| Womens Boxing |
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It wasn’t all that long ago when women’s boxing was unheard of. Today though, we have grown accustomed to seeing women pummel each other in brutal fashion, all for the fame and glory of winning a prize belt and money. The question today is not should women be allowed to box ( hey, if you want to beat each other up, go for it) but rather is the public perception of women boxers and how the fights should be classified and who is the best in the world? In short, the same thing we ask of men boxers. Women’s boxing is not publicized as widely as men’s, nor are the fights aired as often. Fans of women’s boxing wonder why, when the fights seem to be more passionate, more interesting, oftentimes more bloody. All the makings of good ratings. Experienced male boxers often have a look of complacence in their eyes during a fight. I suppose this has to do with women feel more than men, typically speaking. Women are more feeling, passionate people, and if a woman boxer is put in the ring with someone who defeated her once before, there is an underlying dislike amongst the two.However, as one Sport’s columnist so very rightly put it, boxing is not about emotion. It is about skill, patience and determination. Since women’s boxing isn’t that old (relatively speaking) there are no “experienced” fighters that being decades of wins and losses to the ring. For that reason, these fights oftentimes look like a street fight put under lights. These women fight with an almost obsessive urgency. They are trying to build a name for themselves, for their sport, for their manager. The women’s boxing industry has continued to grow during its ten year tenure. And in that time, there was no real “star” of the show. Boxers came and went, but most left and were replaced by fresh faces eager to throw their punches. And then, Laila Ali entered the scene. The daughter of the infamous Muhammad Ali, she is a skilled fighter. She brings passion to her fights, but not the wild eyed street fighting passion that fans of womens boxing had come to see. Her fighting style, often mimicking her father, involves a patience and skill few in the ring display. Her defense is as skilled as her offense. She is truly talented and after years of training and dedication, made an almost instant name for herself. Not as An Ali, but rather as Laila Ali. Standing on her own. Women’s boxing has come a long way since its beginnings. Ms. Ali has assisted the sport maybe more than she knows. She is beautiful, intelligent, well spoken, and above all, one heck of a fighter. My hope is that the next generation of women boxers takes a page from her book. That they take the time to truly learn their craft. That they appreciate the hard work all the women boxers before them did to create the path to the ring. |
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