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Other Tributes:
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We are still deeply saddened
by the passing of our dear friend Rod. He was one of our best friends in
and outside boxing. We met him in 1998 when we came over to the USA.
After a while he became my agent and a very good and trustworthy friend
to both of us. He did teach us a lot about his game. In fact he did
teach us a lot about a lot of things in life as he was an extremely
intelligent and well-read person. And you couldn't think of a more
knowledgeable person in women's boxing at that time. (besides Jimmy
Finn)
After we left the US we stayed in contact with him as much as possible.
He even visited us once in Holland. It was a blast. A few years ago Rod
got sick and relocated so the contact faded. Through a mutual friend,
Mike Stewards manager Keith Stoffer, we heard he was in the hospital. We
called him in the hospital after he had an operation. We could hear he
was not doing well, but he was still trying to be positive as always.
Early June Keith called us with shocking news&..He told us Rod passed
away the end of May. He spoke to Rod right before that and Rod told him
he had a happy life and no regrets. He knew the end was near and told
Keith to pass his best wishes on to us. He was very sick and didn't want
anybody to visit him.
Without Rod I could have never became a 4-time world champion. We are
thankful for that and we are very happy to have known him. We'll miss
him dearly. Marischa & Marcel
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Longjab talks about
Mahaffey: I
met Rod Mahaffey in Atlantic City, when we both were sitting at a
table, in front of the International Theatre, in The Tropicana Resort
and Casino, while we were waiting for the gates to open for the
first all-women boxing card, ‘Ladies Night Out’, to get underway.
While we were waiting, low and behold, Lucia Rijker showed up to
do color and commentary with Atlantic City sportscaster Lucy Jones.
That is when I first met Rijker.
Getting back to Rod, I
thought he was a very personable individual. He started talking to me
from the very start and we just hit it off and carried on a
conversation, as if we knew one another forever.
Now, let me tell you
about that night, when we both met. Rod Mahaffey had quite a story to
write, since this was the first of a series of all-women boxing cards
and this premiere was loaded with names that you will recognize.
Kathy Collins
and Andrea DeShong was the main event.
By the time this
card took place, Christy Martin had already fought Deirdre
Gogarty on the under card of the fiasco Tyson-Bruno pay per view,
and Gogarty was on this card, fighting in her proper weight division,
which was featherweight, against Beverly
Symanski.
Gogarty injured
herself, unfortunately, separating her shoulder during the fight and
actually lost by unanimous decision to Symanski. As she was leaving the
theatre to head to a nearby hospital, I remember telling Gogarty that I
actually thought she beat Martin, even though she was about 20 pounds
lighter. She simply said, “Thank you”, as she headed up the
stairs and out of the theatre.
Jane Couch
fought Dora Webber on this card for what I believe was the IWBF
welterweight belt, which Webber won by, perhaps, a ‘hometown’
decision, since she was from nearby Patterson, New Jersey. When I got
Couch’s autograph, I overheard her saying that she thought she got,
“Ripped” off in the decision.
On this night, I also
met a very cordial lady boxer and a pioneer of the sport, named
Theresa ‘Zif” Arnold, who came all the way from Boise, Idaho to
fight Eva ‘Black Magic’ Young. I came up to Arnold in the
back of the theatre, at a concession stand, asking her for an autograph.
Even though she just lost, by a heartbreaking TKO, when the referee
stopped the fight, maybe prematurely, Arnold smiled and gushed, saying,
“Ahh, thank you. That’s very sweet of you to ask”. I’m not sure
if I said this in return for her graciousness; but, by chance, if you
read this, Theresa, it takes one to know one and you must know them all.
I’m not certain, but I
think this also was the card where Annisa Zamarron and Jill
‘Zion Lion’ Matthews had their first of two epic fights for the IWBF
flyweight belt, being that the first one ended in a draw.
Of course, the main
event, Kathy Collins versus Andrea DeShong was for the
IWBF junior welterweight belt, actually, a rematch of when Collins beat
DeShong, when they fought in the first ever women’s match at Madison
Square Garden, televised on USA’s Tuesday Night Fights, in which Christy
Martin attended, providing color and commentary, during a Q&A session
with announcers Sean O’Grady and Al Albert.
If it weren’t for
Diane Fischer of Dee-Lee Promotions, in conjunction with Frankie
‘G’ and Dennis Diaz of the IWBF and WIBF sanctioning bodies,
this card, as well as the others that followed, would have never
happened. LongJab
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