Biggest Upset of the Year – Sumya Anani vs. Christy Martin

The Coal Miner’s daughter must have been more naughty than nice in 1998.  How else to explain Sumya Anani’s delivery of a lump of early  Christmas coal to Christy Martin’s holiday celebration?    When the Kansas City native stunned the women’s boxing world with her upset win December 18, it was the kind of fight that has come to  illustrate the best of women’s boxing. It was action -packed, it was full of fire and fury, it was the best fight on the card.

Yet, when the iron was hot, Martin continually turned the other way. For whatever reason, Martin never fully capitalized on the opportunities before her. Martin has much to offer the sport still, and a loss like this will do one of two things: make her decide she’s had enough, or rededicate herself to the sport to climb to the heights she once enjoyed.

The glow of a Rijker-Martin showdown, for example, is greatly  diminished. The public, of course, still would like to have its curiosity satisfied with a match between the two, but Martin now will have to earn that opportunity, not just simply step forward and accept it like she could have anytime in the past two years. And it’s likely to be a very good fight. But the mystique which surrounded such a bout, especially the aura of the Coal Miner’s daughter, has been forever sullied. Anani, by virtue of the win, is now the No. 1 attraction. An Anani-Martin rematch would certainly be a great draw as well.     The fight was a perfect set-up for women’s boxing in 1999. It reaffirmed all the good things we bring to the ring. Hopefully both warriors will see it as an opportunity to further the efforts of the sport as a whole, and not let it simply sit as an isolated example of what the public is missing.

Yet, one of women’s boxing’s most visible and entertaining attractions  had suffered a loss that many saw coming for a long time now. The woman who single-handedly brought legitimacy to the efforts of so many suddenly looked not like a poster woman for the sport,   no one likes to lose, but the sport, as a whole, comes out a winner.

One, there is a new star in Anani. I’ve always believed that the sport  will make the stars, and not the other way around. Her win brings a fresh, exciting talent to the forefront of the sport, lending itself to a number of tantalizing future matchups.     Two, it will hopefully light a fire under Martin. While many have criticized her efforts on behalf of the sport, her place in it was undeniable.

Brian Ackley & Sue “Tiger Lilly” Fox
Copyrighted 1/7/99. This article plus Mary Ann Owens coverage of women boxing will be in LadySports magazine’s next issue.

“BIGGEST UPSET OF THE YEAR”

Sumya Anani vs. Christy Martin

December 1998

10-round Majority Decision

95-95, 96-94, 96-94