One on One Interview
with Hollie Dunaway!
By Sue TL Fox

(MAR 16) WBAN had an opportunity to go “one on one” with WIBA World Champion Hollie “Hot Stuff” Dunaway about the on-going saga in regards to an incident that occurred in April of 2005----nearly a year ago.  The “saga” involved Dunaway using steroids prior to her highly-televised fight against Germany’s Regina Halmich.  Dunaway answers some tough questions presented to her, and speaks candidly about that particular experience.

Sue TL Fox:   I know that there has been a lot of "chatter" on the net about the incident of you testing positive for steroids after you fought Regina Halmich----can you tell boxing fans what happened prior to your fight with Halmich, and what motivated you to take steroids? 

Dunaway:   When I decided to take the fight with Regina I knew it was a long shot considering her size and experience, but my thoughts were “I have a chance to test myself against one of the most experienced female boxers in the world, great publicity and the money was a lot more than I have ever made for a fight.” So I signed the contract and increased my training. As the fight neared my thoughts turned from “this is a great opportunity” to a nervous feeling of “this girl is much bigger, much stronger and hasn’t been beat in 10 years and I am fighting her in her Germany where she is a huge celebrity.”  I kept reading how everyone thought Elena Reid got robbed and there was no way to get a decision in Germany and the tension just built.

Sue TL Fox:   I know from your public statement that you said that you only took them once, when you say once, are you talking about in one session of steroids before your fight with Halmich, or on one occasion?

Dunaway:  I have only used steroids one time period. I had actually planned to take them twice before the fight about 6 weeks out, but after the first week I knew that I had made a mistake. 

Sue TL Fox:   Did you ever think about taking steroids when fighting other boxers, prior to fighting Regina Halmich? 

Dunaway:  No, I fight competitively at 102 lbs because I am a naturally small female. I still wear children size clothes, jeans and all and I am barely 5 ft. tall. I had never been concerned with being bigger or stronger before that fight. I had fought at bigger weights but that was against less skilled opponents and I just weighed in with extra clothes on to be heavier, I was never concerned before or since with being physically bigger. Usually I have to lose a few pounds for a fight, using something that would cause me to gain weight wouldn’t really make sense. 

Sue TL Fox:  If you can talk about this, who or what was the strongest influence on you taking steroids before fighting Halmich?

Dunaway:   I made this decision completely on my own---I hid it from everyone. I was super nervous about this fight but I didn’t want anyone to know that. I think the thing that motivated my decision was a combination of fear and doubt. What went through my head was going up 3 weight classes, fighting someone with 40 +   wins and someone who hasn’t been beat in 10 years. It messed with my confidence which is a dangerous thing for a fighter. If you look at my record early on you will see I have been in over my head before Regina Halmich. My 3 losses had happened in the first 5 months of my career. I had no amateur background. I learned how to throw a jab and two weeks later I was in Memphis fighting Melissa Shaffer. Two months later I was in Las Vegas fighting Vaia Zaganas who was the IFBA Champion at that time. I didn’t care about building a record I just wanted to fight. But after really working hard and turning it around and going from opponent to contender to World Champion the idea that I might lose on television in front of millions of German viewers was a very scary one. I just let the fear and doubt get the better of me.

Sue TL Fox:   When you fought Melissa Shaffer, did you think or assume that you would be tested after the bout for steroids? 

Dunaway:  I knew that Melissa’s management probably knew about the positive results from the year before. I was expecting it to be in the contract but when it wasn’t I just assumed that I would be tested after the fight. I wasn’t concerned about it because I knew I would test negative.

Sue TL Fox:    When you did take the steroids, what kind of effect did they have on your body?

Dunaway:  I usually walk around at about 106 lbs and after a couple of weeks I was 115 lbs. I looked swollen and my skin broke out all over my body. I had terrible muscle cramps. I couldn’t run because my calves would cramp and I couldn’t breathe whenever I ran for any extended time. Sometimes I would have to quit working out or sparring because of muscle cramps and problems breathing and I just cried everyday. I knew that I messed up bad and I looked gross I just wanted that stuff out of me. Brian (my trainer and husband) noticed something wasn’t right after about a week of muscle cramps and being unusually winded. He suspected something and when I told him he was furious, we almost broke up over all of this. I didn’t realize that all of these side effects would happen, I really didn’t know anything about them at all. It was a totally stupid decision. 

Sue TL Fox:   Before deciding to no longer work with your ex-manager, how long did your ex-manager have knowledge about the steroid use, before he came forward to talk about what had happened?

