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In this season of giving thanks, there is one troubling trend that
is getting a "no thanks" from me and many fans of women’s
boxing--Mismatches! The most flagrant setback for the sport came across the Atlantic one day
before Thanksgiving, and it redefined the word "turkey." Jane
Couch, who has
been involved in some very entertaining and competitive bouts, and who worked so
diligently out of the ring to finally and deservedly earn the right to box in her native
England, humiliated her novice 18-year-old opponent in barely more than a round.
If you wonder how it was
received: Don’t. "In terms of entertainment value," writes David Smith in
the London Evening News, "the crowd would have been better rewarded had two women
stepped in the glare of spotlights armed with ironing boards and then raced each other to
turn baskets full of washing into neat, folded piles." Smith went on to say,
"Simple logic dictates that once the novelty has worn off—if it hasn’t
already done so—it will be years before women’s professional boxing is a viable
box-office draw in this country."
Smith peppered his story like a
good fighter uses his jab—except his words were more like straight-hard rights to the
chin—with such descriptions as "non-event", "dire"
"unfortunate" and his "biting" observation that, "It was
perfectly obvious last night that women’s professional boxing doesn’t work and
never will in this country…"
When reading some of the reviews
of this fight, it was as if I was reading some of the press clippings of not only about
myself, but of other women boxers in the 1970s. It even brought to mind a similar
"historical first" that took place in North Carolina in 1978 with
Cat Davis, a
World lightweight champion. Like Couch, there was tremendous media hype before the
bout, and like the recent display in England, it was a debacle. The :"fight"
lasted 154 seconds with Davis knocking out her opponent, Margie Dunson. Not only was the
public disappointed about the mismatch, but the news media had a hay day with the lopsided
turn of events.
I know that there are still
problems in finding enough quality opponents to go around – I mean, it is truly sad
and a bit bizarre when good, up-and-coming fighters have to make a plea on the Internet to
simply find an opponent to fill a date.
And yet, one of the more serious
problems seems to be with the managers and promoters who somehow fear killing the
"goose" that laid the golden glove by refusing to sign and promote matchups of
top-ranked fighters. The real problem with that reasoning is: there is no
"goose." Unless your first name is Christy
or Lucia, there are barely any female
fighters out there making a living in the sport. In fact some are still fighting for
the same amount of money that I was paid 20 years ago!
Women’s boxing can only
grow when all parties concerned understand that quality, entertaining and competitive
bouts are what the public wants, and ultimately, will be willing to support. For every
good recent matchup – Kathy Williams against Yvonne
Trevino, Leah Mellinger against Kathy Collins, Eva Jones-Young against Para
Draine, and Deb Nichols against Chris Kruez
– there have been twice as many bombs.
Every mismatch is just one
more blow--a far harder blow than any woman boxer could ever deliver in the ring.
Collectively, they will become blows that will cripple any chance of our sport being
accepted on a more positive and universal level. But, on the women’s side of the
sport, they become easy and effective ammunition for every critic out there.
Said Britain boxing promoter
Frank Maloney recently, "Women should stay in the kitchen, or in the bedroom."
In a post fight commentary after Couch’s fiasco, Ian Gibbs, from the Daily Mail said,
"The grotesque spectacle paraded as a breakthrough in boxing, the first women’s
professional fight in the UK, should be consigned to history and the record book slammed
shut for good."
Jane Couch said thanks for the
license. The public, however, rightfully said "no thanks" to another in a
string of needless mismatches that our sport can no longer afford.
Sue TL Fox & Brian
Ackley
Published 11/28/98
©Copyrighted 5/15/98
WOMEN BOXING ARCHIVE
NETWORK.
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