Lawyer by Day—Boxer by Night – by Sue TL Fox

Last night at the Fiesta Hall, in Imperial Beach, California, Attorney Mary Lehman won her second professional bout in a slugfest against Kimberly Reed with a unanimous decision. The fight was stopped in the 4th round after there was an accidental headbutt that caused a cut on Lehman that required eleven stitches.

WBAN asked Lehman to give her perspective as a new boxer on the scene and about her insight into this second professional bout she had with Reed.

Lehman told WBAN, “At the weigh-in, it is so funny for the women’s fight because there is no guessing who your opponent is – she’s the only other girl in the room! But you pretend to ignore each other. At least that’s what I did with my first fight against Annie Middleton. Out of nerves and I guess not knowing how it would affect me, I never talked to her before or after. I regret that. She is a good fighter and she will forever be an important part of my life.

This time I managed to talk briefly with Kim at the weigh in. You could tell she is a very sweet, kind and good-natured person, with a smile that lights up her whole face. Her trainer, former Champion Carlos Palomino, is also a great guy. Kim was also great after the fight. We hugged and she wanted us to pose for photos together. Contrary to my concerns, the friendliness was not a concern during the fight.

Your opponent is faceless. They are simply a moving and challenging canvas upon which you do your work. You don’t hate then – indeed you love them like the mountain climber loves the mountain he is climbing. This is part of what I am learning.”

Lehman went on to describe the night of the fight, “It was super hot at the fight venue. But of course, once you get in the ring, it could be Hell and you wouldn’t notice. Kim wore blue and I wore black. They then introduced and brought up to the ring the other female fighters in the crowd – four, I believe. One was Michelle Vidales supposedly working on a come back.”

Lehman’s gave her perception of the fight with Reed, “First round—We both came out aggressively. I tend to start out slow so I give Kim the first part of the round. Towards the end, I started to land some hard shots. Kim is a good deal taller than me – but once I could get inside I had the advantage.

In the second round, probably my best round. I had visualized stopping her in this round so maybe that helped. I caught her with a straight right and she went down early in the round. The ref gave a standing eight. I was shocked at myself because my initial reaction when she went down ….was to keep pummeling her. I was shocked at myself and quickly went to the neutral corner.

I was actually glad I eventually remembered to do that. I’ve seen fighters not go or go to the wrong corner and I did not want to be so clueless. Well after that I truly tried to take her out. She took hard shots – including hooks and uppercuts. She tied me up a lot when I got on the inside and that stopped my momentum. But she was fighting back with a lot of heart.

In the Third round, I was disappointed I could not stop her in the second. Kim has a good jab and uses her reach to advantage. Her right is very looping and you can see it coming. I got in the rhythm of ducking that, then getting inside and doing some damage before she tied me up. She was connecting some of her shots but they didn’t hurt me so I got lazy and just took them to get inside. I shouldn’t have as it makes me look too unprofessional. I guess I watched too many Tyson tapes in preparation – I was an aggressive animal with no concern for form or style! I regret that in retrospect. I need to learn to be aggressive with style!

Fourth round-I’m doing better because I’m staying low. At one point I connect with double left uppercuts (my trainer, former world champion Paul Vaden is famous for his uppercuts so we practice those a lot). After the fight my hands are bruised from hitting her so hard, but she took them. If the fight had continued I think I would have stopped her as she was getting pretty beat up. We had hit heads a few times previously but fairly early in the fourth we clashed bad. She had me tied up and I remember looking down and seeing blood spraying on the canvas and wondering if it was my blood. The ref grabbed me and the doctors’ quickly stopped the fight. They declare me the winner on the cards: two have it 36-39 and one has it 35-40.”

Lehman added some after thoughts…..”Many people ask me if I knew I had won after both my fights. I try to explain in those few minutes after the battle you are in a zone that has nothing to do with numbers or score cards.  You only have a sense of whether you fought a good fight, gave it your all, and/or got the better of your opponent. It’s that few moments of purity that the chicanery of boxing can’t touch. So far, I’ve always felt good. Being declared the winner was just the frosting on the cake.

Something you can show the outside world as a badge of your merit. I think women boxers care more about this inner sense than men. I’m reminded of the Laila Ali v. Jacqui Frazier fight. Jacqui was jubilant even though she lost because she knew she fought well and hard and  above everyone’s expectations. Laila, on the other hand, although she won, she was graphically and admittedly disappointed in her performance. For all the records and numbers, boxing is an inner journey. This is what I am learning.”

Lehman donated last night’s purse to the local battered women’s resource group.