Belle Martell First Female Boxing Referee

Belle Martell was the first female boxing referee licensed in the state of California on April 30, 1940.She was also renowned as a Ring Announcer, boxing promoter for amateur fights, and a time keeper. Along with her husband, Art Martell, Belle was a fixture in amateur boxing beginning in the early 1930s through the 1950s. Former vaudevillians, Belle and Art foresaw the demise of that once proud profession, and opened a gym in 1930 in the garage of their home in Van Nuys. While originally no denizen of the boxing gym, within a year or so, Belle was signing up students and giving them their introductory lessons in the sweet science. She was also known to put on the gloves herself when necessary, and famously knocked out one student with a shot to the solar plexus when he would listen to her advice to keep his elbows in.

1939

By 1931, the Martells began to run the famed Red Barn, which former heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries had converted into a boxing gym. The Martells began promoting amateur fight nights–where Belle stepped in to act as the ring announcer. Red Barn fight nights became so popular; the Los Angeles Athletic Club hired the Martells in 1934 to run their amateur fights at the famed Grand Olympic Auditorium.

From her perch at the Olympic, Belle Martell provided an attraction in her own right for female customers and famous stars to include Mae West, Ruby Keeler and Barbara Stanwyck.  Belle was tall and statuesque and at 5’10” cut quite a figure in her trademark black velvet gown at the center of the ring.

Throughout this period though, Belle not only promoted the fights, but acted as timekeeper, announcer, den mother and chief champion of the young fighters on the cards.

Her interest in the sport led her to try her hand at being a referee at the age of 46. She failed her first test, but through determination and a will of iron, came back the next day and passed the oral exam with a score of 97%. With her nearly perfect score, she was duly licensed as a boxing referee for amateur boxing matches in the State of California. For her first assignment, Belle refereed eight bouts at a fight night in Pasadena with a crowd of 700 or so in attendance. In one match a fighter named Johnny Mongz knocked out Jimmy Archuleta.  A Los Angeles Times reporter reported, “When the fallen man rose [after the count], the belle of the ring gently took his hand [and] led him to a place of safety.”

Her success in the ring aside, on May 24, 1940, the members of the California state boxing commission adopted a rule (#256) which read, “No license will be granted to members of the female sex to referee, second or manage in the ring when other performers are of the opposite sex.” The rule was adopted unanimously with no explanation.

Frustrated by the entire affair, Belle stepped down from her position. The Martells went on to open Marell’s Arena and continued to promote amateur boxing. During the war, Belle also joined the Women’s Ambulance and Defense Corps of America, and spent her time teaching women self-defense. After the war, the Martell’s continued to train and promote amateur fighters.

By the early 1950s with interest wanting, Belle even tried her hand at promoting female fighters, but was unsuccessful in her bid to promote big fight nights. She eventually retired from the world of boxing, but was always remembered as an important figure and was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on August 19, 2006.

In March of 2018, Belle was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame.

Written by: Malissa Smith/Author of “History of Women’s boxing”, and IWBHF Board Member who submitted this when Belle Martelle was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame (IWBHF) in 2018.