Mia St. John-Rosales vs. Amy Yerkes by Sue TL Fox

LAS VEGAS (Dec. 03, 2000) – Mia St. John , 33, weighing in at 126 lbs., fought Amy Yerkes in a four-rounder at the Plaza Hotel on Univision.  St. John moved her record to 19-0-0  (10KO) when she defeated Yerkes by a 1:33 TKO in the fourth round. Yerkes (125), 22, dropped as a pro to 1-3 (1KO).

The ring announcer introduced both fighters.  He said that Amy Yerkes was 1-2 with one KO on her record, and that she was a kickboxing champion.

As soon as I heard the ring announcer say that Yerkes was a kickboxing champion,  I got an immediate “red flag”  to what could possibly happen in the ring before the fight even got started.  My guess was pretty right on unfortunately.  The announcer then announced St. John’s record as 18-0 with 9 knockouts.

When referee Tony Weeks began giving both fighters instructions, St. John stared hard at Yerkes, and Yerkes did not appear to make eye contact, but looked downward and to the side.

The first round was close, and I gave the round as even at that point.  Yerkes showed some raw talent as a fighter and with more experience in the ring with a good boxing trainer she could go far. It was apparent that the reach and height difference was making it difficult for Yerkes to land any good shots.  Mia made herself a difficult target for Yerkes, as Yerkes would lunge in at times with her chin exposed—not to mention her face.

Even though Yerkes started out strong in her match with Mia, she soon slipped into her kickboxing habits that most kickboxers seem to do when they convert from kickboxing  to boxing.

First thing I noticed was Yerkes had her chin up, hands down, and her feet moved more like a kickboxer.

As the fight progressed the hands went wild at times to over-compensate her lack of knowledge of how to box.

She got hit with many shots unnecessarily due to not keeping her hands up, her chin down, and not moving laterally. She actually let Mia gain momentum by stepping directly back instead of side to side, which would have forced Mia to reset herself.

PS: To kickboxers-before you get your dander up about what I said about these bad habits, I speak from experience.  I converted from karate to boxing and it was disastrous.  It took me quite awhile to break these karate type-techniques that make a fighter very vulnerable with anyone that can box half way decent.   These moves may work when you can kick a person in the face or body, but without the legs, it only makes a person a bad boxer.