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Sue Fox Named  in the "Top Ten" Most -Significant Female Boxers of All Time - Ring Magazine - Feb. 2012

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Leah Mellinger, a 27 year old, 5' 7", 139-143 lbs., is one of the top women boxers of the world.  Leah was born on July 28, 1972 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.   She is one of three children.  Leah graduated from Penn Manor High School in 1990.  While not in the boxing gym, Leah works as a project coordinator for a recycling & wrecking company.  Beside boxing, some of Leah's favorite hobbies are gourmet cooking, dancing, and interior designing.  She took up the sport of contact fighting initially in 1993 when she joined Nye's gym - (She trained with Nye until about May of 1999).  In 1996, she earned a black belt and started competing in kickboxing.  Her record in kickboxing is 13-0 where she competed in the FFKA (Fight factory Karate Association.   Nine of those wins were through KO's.)
Leah started boxing as of March 5, 1995, where she fought five unsanctioned boxing matches and won all five.  She then had three amateur matches for USA and Golden Gloves, and won all three matches. 

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On August 22, 1996, Leah had her debut as a professional boxer in York, PA.  She KO'd Shara Holmes in 50 seconds of the first round.    

Some of the Highlights of Mellinger's boxing career:

**On August 7, 1997, in Ledyard, Connecticut, she fought Jane Couch (138 1/2), but lost to an unanimous eight round decision.

**On November 6, 1997, in Bilox, Mississippi, she defeated Gina Nicholas in a split decision.  She fought Nicholas in the welterweight division.

**On February 21, 1998, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania she gave Lisa Ested her first loss in an Welterweight six rounder.  The card was put on by her manager, Terry Nye.  Mellinger's boxing record moved to 5-3-1.

On March 21, 1998, at the Tropicana Casino, in Atlantic City, Mellinger (140), fought Fredia Gibbs (138) in a 10-round IFBA Jr. Welterweight championship title.  She defeated Gibbs, and her record moved to 6-3-1.   (WBAN has the video that is archived for historical purposes only).

On September 11, 1998, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Mellinger pulled off a split decision against Kathy Collins (138) in a ten-round title fight for the IWBF and IFBA Jr. Welterweight Championship. Mellinger's career was going strong, and she had appeared in a feature story with Kathy Collins on 20-20 that was a story about leading up to this fight. (WBAN has the video that is archived for historical purposes only).

On November 6, 1998, she fought Robyn Covino, of Hollywood, California.  in a Jr. Welterweight bout. The fight was an eight-round bout, and she won by a unanimous decision.  WBAN's Roaming Reporter covered this fight exclusively, and took photos of the event.   Mellinger's record was then 8-3-1. Covino, who didn't appear to have much success in women's boxing fell to a low 1-6.  Mellinger was also the IWBF/IFBA junior welterweight champion at the time of this fight.  What was a curious thing about this match was that it was the main event, and Covino was listed as a world class contender, but being 1-6 as a boxer didn't seem to fit the description on the boxing program.   

On December 3, 1998, at the Days Inn in South Whitehall, Pennsylvania, Mellinger fought Shakurah Witherspoon in a tune-up Jr. Welterweight four-rounder that resulted in a unanimous decision (40-36 all three judges) for Mellinger.  Her record rose to 9-3-1, and Witherspoon, who's record was declining quickly fell to 2-6-1.  

On March 14, 1999, Leah Mellinger's winning streak came to a halt when she fought Daniella Somers.  WBAN had conducted a public survey to see how boxing fans would vote on who they thought would win.  Mellinger had received most of the votes that she would defeat Somers, and many were surprised when she lost the fight. She traveled to Antwep, Belgium, and lost a ten-round decision, and the IWBF Jr. Welterweight belt.   On top of her losing the fight, Mellinger was very upset when she returned to her room, and her purse, and some boxing gear had been stolen out of the room.  

In May of 1999, shortly before Mellinger's fight with Hannah "The Vegas" Fox, the challenger of Mellinger's IFBA Jr. Welterweight belt--Terry Nye made it public that he was no longer Melinger's  manager. The next shocker came when it was announced that Terry Nye would be working with Mellinger's opponent --- Hannah Fox!   Some boxing fans were disillusioned by Nye changing sides so quickly after he and Mellinger had broken relations.  

On June 11, 1999, in Bossier City, Louisiana, Mellinger fought Hannah Fox.  Before the fight, at the weigh-in, Nye was able to shake Mellinger up by saying her breast protector was not legal.  Even though he should have had knowledge being her trainer/manager for years that she was wearing the same one that she had always used when she fought under his wing. 

That "display" by Nye of knocking Mellinger's concentration before her fight with Fox was a clear indicator to many boxing fans that there was an undercurrent of "get back" on Nye's part. Although other boxing fans said, "Anything is fair in love and war."    

Mellinger lost the fight---but many boxing fans did not accept it as a loss for her, due to the emotional upset that many felt Nye had caused.  Sue TL Fox viewed the video of that fight, and it appeared that Mellinger's heart was not in and that Hannah Fox wanted it more.  Also, even though Mellinger was not fighting to her full potential, which was very understandable, the video could not hide her very technical and excellent boxing skills.   (WBAN has the video that is archived for historical purposes only).

On July 31, 1999, in Santa Ynez, California, Leah Mellinger fought Lisa Holywyne for the Jr. Welterweight  P.B.I. belt (Federation was virtually unheard of) and WBAN had contacted the promoters of this event to get more info on the belt itself.  )  They had little information to supply and merely told TL Fox that they said that they made Mellinger of the "named champion" of the belt without a championship fight.  She fought Holywyne, who is from Texas, and won by a ten-round unanimous decision.  

After that fight with Holywyne, Mellinger just kind of disappeared out of the limelight. . . . . . .  

On March 24, 2000, the Lancaster New Era, a local newspaper in Mellinger's home town interviewed her and she said that she was getting back into the action as early as the end of April. 

June 9, 2000 - Zembo Temple in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Mellinger
and former IFBA/IWBF Junior Welterweight champion defeated Shakurah Witherspoon with a four-round unanimous decision. Mellinger moved her record to 11-5-1 and Witherspoon dropped to 8-17-1.

 
     
     
   
           
 
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