Layla McCarter came out the winner in her fight against Belinda Laraquente — winning every round on the judges scorecard.
Women’s Boxing: Belinda Laracuente to fight Layla McCarter on 8/13!
Gleason’s own Belinda “Brown Sugar” Laracuente (25-25-3, 9-KO’s) will be fighting an 8-round bout against Layla “Amazing” McCarter (33-13-5, 7-KO’s) at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado, on Saturday night, August 13th. (No word yet on whether the fight will be available online — though it is recommended to google it on Saturday to try to catch this bout!.)
Laracuente and McCarter are both 32 years old with impressive professional careers and lot of time in the ring. The match is a rematch of sorts of their ten-round GBU lightweight championship bout. They fought ten hard 3-minutes rounds, the first professional women’s fight to do so, at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 17, 2006.
For a preview of their upcoming bout, here are the links to their GBU Lightweight Championship bout!
In her usual crowd pleasing fashion Sonya Lamonakis made it an even 6-0 with her win over Tiffany Woodard. Capturing a majority decision, the judges scored the bout 59-55, 58-56, 57-57 with Woodard the clear aggressor in the early rounds of their six-round bout.
Women’s Boxing: Sonya Lamonakis to fight on 8/20!
Gleason’s own and Harlem Academy’s favorite middle school teacher, Sonya “The Scholar” Lamonakis (5-0, 1-KO) will be looking to make her record a perfect 6-0 when she takes on Tiffany Woodard (4-4-1, 3-KO’s) at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts on August 20th.
The fight is part of DiBella Entertainment’spopular “Broadway Boxing” series and will feature Edwin Rodriguez (18-0, 13-KO’s) in the Main Event.
Sonya is excited about facing Tiffany again and as she put it, “Hey…yeah…she’s a good fighter…she’s been my toughest fight so far. But I’ve been training hard and I got something new for her.”
Returning to the scene of her first professional victory on June 24, 2010 against Kasondra Hardnette, Massachusetts native (and Greek born) Lamonakis, is itching for a heavyweight title bout. She is currently ranked 2nd in the U.S. heavyweight rankings and 4th in the world.
The fight at Mechanics Hall marks Sonya’s return to the ring after handily defeating Gigi Jackson (2-2) at Foxwoods Resort on April 16th. Lamonakis had hoped her decisive win would put her in line for a title shot against then heavyweight WIBA title holder and Global Boxing Union title holder, Gwendolyn O’Neil, however, a fight was not in the offing and O’Neil has since seen her titles stripped for failure to compete.
The hope is that DiBella Entertainment’s Lou DiBella will be successful in putting together an all-female card at Madison Square Garden featuring Sonya Lamonakis in a main event heavyweight title championship fight.
“We’re hoping it goes through,” Sonya said, “and hoping to get all the local girls that sell tickets on there. It would be a great accomplishment for women’s boxing….Lou Dibella would be smart to do this and support the women.”
Meanwhile, Sonya has been hard at work.
She trains with Lennox Blackmore and Don Saxby and is perfecting her tough, no-nonsense style of boxing that has taken her to the heights of the amateur world and five straight professional victories.
Tickets for the bout are available directly from Sonya Lamonakis on Facebook click here. Just message her for tickets. Seats are $55.00 and $75.00. You can also contact Sharon Lamonakis (Sonya’s Mom!) at 413-863-3052.
After her heroic attempt to swim the 103 miles from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida, Diana Nyad gave up her historic attempt, 29 hours after leaving Havana. She fought against a strong wind that “blew her 15mph off course” according to one account noted on NPR, and otherwise, Nyad, who had begun to vomit was plucked from the water to forestall any worsening in her condition. In the immediate aftermath she reportedly told the CNN crew that had followed her, “I am not sad. It was absolutely the right call.”
Diana Nyad, 61, swimming from Havana to Key West singing Dylan songs all the way!
Talk about inspiring!
Long distance swimmer Diana Nyad is on the first leg of her planned 103 mileswim from Cuba to Key West. Nyad is no stranger to long-distance swimming and completed a swim from Bimini to Juno Beach, Florida in 1979 on her 30th birthday! Her swim was one for the record books setting the world record for open water swimming — for men and women — when she completed her 102 mile swim in 27-1/2 hours.
CNN is accompanying Nyad on her swim. She is reportedly spending the time singing Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin songs along with thousands of renditions of the “Itsy Bitsy Spider”!
You can follow CNN on Twitter for the latest updates: @MattCNN
Girlboxing sends a HUGE shout out to Diana Nyad! All we can say is you rock!
