broke three noses
(including her ex-husband’s, who sparred with her) and scored 12 knockouts, without
ever being knocked out herself. Her career record: 30-1-1. "I had a hard left
jab," she says. "I could punch hard from my side, was the reason I could stand
up to the bigger girls. They weren’t so keen to come rushing in."But the toughest fight of all was getting anyone –
besides her opponents – to take her seriously. Buttrick grew up in Yorkshire,
England, an only child who was tiny for her age – she boxed as a 4-foot-11, 98-pound
flyweight.
"I was small, but I was mean," she says. One
day, when she came home with muddy shoes, her mother handed her the Sunday Dispatch to
wipe them with. Barbara, then 15, noticed a story about Polly Burns, prizefighter of the
early 1900’s.
It struck a nerve; she
bought boxing gloves and a book called The Noble Art of Self-Defense. She found a trainer
in London and got a day job as a typist. Every evening, she went to the gym for three
hours of bag-punching, rope-skipping and sparring with her 118-pound coach, Len Smith,
whom she eventually married. Finding competitors proved difficult because British
officials refused to recognize female boxers.
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Buttrick Fight Card |
Buttrick in the 50-60's |
Eventually,
Buttrick fought in boxing booths, portable rings that passed through villages, inviting
anyone to fight. Sports writers found her quick and skillful, her endurance formidable: in
France,. She fought 15 two-round exhibitions in a single day. In 1952, Buttrick and Smith
headed for America, where she won eight bouts in a row and knocked out the U.S. female
bantamweight champion.
In 1957, she moved to Dallas. She and opponent Phyllis
Kugler won the state’s first boxing licenses for women, and a world title bout was
held in San Antonio. Buttrick won a unanimous decision, making her the first women’s
world boxing champion. By then, she had fought more than 1,000 exhibitions with men and 18
professional women’s fights, only one of which she lost—outweighed by 33 pounds
and stricken with the flu.
Buttrick and Smith moved to Miami Beach, training at the
5th Street Gym. In 1959, she fought what is believed to be Florida’s first female
boxing match, defeating Gloria Adams at the North Miami Armory. After her last fight in
1960 – four months pregnant with her first child – she quit to raise two
children and become a ringside photographer. In 1990, she was elected to the International
Boxing and Wrestling Hall of Fame. In 1993, she founded the Women’s International
Boxing Federation.
"Reprinted with permission of The Miami Herald.Disclaimer, all credit and property of photos are from
Amazons in Action magazine, Copyright©1979, Swish Publications LTD, 47 Great Guildford
St. London SE1
©Short video clip
copyrighted by Shadowboxer -Courtesy permission
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