1976: First ever Female boxing bout in Connecticut: Trimiar vs. Gemini

WBAN’s Archive has the ORIGINAL documented newsletter in the our Archive Files

In the NEWAWA GRAPEVINE newletter, dated April 1976, Page 4,  they reported the following History-first boxing bout that took place in Connecticut.  They wrote the following at the time.  First for Women – A “Tyger” in Our Tank – Amidst tremendous controversy, the first women’s professional boxing bout in Connecticut took place on Saturday, January 10, 1976.

In order to give you a first hand report on the bout, Jo and Jeff Bray were at ringside.

The fight was between Gwen Gemini of Springfield, Mass. 23, years old, 152 lbs., her 4th fight) and Marion “Tyger” Trimiar of New York City, 22 years old, 148 lbs. and her second fight.

Prior to the fight, it was suggested that the promoter had the women on the card just to “pack the house, ”  If that was his motive, he surely succeeded, as according to our count, there were approximately 3,000 people in attendance at the huge Waterbuy Armory. (At $5, and $7, per seat.)”

We assume that the tickets were all sold out, because we know that two days before, it was almost impossible to find tickets at any of the locations.  Regardless of what prompted the promoter to have women on the card, it was obvious to us that the women were very serious about their boxing and had trained hard for the fight.

WBAN’s Archive has the ORIGINAL documented newsletter in the our Archive Files

State officials reluctantly approved the bout on the conditions that the women war aluminum and leather bras (sounds like something from the stone age, doesn’t it?), and that there were be no decision in the bout unless a KO was scored.

We felt that the majority of the crowd there that night were regular fight fans.  However, there were also quite a number of people like ourselves, who were there just to see the women’s bout.  As the time came for the women to appear a wave of anticipation and apprehension came over the crowd.

Moments after “Tyger” entered the ring, she threw off her hooded robe to show her bald head and then sashayed across the ring, blowing kisses.  These bits of showmanship seemed to break the ice and allowed the audience to become more at ease.

Round one started with both women boxing cautiously, jabbing, dancing and jabbing.  As the round progressed, each landed a few good punches.  The crod now realized that two women could give an acceptable account of themselves in the ring, and began to react and cheer during the rest of the fight, the way they did during the men’s bouts.

The second round showed aggressive action by both during the first 45 seconds, with “Tyger” throwing lots of punches (most of which were blocked), and Gwen counter punching and scoring with many left jabs.

Then both fighters seemed to coast for about 45 seconds, and the crowd began to cheer them on to more action.  The round ended with a flurry from each.

Round three followed the same pattern as round two had.  By this time, it was obvious that the crowd was enjoying “Tyger’s” showmanship and was rooting her on.

The final round showed “Tyger” swinging wildly, sometimes connecting and Gwen counter punching steadily.  Each time “Tyger” would attack, Gwen would step back, block the punch, and counter punch.  Block the punch, and counter punch.  The fourth round ended without a AKO and therefore NO DECISION.

Our assessmetn of the fight as a whole was that the women did as well in the ring as two men with equal experience would have done; no better—no worse.

The bout did not show the power and bloodiness that most of the men’s bouts did that evening, but did show good skillful boxing and counter punches.  The action was sporatic-good at times, lagging at other times.

“Tyger and Gwen were very evenly matched but had totally different styles.  “Tyger” constantly moved around, fought from a croched position, was aggressive and carried the fight to Gwen.  Most of her punches, however, were telegraphed and were therefore blocked or deflected before landing.  Gwen, on the other hand, was taller, fought very deliberately with good, sharp straight jabs and showed polished defensive skills.  If we had to give a decision, we would have picked Gwen as a close winner.

After the bout, the promoter asked the audience for their reaction to the women’s bout.  The audience responded with good, solid applause.  He was later quoted as saying that he wants more female bouts in the future, with decisions, it was a good start and we hope to see it grow.  [THIS FIGHT WAS AN EXHIBITION]