Great Women’s Boxing: Ann Saccurato v. Erica Farias, WBC Lightweight Title fight from 8/6/11
First off, thank you Argentinian television for broadcasting Women’s Boxing — and for actually believing in the brilliance of the sport!
That confidence paid off in a great show of boxing at the Estadio Socios Fundadores, Comodoro Rivadavia in Chubut, Argentina. And if you listen to the crowd, you’ll hear a boxing mad group of fans out in force to cheer on some fabulous boxing.
The American fighter Ann Marie Saccurato (15-6-2, 6-KO) from White Plains, NY defended her WBC Lightweight Title against Argentinian challenger Erica Farias (11-0, 6-KO) and lost the bout after the fight was stopped in the 8th round due to an accidental headbutt in the 7th. To say she was disappointed was the understatement of the night, yet she fought admirably and hopefully will have the opportunity for a well deserved rematch.
The judges scored the bout 79-71, 78-73 and 78-72 in favor of Farias after the stoppage.
Both women were highly skilled and in great condition, though Faias had the edge through out with her lethal left hooks and brilliant combinations, not that Saccurato was by any means out of the fight, she fought tough and hard and working to tie Farias up. Truly women’s boxing at its best.
The complete fight has been uploaded to YouTube (plus commentary in Spanish and post-fight interviews). Action starts at about 11:00 in, though the entrances are worth watching.
NBC sports has a piece on their website by Rick Chandler entitled The Beatdown: The Future of Women’s MMA that’s plain old got me down. I admit that I’m new to MMA — and while I’ve done the odd piece about it, I haven’t got much experience with the sport and only watch it occasionally on television when there’s no boxing on. That’s usually meant catching part of a Strikeforce fight card on Showtime.
What had struck me about Strikeforce was the fact that there is always at least one women’s bout on the card, not to mention the seeming popularity of the women’s bouts. Just this weekend I watched the Women’s Welterweight Championship bout between Marloes “Rumina” Coenen and Miesha “Takedown” Tate. Tate pulled out a convincing upset win over Coenen — and again, as a novice to watching the sport with about zero understanding of the politics of Strikeforce, et al, found it to be quite an interesting addition to the world of women’s sports in general.
With Chandler’s piece, however, come all sorts of questions as to whether women’s participation in the sport of MMA will continue at all — or as Chandler writes will “the answer … be found by simply looking at women’s boxing. Wait is there still women’s boxing?”
Ugh! What!?! Is there still women’s boxing? Pa-lease!
Chandler’s thesis is that with Strikeforce’s recent sale to Zuffa (the UFC’s parent company), a situation may have been set up whereby the Strikeforce roster will be swallowed up by the UFC and the women’s roster jettisoned in the process. Chandler further opines that the UFC doesn’t have the same interest in the women’s side of the sport as Strikeforce because there aren’t enough “stars” if you will, with the name recognition to draw in the crowds.
So what it boils down to (I think) is this:
a. Strikeforce found it to be “good” business to develop male and female talent and as such has found success and a growing *interest* in women’s MMA bouts and the fighters who compete in them. (I’ll add that I’ve been applauding them all along and — how sad is this — tauting them as a model of inclusion because they televise women’s bouts!)
b. Along comes UFC and the potential for jettisoning the women’s roster of the “old” Strikeforce and a repositioning of the brand towards a more exclusively male roster. Hmm… no longer good business???
c. It’s the fault of women’s MMA (women’s boxing … and women’s sports in general) for not engendering (pun intended) enough interest in women’s athletics, because (1) women fighters are not attractive when they beat the crap out of each other and (2) to quote Chandler again, “the appeal for the best female fight is not as high as for just an average male fight in the sport. If you’re not attracting eyeballs, it’s harder to stay in business. Being included with a primarily male organization was a huge bonus for the women.”
So back to the contradiction again. If women’s MMA was so horrible why buy Strikeforce in the first place?!?
I don’t know about you, but I find this logic to be very twisted indeed. And P.S. — in watching the Tate-Coenen fight I didn’t think about gender, I thought about fighting! Was it interesting? Were they skilled? Weaknesses/strengths and so on.
Enough already.
If a fighter has the courage to put herself in the ring why should it matter how big her breasts are or whether she has a cute booty! A fight is a fight. Put Torres-NavaI or II up against any fight card from over this past weekend and what will you come up with in terms of skills, heart, stamina and to use the word again pure courage. I can tell you the answer, none.
In a bout that purportedly lived up to the hype, Ana Maria Torres edged out Jackie Nava with all three judges scoring the bout 96-94. With her win, Torres gains the WBC Diamond Belt.
