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Shaffer
back in Action!
November 10, 2004
Melissa “HAYMAKER” Shaffer is Back in Action! Off the Radar Screen for
Eight Months She Gives Women’s Boxing Fans a Heads Up on Where She Has Been,
and What She’s Been Doing.
Q: You’ve made some dramatic changes lately in both your boxing career
and your personal life. Can you fill us in on that?
Shaffer: Dramatic would be a good word! Let’s see…I quit my job, said
good-bye to my true friends and family (that was the hardest part), moved
half way across the country, got new managers and new trainers, yeah, I
think ‘dramatic changes’ would be a good way to put it!
Q: What was it about Arkansas that wasn’t working for you?
Shaffer: The main reason that I left Arkansas was that I got depressed
and disillusioned about where my boxing career was going. I was depressed
because my record was mostly an illusion and it was easy for other people to
make fun of it. I couldn’t live with that and it became obvious that staying
where I was and getting what I wanted were two things that just didn’t go
together.
Q: So, what got you interested in Seattle?
Shaffer: Well, it was around that time that I got a call from Kim
Messer’s agent, who was looking for female Korean boxers. To be able to take
advantage of the opportunity that he was talking about I knew that to be
ready for the challenge I was going to need a new trainer. That’s when I
kinda’ spilled my guts to him about my situation and asked if he could get
me in touch with the Messer camp. They said they would be willing to take a
look at me, so I took a trip up to Seattle for a weekend training session.
The way they trained and what I was use to were very different. The first
thing was that I was in a real “Boxing Gym”. I was used to training in a
place called the World Class Fitness Center in Arkansas which had a couple
of heavy bags and not much more.
The atmosphere at RSU was so much more intense! And it was busy all day long
with Pro and Amateur fighters. There was even a guy named Alex Bunema (from
Atlanta) working with a guy from Detroit (Rubin Williams) getting ready for
a fight against Jermain Taylor, in Arkansas of all places!
I was overwhelmed and a little embarrassed at first but Mark and Kim made me
feel more comfortable by telling me that they were more interested in what I
did have than what I didn’t. The thing that they were looking for most was
“heart.” Of course they told me this after I sparred with Kim and received
the worst ass beating I’d ever had. Alex and Rubin were working out nearby
and kept pausing to look at us like somebody witnessing a bad auto accident,
making noises like, “OOOOH” and Damn! , That’s gotta hurt!”
Kim didn’t knock me down with head shots or anything ( She wasn’t trying to)
but kept working my body to see if I’d give up. To me this was worse, kind
of like slow torture instead of a quick death. But, somehow I managed to
make it through.
Kim Messer (L), Melissa Shaffer (R)
Q: When did you and the
Messer's discuss becoming a team?
Shaffer: Since Mark and Kim had seen what they wanted, we decided to
tour around Seattle and hit all the landmarks. During that time, I knew that
this is where I wanted to be but I wasn’t really sure what the Messer's
thought. So, I asked them if they’d take over management of my boxing
career. In their eyes I had ‘passed the test’ in the ring with Kim that day.
They saw what they wanted to see…that I had ‘heart’…and yes, they would help
me.
On my plane ride home I decided to ‘move on’ (literally) and leave behind
the things pertaining to my career development that were holding me back.
Before I arrived back in Arkansas I was sure of where I wanted to go. It
only took me three weeks to get my stuff in order and be on the road to
Seattle.
Q: What’s training been like, and what are your plans for the future?
Shaffer: The training has been hard, both mentally and physically but
exciting, because I’m learning something new every day about how to develop
a style of boxing, which is something I never really had before, a style I
mean. Before I was just a brawler and I fought from my gut because I really
didn’t know much more. My plans for the future are to learn as much as
I can from Mark and Kim who have tried to help me put some method to my
madness.
There is a real community, almost family-type, atmosphere at Ring Sports and
I very much want to be a part of it…as a fighter, supporter of the other RSU
pro’s and amateurs and to do whatever I can to help Mark & Kim in their
efforts to promote quality boxing, especially women’s boxing.
Most importantly I want to become a legitimate boxer who’s respected by my
peers. I’d like to stay busy, and win or lose be able to hold my head up
knowing that I gave it my best.
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