The sport of Women's boxing surely has enough problems to overcome: good fighters adamantly refusing to climb in the ring with other top fighters, promoters determined to protect their boxers inside a hometown cocoon, largely irrelevant sanctioning bodies that, in reality, would have trouble sanctioning a one car parade, and a media, largely ignorant of all but the most superficial aspects of the sport, wasting television coverage on "walkover" showcase bouts featuring "name" fighters, leaving more compelling, competitive fights un-televised.

Unfortunately, the sport must now endure an outbreak of stupidity that has reared up once again: fighters publicly challenging other fighters with what are euphemistically termed "callouts." While these public challenges are certainly not as detrimental to the sport as the other major problems mentioned, these "callouts" manage to achieve an infamous distinction all their own.....they are inanely foolish, or, better, in the words of Macbeth "....a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing."

The "callout," which has been around since almost the beginning of the sport, is discomfiting for any number of reasons but none more obvious than the simple fact that throughout the history Women's boxing, never, not once, have "callouts" ever resulted in a bout that a fan would go across a street, a very narrow street, to watch.

"Callouts" didn't help Lucia Rijker get in the ring with Christy Martin, "callouts" didn't help Sumya Anani match-up with Rijker or any of the other fighters Anani was forced to pursue over the last three years, and certainly no credible super middleweight fighter has been able to lure the self proclaimed "face" of the sport, Laila Ali, into the ring with any manner of public challenge.

That fact, alone, begs the question: why, if a tactic doesn't work, is it continuously employed? In the case of "callouts," there may be a couple of reasons: certainly frustration at the inability of good fighters to get a bout with other good fighters plays a part. There is also the age old tactic of acquiring publicity by "coat-tailing" a fighter who is currently in the public spotlight.

Let's examine the frustration issue. Jelena Mrdjenovich has never fought outside her home country of Canada, the vast majority of her bouts occurring in Edmonton, Ontario. Her promoter, with some validity, points out that Mrdjenovich makes more money fighting before hometown fans. To date, however, this has somewhat limited her opposition. Mrdjenovich has won all but one of her 16 bouts and is, by any definition, a good fighter.

However, her recent successful defense of her WBC super featherweight title was contested against Donna Biggers whose 18-3-1 record can be termed, accurately, "a bit soft" (her wins came against fighters who had a 15-31 cumulative record). Not surprisingly, the fight was stopped after the second round. This win precipitated a series of "callouts" from fighters who want a chance at that WBC title and they want it in bouts outside of Canada.

These challenges, not surprisingly, came from representatives of Chevelle Hallback and Layla McCarter (the fighter who handed Mrdjenovich her lone loss and who returned to the ring last Saturday with a decision over Victoria Cisneros after recovering from a serious arm injury sustained in a return bout with Mrdjenovich ). However, it was the "callout" from the team of Jessica Rakoczy that took the award for convoluted logic and should also serve as an object lesson for the value of rereading something before it's made public.

Jessica Rakoczy is, also, a good fighter, with only two losses on her record against 22 wins. Rakoczy is promoted by Christian Printup who has kept his fighter geographically encased, as far as her bouts are concerned, within the state of California, in and around the Fresno and Lemoore area, for the last three and one half years. To his credit, Printup has matched Rakoczy against some very good boxers, Jane Couch, Eliza Olson, Belinda Laracuente, Lisa Lewis  and Jenifer Alcorn and, in the process, Printup has probably put together as many good female boxing match-ups as any promoter in the country. It's obvious Christian Printup knows a good bout when he sees one and Rakoczy/Mrdjenovich is just that, a good bout. The problem ensued when Printup went into "callout" mode. He started by making a valid call for Mrdjenovich's handlers "to bring her down" from Canada to a "neutral site" in the U S to fight Rakoczy. So far, so good. However, it's at this juncture that Printup goes from "callout" mode to standup comedy.

With what I assume was a straight face, Christian Printup identifies the "neutral" site for the Rakoczy/Mrdjenovich bout as Lemoore, CA. The same Lemoore, CA, where Jessica Rakoczy has fought her last 13 bouts and has another scheduled for mid-April.

Printup's logic is that Jessica Rakoczy was born in Canada (Hamilton, Ontario). However, one might note that the next time Jessica Rakoczy steps into a professional boxing ring in Canada, it will be the first time. Lemoore CA is as much of a neutral site for Jessica Rakoczy as Edmonton, Ontario is for Jelena Mrdjenovich. As stated, Jessica Rakoczy and Jelena Mrdjenovich is a good fight, but "callouts" such as this, which might more properly belong on "Saturday Night Live", are not the way to make the bout.

Should Mrdjenovich venture from Canada to fight? Sure! But if a neutral site is the goal, don't make it the other fighter's "home court." How about a home/home, two bout deal, one in Lemoore, the return in Edmonton since Rakoczy/Mrdjenovich is a main event bout in any country. But, for everyone's sake, lets lose the silly "callout."

Then there's Melissa Hernandez, a "seasoned veteran" of two fights, who recently felt compelled up to "callout" Maureen Shea, who has had five fights. Shea has benefited from considerable publicity, largely attributable to her work on the movie, "Million Dollar Baby". Hernandez, on the other hand, has not been the beneficiary of any such press coverage. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should stipulate that I recently did a story on Maureen Shea and I, likewise, confess I have never written a line about Melissa Hernandez, most probably a shortcoming on my part). Hernandez seems to have, shrewdly, figured out that if you can't get publicity on your own, challenge someone who is getting publicity. It's smart marketing, the boxing version of the "Pepsi Challenge".

However, while Pepsi and Coke have been around for over 100 years, Melissa Hernandez, as noted, has been around for two fights: a very narrow win over Zhang Mao Mao, in Hernandez's pro debut, and then a 17 second "pushover" of Jennifer Johnson, who came into the bout with an 0-1 record. I really don't know whether Melissa Hernandez is going to be a good fighter, but, on the upside, she has the benefit of being guided by Belinda Laracuente, who is a good fighter. If Laracuente is able to pass on some her ring skills to Hernandez, Melissa could have a big future in the sport.

Likewise, Maureen Shea has yet to be significantly tested in the ring, but she also has the benefit of good guidance from boxing veterans, Luigi Olcese and Hector Roca and the "early returns" on Shea as a fighter have been positive. If both these fighters continue to develop their skills and move up through the featherweight ranks, when and if they fight it could be an extremely compelling bout.

Both Hernandez and Shea are from the Bronx and theirs is a natural rivalry, the kind that throughout the history of the sport has provided fans with the type of fervor that makes for bubbles in the blood. To achieve that level of fan interest, the element that the Shea/Hernandez rivalry now needs is further experience and skill development on the part of both fighters What it doesn't need is any more "callouts."

Will all the problems of the sport of Women's boxing be solved if Jelena Mrdjenovich and Jessica Rakoczy get in the ring in the near future or if Melissa Hernandez and Maureen Shea continue their way up the ranks of the sport and finally settle the issue of who's the best female featherweight in the Bronx? Of course not! But it will be a good start on eliminating one of the minor problems in the sport, silly public challenges, known as "callouts."

 I hope Rakoczy/Mrdjenovich happens soon and I hope Shea/Hernandez happens in the future and when those bouts do happen, it will be a result of good fighters wanting to climb in the ring with other good fighters. It certainly won't happen as a result of a "callout."