Their battle was fierce, courageous and bloody — with both fighters giving their all as they pushed through their 10 rounds of non-stop action.
With her win Ana Maria ‘Guerrera’ Torres improves her record (26-3-3, 15 KOs).
Beautiful day, beautiful box, but the work continues.
So there I was this morning on my fast walk to Gleason’s Gym feeling mighty pleased with myself. I’ve lost about seven pounds since starting on the low-acid diet, I had lots of energy and I felt “back” in terms of my physical conditioning.
There is, however, always something — and yes, I got through my sweet sixteen and even a super fast round on the double-ended bag, but when it came to the abs workout, it all fell apart.
Yep, folks, if it’s not one thing it’s another and in my case, my next crucible has to do with my abs workout. Gone are the days of 100 sit-ups followed by 100 crunches followed by another round of 100 sit-ups. I was lucky to do a full 25 sit-ups followed by 60 crunches (in to 30-crunch sets). Talk about an “ugh” moment.
But hey, not everything works out all the time and while I’ve come along enough to feel the fabulous pop-pop-pow of my doubled-up jab/right hook combination, the situps will come along in due course too.
If you’ve been away from abs for a while too — here’s are a nice beginner tutorial from the UK, and a nice basic abs workout you can do at home or at the gym.
Reminder! Great Women’s Boxing on 7/30. Mcleod-Wells v. McMorrow & Nava v. Torres!
Keisher "Fire" Mcleod Wells (R) and Melissa "Mighty" McMorrow
McLeod-Wells v. McMorrow
In a rematch of their 6-round fight from this past February which had Gleason’s own Keisher “Fire” McLeod Wells (4-1, 1KO) on top — Fire will be facing California’s Melissa “Mighty” McMorrow (5-2-3) in the ring on Saturday night, July 30th, only this time in an 8-round bout with the New York State Flyweight Championship belt on the line. McMorrow picked up the belt in a split decision against New York’s Eileen Olszewski on June 24, 2011.
The bout, part of Lou DiBella‘s Broadway Boxing series also comes with DiBella’s commitment to feature at least one women’s bout on all of his future fight cards. This is welcome news for the sport of Women’s Boxing and Girlboxing sends a huge shout out to the DiBella Entertainment organization for their continued support!
The fight will be held at Aviator Sports & Event Center @ Floyd Bennet Field, 3149 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn New York.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by contacting Gleason’s Gym (718-797-2872 – credit card accepted). Pricing for tickets: $55 (General Standing), $75 (Seating), $125 (Ringside), $1,500 (VIP Table: 10 persons/Table).
Nava v. Torres
Ana Maria Torres (l) vs. Jackie Nava
Jackie Nava v. Ana Maria Torres, Photo: Rafael Soto/Zanfer
Where can you find Women’s Boxing at its best you ask? Try flying down to the Metropolitan Center in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas for the chance to see the rematch between Jackie Nava (24-3-3, 11KO’s) and Ana Maria Torres (25-3-3, 15 KO’s), arguably on everyone’s top ten list of women fighters these days.
Their last outing in April was a 95-95 draw on all three judges cards, and as I keep saying their bout was as fierce a boxing battle as ever you’ll see. (Link to article & videos)
In the last presser before Saturday’s battle, Fight News quotes both boxers as saying:
Ana Maria Torres: “The first fight was very tough, we feel that we won it, but this time to avoid doubt look for the knockout with intelligence, without rushing, but just win round after round if the fight would go to decision.”
Jackie Nava: “It would have special meaning to win the Diamond belt. Plus at this point in my career, I am a very experienced fighter who has faced any challenges that has come…the fight will be a war in the ring, I’ll start with great determination and intensity unlike the first fight.”
Thankfully, the fight will be broadcast on Mexican television, which means we get a shot at seeing the fight on YouTube — it’ll also likely be carried live on a video stream so look for it if you want to see this non-stop action fight live.
Women’s Boxing: One year to go till Olympic Glory!
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t like boxing. My boxing hero was Mohammad Ali — and I have vivid memories of watching his fights on television, not to mention his running diatribes with Howard Cosell. And sure, that was all “back in the day” — but that was also history unfolding from Ali’s decision to embrace Islam on through refusing induction in the Army. What resonated was Ali smiling for the camera and saying, “I’m so pretty.” Those were powerful words for a boxer and a black man in America at that time — and frankly any time — upending notions of beauty, the ferosity of the ring, and the notion that there were limits on how high a human being could soar.
What I found was inspiration. I wanted to be him. Not so much as a boxer per se, but as a person that could take life and make it my own as an act of courage.
