I can recall that many UFC fans told me ten years ago that it would be run so much more smoothly than boxing. Having one promoter and a numbered amount of regulated fight cards, it would even feature fewer divisions, and talent would be built up locally, then regionally, and nationally… rather than based on fame and connections. Oh, how that has proven so reliable (sarcasm aplenty). Enter Elite XC (now bankrupt), Bellator, WEC, and Strikeforce. Enter the Brock Lesnar hype, and retirement and unretirement of several big names… as well as continued legal hurdles.
This was not a lesson I warned them against as a psychic. Number one, I had seen this before. As a boxing fan, we have been threatened over the years by the inevitable “takeovers” of Wrestling, Karate, Kung Fu, Kickboxing, and now MMA. Never has it happened, and usually the reason was that the traditional boxing problems that were said to be avoided by this new art, actually ended up being much worse. There is one unexamined category within this framework, however. That would be women?s boxing.
It has taken a lot longer for many to notice, partially because it has happened within our own sport. The women’s boxing craze of the mid 90’s gave us a few names, but few memorable matches, and even more confusion. Fast forward to 2012, and women’s boxing is rarely even featured on television anymore. There were certainly stars: Laila Ali, Christy Martin, and Mia St. John. There were also highlight reel KOs(Ann Wolfe over Vonda Ward). Yet, it really never caught on. Here are a few things we hate about the men’s game, that are even worse in the women’s game.
Hometown Decisions: Maybe not worse, but certainly as bad. Regina Halmich’s entire career was a study in Sven Ottke-like screw jobs. Laura Serrano suffered 3 losses and 1 draw before she ever legitimately lost a fight.
Record padding: Where record padding is rampant in the men’s game, it is even more ridiculous in the women’s… because of lack of opponents available; a female fighter may have several fights against the same hapless victim on her resume. Also, a 4-7 fighter may routinely land a title shot, and even be a better fighter than her 20-1 opponent.
Lack of dream match-ups: True, Holly Holm and Sophie Mathis finally fought, as did Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde. But there were over 11 years between these matches… and in the interim we were cheated out of Lucia Rijker-Christy Martin, Ali-Leticia Robinson, Ali-Ann Wolfe, etc. Kudos to Martin for fighting Ali and St. John, but both were mismatches that simply featured names.
I, for one, hope Mathis is dug up some more competition and Ann Wolfe finds some more female protegees. The other aspect is that they have to resist the urge to retire for movie/modeling fame. Be pretty or be tough, ladies. Both have to happen when you?re young.
