1978: Female Boxing Match: Laurie Dennine vs. Mary Kudla

On June 12, 1978, at the Convention Centre in Winnipeg, Canada, female boxer Laurie Dennine from St. Paul, Minnesota, one of the boxers that Bill Paul had gotten into the sport, was set to fight a four-rounder against Mary Kudla, of Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Big Donn Kirton, the broadcaster on Radio in Canada, was invited to be the ring announcer at the Tommy Burns’ Pro Boxing card.   This was the first time that the promoter had female boxing on his card.   This was NOT an exhibition card according to the Winnipeg Free Press, stating that in female boxing had started out as a show in Las Vegas a number of years ago, but now is organized.

Unfortunately in retrospect, in 1978, the sport was not even in the spectrum of being “organized.”