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AN INSIDE VIEW OF THE
BERTONCELLO FIGHT
By Craig Ogawa
February 3, 2002
Stunned, barely standing, pummeled in her own corner before a
screaming crowd... a hurt young fighter struggles silently to hold
herself together. Long after the bell sounds. Long after the blows
have stopped and the foe has confidently strode away. Long after
friendly hands have placed the stool beneath her to rest on.
In the co-main event,
Cynthia Prouder of Los Angeles defeated Jenna “Bambi”
Bertoncello of Bellevue, Washington, ending the bout with a powerful
attack at the end of round 4 that left Bertoncello unable to
continue.
Prouder, who is trained by her boyfriend
Eric Brown, showed good, crisp punching against a game but outgunned
opponent. With the victory, Prouder’s record improves to 7-9-1
(2KO), while Bertoncello’s drops to 3-4.
Although there were no
knockdowns, Prouder punished her opponent throughout the match,
landing frequently with hard, well-timed shots and finally, as Round
4 was drawing to a close, nailing Bertoncello and driving her back
into her own corner where Prouder unloaded 3 or 4 huge bombs before
the bell.
It was over. As the referee rushed in Prouder was already headed
back to her corner. But it took several moments before the trembling
Bertoncello could lower herself onto the seat right below her.
When we think of the risks of boxing and the martial arts, we first
think of the dangers of injury, of trauma, of one too many blows to
the head, the kind of risk that leaves the ring on a
stretcher.
But the everyday risk, the everyday danger of defeat and sense of
failure is strong even when the body is left intact. How crushing
that danger is could be seen as the fight ended. To stay standing.
To sit. Yes, it’s OK now to sit.
Pain? Yes, but more than pain.
Humiliation?
Frustration? A feeling of being helpless to stop the pain and
humiliation?
The feeling that you let somebody down? Your trainer, those that
worked with you, those that helped you?
The crushing of a dream, a promise that seemed so bright just a few
short years ago as a kickboxer?
It might seem cruel to dwell at length on defeat and the defeated,
but I’m not writing this to be. It is part of the mystique of
women in a sport so demanding of strength and competitive spirit -
that we care about the choice that a woman has made and the risk
that she has chosen to take. It’s harder to see women as
faceless, fighting machines than it is men.
We see a face. We see a person. We see the daring of the athlete,
the daring of the strong. In her, the beauty of the competitive
spirit is revealed. In her, we can feel the haunting risk of failure
that tests that spirit.
In the silent struggle, the beauty of that spirit was there. The
spirit was tested, and she faced it. She never turned away.
In a gracious gesture, Cynthia Prouder took Bambi Bertoncello by the
wrist and raised her arm in victory - two women victorious over the
perils of sport, the perils of beauty and the spirit.
(Bertoncello fought Prouder on January 31, 2002 at the Hollywood
Park Casino, in Inglewood, California.) A special thanks to Craig
Ogawa to have written this article. Sue TL Fox
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