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Kelsey Jeffries: Walking the Talk
By Bernie McCoy
November 17, 2004
(NOV 17) The first thing to know about
Kelsey Jeffries
is that she does not, ever, "walk the walk and
talk the talk." Unlike some of her ringmates in the sport of Women's boxing,
Jeffries is content to let her actions in the ring speak for her and her
actions speak volumes. It's just one more way that Kelsey Jeffries is unique
in a unique sport, she's one of the few fighters who "walks the talk."
With Kelsey Jeffries there's no calling out fighters. Instead, Jeffries
determines who is the best available opponent, urges her team to make the
fight and climbs into the ring. It's a very efficient manner with which to
run a career and, as a result, Kelsey Jeffries maintains a career that
places her in the top echelon of the sport. With Jeffries there is no
thought to avoiding a quality fighter in her featherweight class or building
up a bloated record against "walkover" opposition. There is certainly no
strategy of scheduling fights with two outclassed foes within the space of
ten days, or fighting the same overmatched opponent twice in a week. Rather
Kelsey Jeffries judiciously disperses her boxing talent with an eye towards
the most competitive bouts available; she fights anyone, anytime: boxers,
brawlers and "bangers" and when Jeffries wins, and that's the vast majority
of the time, she doesn't waste time "talking the talk," Kelsey Jeffries and
her team go looking for another bout, against another quality fighter. If
there were more fighters like Kelsey Jeffries in the sport of Women's boxing
(and there are a few, but not nearly enough) or, at least, fighters with
Jeffries' "lets get it on" attitude, there would be more and better bouts
and the sport would be in considerably better shape from a competitive
standpoint.
Jeffries' record, at this point in her career, is 30-8, following a ten
round unanimous decision over
Trish
Hill two weeks
ago, a defense of Jeffries' IFBA title. The win was the nineteenth in the
last twenty bouts for Jeffries who admits that early in her career, "I may
have been moved too fast, too soon, early on. (But) I have learned a great
deal from every fight." Jeffries has learned from every fight simply because
the list of opponents reads like an all-star lineup of female fighters:
Laura Serrano,
Layla McCarter
,
Jo Jo Wyman,
"Goose" VanRyckdeGroot,
Cynthia Prouder,
Melissa
Del Valle.
Jeffries lost twice, in the "too fast, too soon" phase, to Serrano and
dropped a close decision to VanReykdegroot, two of the best female
featherweights, ever. Once the "learning" kicked in, Jeffries started
winning fights in bunches and only a close loss to Wyman in June ' 03 ruined
what would have been a twenty fight winning streak. (Jeffries holds a 3-1
edge in fights over the tough Wyman.)
Kelsey Jeffries approaches each fight in the same way, whether the bout is
against a puncher or a boxer, "Regardless of my opponent's style, I fight my
fight. My opponent may have a weakness or a strength that could alter my
game plan for that fight, but the majority of the fights, I fight my fight."
Sounds simple enough, but in point of fact, Jeffries, over her career, has
out punched punchers such as Trish Hill, and "out toughed" tough-as-nails
brawlers like Melissa Del Valle and even outboxed boxers as skilled as
Layla McCarter,
the latter feat being, in pugilistic terms, akin to out-singing Sinatra
To my question about a "wish list" of future opponents, Jeffries mildly
scoffs, "My wish list...if only it was that easy. Who I fight is a team
decision based on various factors such as weight, purse, location. I
currently plan to stay at 122, that's the weight class I feel best at and
the only reason to stray from that weight is if the fight is 'right'. As you
can see, we seldom turn one (bout) down." That's a bit of an understatement:
getting a fight past Kelsey Jeffries is like trying to get a pork chop past
a wolf. Jeffries concludes, "I like to stay busy, six to eight fights a year
is good." To which most boxing observers might add: Six to eight Kelsey
Jeffries fights is not only good for the fighter, it's good for the sport
since those are sure to be main-event quality bouts and the sport has all
too few of those.
For the present time, it seems the sport of Women's boxing will continue to
benefit from the presence of this fighter who simply states, "I just fight."
Kelsey Jeffries will continue to seek out the best fighters in her weight
class and, if there's a way, climb into the ring with them. Jeffries is
always ready to "just fight" and she's been ready for the more than five
years she has been a professional, and the sport has been much the better
for it. In spite of her "anytime, any place" attitude, Jeffries has not
gotten the publicity her skill and record warrant, except among the people
in the sport who fully understand that the label "fighter" doesn't
necessarily apply to everyone who dons a silk robe and climbs into the ring.
Kelsey Jeffries has deserved that label ever since she first climbed up the
ring steps and she'll deserve it when she's ready to step down. When? "My
trainer, Buddy McGirt, told me when I see him with two cigars and he gives
me one, then it's time to quit boxing." Hopefully, there will be a couple
more years of "six to eight fights" because when it's "light up the cigar
time" for Kelsey Jeffries, the sport will not only be losing one of it's
skilled practitioners, but the sport will lose an athlete who truly "walks
the talk" and those are, unfortunately, few and far between.
Bernie McCoy |
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Worldwide