Dunaway:  My ex-manager knew about it when the results came back about 2 weeks after the fight in Germany, which was in April of 2005. I was suspended from fighting in Europe or for any WIBF title for 1 year. I apologized and we thought that the whole thing was over. I fired my ex-manager in August and in September he wrote a big statement about how I tested positive for steroids in Germany and e-mailed it to you and other women’s boxing websites, to athletic commissioners I knew to matchmakers, promoters and former opponents.

Sue TL Fox:   It seems that you have made no excuses for what you did...you openly apologized and then you tried to get on with your boxing career.  What would you like to say or do to "close the door" on this unfortunate incident?

Dunaway:  That I made a terrible mistake that I will always be ashamed of. This one poor choice had nothing but negative consequences. I paid for this mistake when I was in the biggest fight of my career and was not in proper condition because of the side effects. I paid when it was made public and I was totally embarrassed and humiliated when my fans, friends and family found out. People have questioned my accomplishments and called me names. I realize I was responsible for some of this. I apologized publicly, I agreed to rematch former opponents if they had a question. I have been completely honest about the whole situation as embarrassing as it was. I am answering these questions today for the whole women’s boxing world to see. I tested negative after my last fight and I will take a drug test for all my future fights if necessary and I will continue to test negative for the rest of my career. I know that people have their opinions and I can not change that. I can only be honest and open about the situation and move forward.

Sue TL Fox:   When you found out that the Melissa Shaffer team made a complaint to the WIBA for not following their rules, and that there was no testing after the fight for steroids, you stated in your public statement that you were tested on February 22, who paid for that test?

Dunaway:  As far as the complaint about Ryan Wissow not being there, he told us that he was already scheduled to be in Trinidad that day and wouldn’t be able to make it. Arnie Rosenthal told us at the weigh-in that he was going to be the WIBA Supervisor and I was fine with that. As far as the drug test, after the fight Tim Leukenoff (ABC President) told Brian that someone was alleging steroid use by me. Brian told him that I would take a test if he wanted and Tim said he would keep that in mind. Nothing more was ever said about it. When I got home I was expecting some negative talk and they didn’t let me down. A couple of days later I saw where Melissa’s team had filed a protest concerning the drug testing. I decided to get tested at my own expense because I didn’t want any questions concerning this fight. I wasn’t mad or offended by Melissa and her management at all they had a right to question since I had tested positive a year before. I just wanted my fans, Melissa and her management to know that it was a fair match and nothing illegal was going on.

Sue TL Fox:   You were very bulked up for your fight against Melissa Shaffer, can you talk about what you did do to get in that kind of condition?

Dunaway:   I wasn’t bulked up I was 99 lbs. I was just extremely lean because I worked out hard and ate perfectly. I am a Certified Personal Trainer at World Class Fitness in my hometown of Fort Smith. I am very knowledgeable about fitness and nutrition; it is what I do for a living. As for what I did to prepare for this fight Chris Davis has a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology designed my nutrition program and we made adjustments daily. Brian is a great trainer and very knowledgeable concerning my strength and conditioning programs and my skill development. I also worked with amateur boxing coach Clifford May in preparation for this fight who helped me sharpen some things up and fine tune my skills. I usually break my training into three daily increments. I usually run in the morning, I do my strength and conditioning in the afternoon and work on my skill training in the evening. I spend the majority of my day in the gym since I am employed there and working out there.  I worked out extremely hard for this fight. I knew Melissa would be in shape so I was determined to be in better condition. I wanted to win this fight with everything in me. Whenever I got tired all that went through my head is Melissa was working hard and I worked even harder. Boxing is not my hobby it is my life. There has not been one day in the last 3 years that I haven’t thought about boxing. I am 100% dedicated to being a better boxer and in being in absolutely top condition for my fights.

Sue TL Fox:   In retrospect, what would you tell other women boxers about your experience with taking steroids, and any advice to them?

Dunaway:  My experience was a very negative one. One mistake has forever cast a shadow over my career. The ironic thing about this all is that the only fight I used steroids before I lost. The side effects on my appearance, my ability to train and the embarrassing impact on my career made it a terrible experience. In my opinion, steroids provide no real advantage to a boxer. I lost to Regina because she was more experienced, more skilled and naturally bigger. No drug can give you an advantage when you are facing those differences. I won against my other opponents because I was a better boxer and in great shape not because I was bigger or stronger. All of the opponents that I beat were bigger; Melissa is the only person I have fought who is naturally smaller than me. My advice to other women boxers would be to read this interview and remember that it is all true. I let down myself, the people who have helped me in my career and this sport which I love very much. It will take a long time and a lot of work to overcome the negative shadow on my career, but I am prepared to stay the course and do great things in this sport. Answering these questions for everyone to read was kind of difficult and embarrassing but I just hope that maybe other women boxers will get some questions answered and make a better decision than I did.  

WBAN would like to sincerely thank Hollie Dunaway for taking the time to do this interview on WBAN.