In thinking about the young women working their hearts out in the ring in preparation for next summer’s Olympics, I think of Ali. As a young 18 year old, he won Gold as a light heavyweight in the Rome Olympics and by the age of 28 had became an iconic figure in American history. “The Greatest” changed the world.
The future Olympians who ply the boards through countless hours of hard work in the gym show feats of courage every time they step into the ring — and while they may not be as earth shattering as Ali, those acts of hard work are no less important to the scheme of things, not to mention that we don’t yet know just where any of these women will end up in the years to come.
Given that we’ve hit the one year mark — the main stream press has started to focus in on these women and their ambition, and as a salute to our future Olympic heros, here’s a smattering from around the web.
Mary Kom (India) – Called “Magnificent Mary”, Kom is a five-time gold medal winner who is currently training with the Indian men’s team in pursuit of Olympic gold as noted in the Times of India article, Mary Kom trains with men’s team’s foreign coach.
Katie Taylor (Ireland) – Talk about courage in the ring, Katie Taylor is a fearless competitor having just won her 38th victory in a row with her gold medal victory in the European Union championships. She is also an iconic figure of brilliance in action in her native Ireland as the Irish Times piece ‘Perfect fight’ ends with European Title attests.
There are countless other Olympic hopefuls with countless other dreams of rising to the podium — and what we can do is support those dreams with our unwavering passion for the sport we love.
Going for the gold, junior style: yep it’s Jr. Olympic Nationals time again!
Starting on August 2nd and running through August 5th, the 2011 Junior Olympic National Championships will be held in at the Mobile Civic Center in Mobile, Alabama. Long considered a showcase for future for future Olympians and World Champions among male boxers, this year’s female boxers can set their sites on gaining a berth in 2016!
The preliminary bouts are set to begin on the first day of competition, with the quarterfinals set for Wednesday, August 3rd, semifinals on Thursday, August 4th and the championship round bouts set for Friday, August 5th in all of the weight divisions.
The roster of young women set to compete includes weight classes from 90 lbs. on through 176 lbs. Regardless of weight class, however, these young future stars deserve our support!
BTW, if you plan on being in Mobile between July 31st and August 5th you can not only catch the 2011 Jr. Olympic National Championships, but the Men’s Olympic Trials as well. Here’s a link for tickets to the events at the Mobile Civic Center.
For a taste of the level of competition to be enjoyed here’s video from the 2009 125 lb. Jr. Olympic National Championship finals between Flora Yanes and Chazette Szu.:
Another round of odd bins: Women’s Boxing around the globe!
The Burqa Boxers of Afghanistan!
Afghanistan teenage girls train at the infamous Ghazi Stadium. Photo: Kate Geraghty
My beloved Afghani Women’s Boxing team, coined the Burqa Boxers have hit the news again — this time in the Sydney Morning Herald. These brave young women and their coach continue to defy the odds just by showing up for practice twice a week! As quoted by writer Ben Doughty, Coach Mohammad Sabir Sharifi said, “”We will all work hard, and we will select the best, the strongest and the most talented and we will hope to have one of our girls represent our country at the Olympics.” Here’s hoping that they do. This highly recommended article and pictural essay can be found here.
A win in Mexico!
Irma Sanchez (L) v. Carlota Santos
Irma “Guerita” Sanchez (20-5-1, 5KO’s) was sucessful in her quest for the WBF female flyweight belt against Panamanian Carlota Santos (5-2-4, 4KO’s) with a TKO victory in the seventh round of the bout. With her win, Sanchez becomes the first female Mexican boxer to hold two world championships across two weight divisions. The fight was on the “Puños de ierro” card promoted by Hector Garcia’s HG BOXING at the Coliseo Olimpico de Guadalajara, Jalisco on Saturday night (7/23/2011).
Thank you Detroit Free Press!
Queen Underwood and Tiara Brown @ the Nationals, Photo: Jack Dempsey/AP
Andrecia Wasson
Jo-Ann Barnass writing for the Detroit Free Press has a terrific piece entitled, 2012 Summer Olympics: Three classes are not enough for women’s boxing that is really a must read. Barnass publicizes the fact the three Olympic weight classes (Flyweight-112, Lightweight-132, Middleweight-165) have effectively curtailed the Olympic dreams of many women who are unable to step up or down in weight enough to make one of the sanctioned weight classes. Her case in point is boxer Andrecia Wasson who won the world welterweight title in Barbados last year, but at 152 pounds does not easily fall into either the lightweight or middleweight category. Girlboxing has to agree that the limitation on weight classes is unnecessarily hampering the opportunities for women at the 2012 Olympics and applauds the Detroit Free Press for running this important piece! The link to the piece is here.
