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Kasha The "Fighting Marine" Chamblin began boxing training to stay in shape and to get her younger
brother Max involved with Beau Williford's Ragin’ Cajun Amateur Boxing Club in
Lafayette, Louisiana. Chamblin had just finished eight years in the US Marine Corps, four on active duty and four of inactive duty,
and she was one of only a handful of women
serving as Marine training instructors.
The boxing workout suited her style, she said. "I’m always looking for the toughest thing to do ... that’s why I went into the Marines.”
What began for her as a conditioning tool, rather than climbing through the ropes to deal out
real punishment, peaked Kasha's interest. She signed on
to train for competition with Williford and former world champion
Deirdre Gogarty,
whose all-out battle with Christy Martin on a Mike Tyson PPV undercard had put
women's pro boxing back in the media spotlight in 1996.
“I’m breaking ground because I’m one of the first people that Deirdre has worked with and trained,” Chamblin said.
“For me to be her first pupil is pretty special. She was number one in the
world, you couldn’t ask for somebody any better to teach you.” Chamblin regularly spars with
Gogarty as well as with male boxers in Williford's gym.
“I’ve been doing a lot of running, wind sprints, a lot of cardiovascular work,” she said.
“I’m doing a lot of just moving around the ring with Deirdre and staying sharp. There won’t be any question about me
being in the best shape I’ve ever been.”
Kasha had her first, and only, full-scale amateur bout in Ma rch 2004
after months of postponements, walkovers and other cancellations.
In that fight, she dominated a more experienced Ashley Gibson of New Orleans, winning all
three rounds and claiming the then-vacant
Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama-Northern Florida 125-pound women’s amateur title.
Seeing few openings for women’s amateur boxers, Chamblin signed on as a
professional after this success.
She made her pro debut on on the “Forces of Destruction” undercard on
June 18, 2004 at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette, Louisiana.
She weighed in at 124 lbs and TKO'd debut fighter Lisa Zeringue (120 lbs) of Covington, Louisiana
at 1:49 in the third round. Kasha entered the ring
with the Marines´ hymn blaring, then used solid combinations to keep Zeringue in
trouble almost from the start.
She hit Zeringue with a lead left 15 seconds into the fight and
scored a solid right 20 seconds before the end of the first round and dropped Zeringue
with an immediate follow-up right.
A left-right combination early and an overhand right late provided two more knockdowns in the second
round, and Zeringue barely survived until the second-round bell. A solid right
dropped Zeringue in her own corner, for the fourth time in the fight, at the end of the third round.
Referee Kenny Saintes
stopped the bout.
“I was trying to see what kind of power she had early,” Chamblin said.
“But Beau kept telling me to double up the jab and throw the
right hand. When I started doing that, you could tell she was getting shy, she flinched every time I
flicked my right hand.”
This was the first sanctioned women's professional bout ever held in Lafayette.
On August 28, 2004 at
Grand Casino Coushatta Pavillion in Kinder, Louisiana,
Kasha (122 lbs) TKO'd Dana Kendrick (122¼ lbs) at 1:01 of the first round.
Kendrick brought a 7-2 record into this fight but she was quickly overwhelmed. Chamblin hit Kendrick at will for the final 30 seconds before Kendrick turned her back
and referee Kenny Licata stopped the one-sided bout.
On November 26, 2004 at the Grand Casino in
Gulfport, Mississippi,
Kasha (122 lbs) won by a TKO over pro debut fighter Sandi Mitchell (126 lbs),
who was unable to answer the bell for the second round.
On April 16, 2005 at the Isle of Capri Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana, Kasha
(122 lbs) won a four-round unanimous
(40-36,39-36,39-36) decision over Kris Sepulvado (130 lbs) of Shreveport,
Louisiana. Perennial "opponent' Sepulvado fell to 1-14-2. "I'm ready to
go and I can't wait," Chamblin said before the fight ended a nearly
five-month layoff. "I don't care who the opponent is. I only know I'm anxious
for it to get here."
On August 27, 2005 at the Paragon Casino Resort in
Marksville, Louisiana, Kasha TKO'd debut fighter Kerri Hill of Arkansas at 0:43 in the first
round.
On November 26, 2005 at the Paragon
Casino Resort in Marksville, Louisiana, Kasha won by a four-round majority
(39-37,39-37,38-38) decision in a rematch with
Kris Sepulvado.
On August 12, 2006 at
the Paragon Casino Resort in
Marksville, Louisiana, Kasha (124 lbs) won a
four-round unanimous (40-36, 40-36, 39-37) decision in her third bout with Kris
Sepulvado (140 lbs), who was a late substitute.
On October 24, 2006 at the Petroleum Club in
Shreveport, Louisiana, Kasha won by a TKO at 0:38 in the first round over pro
debuter Cantrell (Candy) Sewell of Shreveport. According to local news sources
(Donald McDonald of the advertiser.com) Chamblin caught Sewell with a straight
right less than 15 seconds into the bout, and then threw a barrage of punches on
Sewell before the referee stopped the fight.
On December 2, 2006 at the Estrel Convention Center
in Berlin, Germany, Ina Menzer (125¾ lbs) of Mönchengladbach,
Germany defended the WIBF Featherweight title with an eighth-round TKO of Kasha
(123½ lbs). Menzer caught Chamblin with a straight right hand with
approximately 20 seconds left in the eighth round. Chamblin, making her first
title-bout appearance, went down for the first time in her career. She quickly
rose, but the referee stopped the bout with approximately 10 seconds left in the
round.
According
to WBAN correspondent Ewan Whyte, "Chamblin
was a worthy challenger – stylish, fit and full of heart – but she read the
exchanges less well than her opponent, missed widely with her best shots, and
did scant mischief with the rest.
An exchange in the first round encapsulated the
entire fight: a jab so anaemic from Chamblin it may even have been a feint,
followed by an uppercut that did no damage, refuted by a right cross to the face
that did; a furious but ineffectual flurry of four shots in reply from Chamblin
interrupted by a clubbing left hook to the cheekbone that bent her neck; and
then a second – a punishment shot, almost – for good measure, that knocked her
sideways and left her blinking and covering up".
Menzer improved to 16-0 (8 KO's) while
Chamblin fell to 8-1-0 (4 KOs).
On August 25, 2007 at Blackham
Coliseum in Lafayette, Louisiana
Kasha won an eight-round unanimous (80-72 x 3) decision over
Donna Biggers of South Carolina. J & P Photography who covered the
fight for WBAN, said: “Biggers looked to be a heavy hitter and she withstood
the initial onslaught of Chamblin with a good return of her own. At times,
Chamblin was able to land some accurate jabs to Biggers. Kasha looked like she
played a "rope-a-dope" with her opponent, staying in a shell stance and letting
Biggers wail away with some clubbing shots. Biggers, at times, taunted Chamblin
trying to make her mad...trying to make her open up to leave herself open.”
In a post fight interview, Chamblin said,
““Because she [Biggers] had so many first and second-round knockouts (16 of
Biggers’ 19 wins had come by KO, 14 of them in the first two rounds), I
wanted to set a tone and show I wasn’t backing down. I went in wanting to throw
every punch hard in every round.” Biggers said after the fight, ““I was
trying to get my counterpunching down. she (Chamblin) caught me with some good
shots. She had a good jab and she has heart because I know I caught her a couple
of times. She’s a little better than I anticipated.”
Page last updated:
Monday, 15 February 2010 |
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