The Women Come to New Mexico… Looking for History By Bernie McCoy

(JUNE 10) This is the age of hyperbole, exaggeration has become the norm. One of the adjectives orally chucked about, with abandon, today, is “historic.” It is often applied to an event that, at the time it occurs, seems to have secured it’s place in the pantheon of never-to-be-forgotten occurrences. Remember the score of the last Super Bowl?…..neither do I and I live in the town of the winning team. That was the NY Giants in case you’ve forgotten. For a week, after the final gun, it was all anyone, and I mean anyone, talked about in New York. And the word “historic” led the league of descriptive adjectives. Then about a month later, nothing. The reason was fairly predictable, it was a good game, a game decided in the final seconds, but it wasn’t, by any known definition, a game that altered the course of the NFL; there’ll be another Super Bowl next February, count on it. And that, at least to me, is the proper qualification for something being termed historic: an event that has the power to alter the course of a given enterprise, or, in this case, a sport. That’s why I have only a slight bit of reluctance applying the word historic to this Friday’s all-female fight card at the Isleta Casino and Resort in Albuquerque, NM; the show, consisting of four IFBA title fights, actually might have the potential to change the direction of Women’s boxing.

The all-female boxing card has that potential simply because the card has as it’s main event the “big fight” in the sport of Women’s boxing. Remember Christy Martin/Lucia Rijker? That was the “big fight” about a decade ago; a lot of talk, a couple of confrontations between the fighters, even a false start with an actual date and time for the bout in Los Angeles. What happened? Nothing. Laila Ali and Ann Wolfe then donned the “big fight” mantle and the hoopla began anew. Ali/Wolfe never passed the “yadda, yadda, yadda” stage, and the clamor for the bout never got to the Martin/Rijker level because, in truth, most boxing fans realized that the level of boxing skill of an Ali/Wolfe bout probably would have come up well short of Martin/Rijker. On Friday, however, Women’s boxing finally gets that “big fight.” It’s set for Albuquerque as Holly Holm and Mary Jo Sanders go ten rounds for Holm’s IFBA junior middleweight title.

Let’s ignore for the moment the rhetoric about “pound/pound supremacy” in the sport and concentrate on the fact that two very good female boxers, both unbeaten, both with excellent ring skills are going to come together for ten rounds in what should be a quality boxing match. Are Holly Holm and Mary Jo Sanders the two best female fighters in the sport today? Probably not, but they certainly make the front row of any group photo. And the fact that two of the best fighters in the sport are getting in the ring is cause enough for celebration within the boxing community, simply because it is, in today’s Women’s boxing environment, such a rarity. In addition, on Friday in New Mexico, there are three other title fights, all similarly showcasing quality fighters, fighting each other, each bout a possible candidate for “fight of the night” honors.

Wendy Rodriguez (18-3-3) and Hollie Dunaway (21-6) will be fighting for the vacant IFBA mini flyweight title and vacant IBA Strawweight title in a rematch of an eight round UD that Dunaway won in March 2007. The following July, Rodriguez dropped a very close, (some termed it “disputed”) decision to Regina Halmich in Germany (where else?). A review of the respective records of Rodriguez and Dunaway indicates that both fighters have been in with the top boxers in the flyweight division, including Halmich and Corina Moreno. Dunaway appears to have the edge in power, with almost half her wins (10/21) coming by way of a stoppage. Both fighters possess good ring movement, portending a fast paced ten rounds, a classic boxer/puncher match-up.

Carina Moreno (17-1) and Eileen Olszewski (5-0-1) will go ten rounds for the vacant IFBA junior flyweight title. Morneo, with three times as many professional bouts as Olszewski, has a professional experience edge, but both fighters have extensive amateur backgrounds and neither one lacks familiarity with the inside of a boxing ring. In fact Olszewski’s last two bouts, a ten round draw with then WBC flyweight champion Stefania Bianchini (September 2007) and a dominating ten round win over Elena Reid (February 2008) are proof positive that she has more than enough ring experience to take on the best in the flyweight division. And with Moreno as an opponent, Olszewski is getting just that, one of the best in the weight class. Olszewski is a straight up, come-forward fighter, while Moreno possesses the smooth movement befitting the veteran fighter she is. This seems likely to be another high quality ten rounds of boxing.

In what could be the action fight of the night, Chevelle Hallback (26-5-2) and Jeannine Garside (7-0-1) come together for ten rounds in a quest for the vacant IFBA lightweight crown. This is quite simply a match-up of two pressure fighters, both of whom have only one gear, forward. Hallback and Garside are two of the biggest punchers in the lightweight division; Garside dismantling the tough veteran Laura Serrano in November 2006, scoring two knockdowns on the way to a one-sided win over the veteran fighter. Hallback has eleven stoppages over her eleven year career. This one could end early or turn into ten rounds of nonstop bell-to-bell action.

The showcase of the evening is the hometown favorite, Holly Holm, defending her title against the first major, unbeaten fighter, Mary Jo Sanders, Holm has ever faced. Holm’s primary edge as a fighter is her remarkable conditioning; she can go ten rounds at a fast pace, a quality that Sanders has not seen in any of her 25 wins. Sanders will try to counter the Holm speed with an almost flawless boxing style that she has honed over her five years as a professional fighter. Cutting off the ring will be Sanders’ primary goal, but it’s been tried before, notably by the likes of Christy Martin (who has cut off her share of rings in a long career), without great success. Sanders may also try to turn the bout into a contest of boxing skill, a technique that seemed to have some success, for Belinda Laracuente, in Holm’s last bout in February. Neither fighter has big punching power but both are skilled ring practitioners and the ten rounds should prove to be a worthy main event cap for the night.

This fight card in New Mexico, is, as the hype has it, “the biggest night, ever,” for the sport of Women’s boxing. Not only is the sport getting, at last, it’s “big fight,” Holm/Sanders, but that bout is supported by three terrific fights featuring six of the highly skilled boxers in the sport. The card is receiving major PPV coverage. The card is also going to be supported, from a marketing standpoint, by a televised lead-in in the form of a very good all-female boxing card on Fox Sports Network the previous night from Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. With four title fights of this quality, the night in New Mexico will be memorable, but memorable is probably not enough, given the current state of the sport of Women’s boxing. The sport needs “historic” and that’s never easy. But with Holly Holm, Mary Jo Sanders, Chevelle Hallback, Jeannine Garside, Carina Morneo, Eileen Olszewski, Holly Dunaway and Wendy Rodriguez, the sport is taking it’s best shot. Let’s hope it makes history