Algieri Talks about Battling the New York Boxing Commission

SOURCE: NORTH CAROLINA   LAFAYETTE   NOVEMBER 1977  MARGIE DUNSON

Sal Algieri and Cathy “Cat” Davis are currently battling the New York Boxing Commission and it’s head, Floyd Patterson.  Patterson doesn’t want women boxing in New York.  “Patterson claims women shouldn’t fight for medical reasons,” Algieri claimed angrily.  “What medical reason?  If Patterson wants a court fight, we’ll give him one.  Personally, I plan on writing a letter to the governor calling for his removal.”

If women’s boxing is to establish itself, the New York commission will be just one of many obstacles it will have to overcome.  Right now, the sport is struggling to establish itself as a draw among fight fans.

“We decided to give the women a shot in Fayetteville because it would be something new, a novelty,” explained Ed McCarthy, public relations director for Ringside Promotions.  “I guess you could say it was an experiment.

“We were hoping with all the army men there are in this area we could draw.  But they have amateur boxing at Fort Bragg that’s free.  The women just didn’t draw.  Actually, they’ve never drawn anywhere.”

Not exactly.  Davis says the biggest crowd she has boxed in front of was 8,000 last summer in Seattle. July 1977 or summer of 1977)

“It’s going  to get better,” Davis said.  “If the women work at making it better, that is.  I think potentially women’s boxing could be a better draw than men’s boxing.  Most of the people who watch boxing are men and women and prettier than men.”

Davis is testimony to that.  With large, dark eyes, long brown hair falling below her shoulders, and a slender figure, she is certainly far more attractive than the average boxer, male or female.

But when David and Dunson headed the card in Fayetteville in November they hardly provided the meager crowd an opportunity to become enamored off the female style of boxing.  It took Davis exatly 2 minutes, 34 seconds of the first round to knock out her opponent from Maine.  The result pointed up a major problem for the women- there just aren’t enough good boxers around to schedule many fights that will be competitive.

“I know that if you put two boxers out there and one has four or five years experience and the other is just starting you’re going to have a boring match,” Davis conceded.

“But I think more good women athletes will turn to boxing when they see it’s legitimate.  I mean, you can only have so many tennis players.  “Boxing is a contact sport and women are going to need an outlet when they want to get into contact sports.  I think boxing can fill that need very well.”

Davis makes constant reference to the importance of the women proving themselves to be “ligitimate.”  This appears to present a problem.  McCarthy referred to the women as “a novelty.”  Clearly, a sport must prove itself to be more than a novelty in order to succeed.

“But you know Cat is a very good promoter for the sport,” McCarthy pointed out.  “When she was down here, we took her around to promote the fight and she was just terrific.  She’s bright and articulate.  She’s one of the best women’s boxing has going.”

But it is the limelight of the big cities that Davis is striving to reach.  Headway has been made.  There is now a women’s boxing federation in New Rochelle, NY and women are beginning to receive rankings in the different divisions, like the men.  More importantly, purses are improving.

“When I first boxed, between the traveling and rest of our expenses, Sal lost money,” Davis remembered of her beginnings.  “Now the purses are getting better and so are the crowds.  There’s still work to do, though.”

Convincing promoters that women boxers are more than a mere novelty, convincing boxing fans that it is worth good money on a regular basis to watch the women box, and convincing the media that women’s boxing is deserving of regular coverage, are the keys for the sports.