Week Six: WBAN Weekly Review

In week six, we published the latest updates on Ria Ramnarine, Sunshine Fettkether; a story on Mariana Juarez, where she talks about what she would like to do outside the ring; an interview conducted by Bernie McCoy with Heather Hardy of New York;  coverage of an amateur championship event covered by Ria Ramnarine; In another report, we talked by where women’s boxing is being televised, and posted many of those full fight videos on that report; and lastly WBAN received a special award “Spirit of Giving” from Bad Girls Boxing!

Latest Update on Multi-World Champion
Ria Ramnarine

Update on Ria:  Trinidad And Tobago’s (T&T) first female world boxing champion, Ria Ramnarine has been quite busy lately, albeit out of the ring. Having recently attended the WBC Convention in Mexico on her own steam, Ria said she was inspired by the boxing greats she met, including the legend, Muhammad Ali. 

Latest Update on Sunshine Fettkether
A true warrior in the sport….

Update on Sunshine: Deborah “Sunshine” Fettkether, from Arizona,  fought professionally from 2001 to 2004.  She is one of the female boxers that came into the sport—doing it “her” way—she feared no one, and many of her fights took place out of her own hometown advantage.  In other words—-Sunshine was a “warrior” in the sport. When Sunshine was actively boxing in the sport, she took on some of the best boxers in the world, that included Lucia Rijker, Mitzi Jeter, Ann Wolfe, Summer DeLeon, Eliza Olson, Lisa Holewyne and more!

Mariana “Barbie” Juarez:  Outside the Ring!
Photos and Story by Pepe Rodriguez

Mariana Juarez “commentator” at fights

On Saturday, female boxing star of Mexico, Mariana “Barbie” Juarez worked “outside” the ring in Queretaro, Mexico, as a narrator [commentator] ringside. As the below photos show…she is at the ringside commentating for the female bout featuring Yazmin Rivas vs. Maria Elena Villalobos.  

Amateurs: Trinidad & Tobago Amateur Boxing Association recently Hosts National Championships
Coveraage by Ria Ramnarine

Ria Ramnarine reports: Barbados and Guyana brought in teams of three and two female boxers respectively. The T&T team won the regional clash 3-2. The Caribbean girls showed some class, grit and determination especially in the junior Flyweight bout between tiny mites Yousanna Mohammed (T&T) and Iprecious Lyscott. The scores of 8-7 reflected the see-saw battle between the two girls as they each fought for victory. A last second flurry of punches by Mohammed secured her victory while the Bajan Lyscott won the crowd’s respect.

Interview: Heather Hardy-
“New York Fighter” – by Bernie McCoy

Bernie McCoy writes:  In a Supreme Court ruling on obscenity (Jacobellis v Ohio 1964) Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote, “it (obscene material) is often difficult to define, but I know it when I see it.” I thought of those words, this week, sitting in Gleasons Gym, talking with Heather Hardy, the newest incarnation of a proud and select assemblage, generally defined throughout the sport of boxing as “New York” fighters.  

WBAN Review Tidbits for the week

This week we posted a special report with many full-fight videos of where women’s boxing IS being.  WBAN at times is disappointed how the female boxers are treated differently, depending on the area in which they fight, in where they are not provided opportunities to be televised when they are on boxing cards.
The sport is and continues to suffer from support of some of the sports networks, who will have a female bout on the card—but it will not be televised.  This week, WBAN did a cursory hunt for videos of female bouts,  and dug up some (not all) of televised fights that are featuring females, to demonstrate that women’s boxing indeed is treated equally in certain parts of the world—not in the USA unfortunately. 

Lastly would like to give a “shout out” and say thank you to Lori Steinhorst of Bad Girls Boxing for she and her organization’s recognition of this special award “Spirit of Giving”  in regards to WBAN efforts to cover women’s boxing.

Okay lastly…..Check in next week for “Week 7 – WBAN Weekly Review”!  For all the results of the week, you can go directly to our results segment on WBAN.