Here’s some third round action of Andrecia Wasson at the 2010 Ringside World Championships
That’s right! Alicia “Slick” Ashley at the age of 43 became the WBC Super Bantamweight champion of the world routing her much younger opponent, Christian Ruiz 99-91, 98-91 and 100-90 on the judges scorecards!
Alicia "Slick" Ashley, WBC Super Bantamweight Champion! Photo Credit: Power Image PR
Talk about a knockout night! Girlboxing salutes Slick for her fantastic win!
Championship boxing in the 109 weight division will pit Mexico’s Irma “Guerita” Sanchez (19-5-1, 5KO’s) against Panamanian Carlota Santos (5-2-3, 4KO’s) in a battle for the WBF female flyweight belt. Fighting on the “Puños de Hierro” card promoted by HG Boxing and Hector Garcia, Sanchez is attempting to make history by being the first female Mexican boxer to hold two world championships across two weight divisions. The fight will be held tonight at the Coliseo Olimpico de Guadalajara, Jalisco. The fights will be broadcast in Mexico by Televisa — and my guess is we’ll be able to catch fight the on streaming video as well as a YouTube posting a few days after the fight.
World Title Middleweight Belt in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad!
Tori Nelson (3-0-1) of Ashburn, Virginia will be flying down to Trinidad to face Las Vegas fighter, Lorissa Rivas (4-1, 3KO’s) to compete for the 10-round World Title Middleweight belt @ the Jean Pierre Sports Complex in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobego on July 29, 2011. The 10-round bout will be on the same card as the 12-round championship fight for the vacant 147 lb., WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) title pitting Rumanian born, Montreal-based fighter Jo Jo Dan (28-1, 15KO’s) against Trinidad and Tobego’s own Floyd Trumpet (16-8-2, 9KO’s).
In a nice piece by writer Jeff Schneider, Nelson is quoted as saying,”I knew that God was going to bless me with an opportunity to be a world champion, but never this quick. I know boxers who have fought longer and haven’t had a chance. This is a dream come true and truly a blessing.” The full feature article about Tori Nelson in Leesburg Today is here. There’s no word on whether the bout will be broadcast.
>>>>>REMINDER!!!
Tonight! “Knock Out Cancer” fight card with Alicia “Slick” Ashley taking on Christina Ruiz for the vacant WBC Female Super Bantamweight World Title at the Hunts Point Market in the Bronx, NY! If you can’t get to the fight — you can find it streaming onGoFightLive TV for $9.99. The proceeds go to fight cancer — as worthy a cause as you could ever find. The link is here.
Working out in the heat, Gleason's Gym, July 22, 2011
Given that I boxed in the heat on Wednesday, I had zero intention of finding my way to Gleason’s Gym this afternoon — in 104 degree heat! In fact, I was all set for a 9:00 AM training session with Lennox Blackmore (with a temp around 90), when we got to texting and his 4:30 PM Saturday became my 4:30 PM on Friday!
Amy Scheer, "wait for it" blogger
Meanwhile, I’d already met up with Girlboxing pal Amy Scheer visiting NY from Grand Rapids, Michigan who had a fabulous morning training session with Len @ Gleason’s.
We hooked up near Gleason’s at the edge of Cadman Plaza Park (when the temperature was a cool 98 degrees) — and gab, gab, gabbed over lunch at Taza’s about boxing, training and how to get to the next level. (BTW, check out Amy’s terrific blog,wait for it.)
Amy has been boxing for a while, but is looking to step up her game with sparring, improved technique and maybe even a go at some amateur boxing at the masters level.
After lunch — when the temp reached 100, my plan was to get back to the cool of the office, and figured my exercise of the day would be the sprint home to husband and AC!
Double-ended bag, Gleason's Gym, July 22, 2011
Rock, Trainer, Gleason's Gym, July 22, 2011
Well, the best laid plans … at Gleason’s, however, having missed my connection with Len — I figured what the “hay” and started in on the double-ended bag.
Call me crazy, but I had a blast as did the handful of other boxers and trainers working out! And really, it wasn’t that bad.
Sandra from Switzerland, enjoying her visit to NY! Gleason's Gym, July 22, 2011
The funky gym smell seemed to have dissipated and I just felt plain old tickled by how good it felt to whale away.
John "Superman" Douglas, Trainer, Gleason's Gym, July 22, 2011
And yes, it was hot, and even hotter on the way home, but I also felt kind of special for hanging in and sweating my way through 12 dripping-wet rounds on the hottest day of the year.
Girlboxing 