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Women's Boxing on Fox Sports Net: "THINK!"
By Bernie McCoy
July 15, 2007

     
   
   
   
   

The International Business Machine company, known to most as IBM, had, at one time, a one word directive for it's employees, "THINK;" a simple, declarative reminder that when doing business, it is best to give thought to all aspects of the enterprise.

Upon reflection, one wishes that those connected with the three bout female boxing card televised, on a delayed broadcast basis, last Thursday on Fox Sports Network, from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA, had followed the IBM directive a bit more closely. They put together three female bouts for the Fox Sports network telecast. They got one right.

The eight round bout between Chevelle Hallback and Terri Blair, the first fight on Thursday's telecast, was an example of Women's boxing at it's best. It was a sixteen minute exhibition of what talented females can bring to the sport of boxing; a clinch-free, back and forth battle between two skilled fighters (emphasis on two), neither of whom stopped throwing punches from the opening bell to the end of the final round.

The only downside of this bout was that it was limited to eight rounds. It must have provided most viewers with hope that the Thursday Fox telecast, the second of the year on the network, would pick up where the March card from Isleta Casino in Albuquerque, NM, topped by Holly Holm's win over Ann Marie Saccurato, had left off. That hope wasn't realized.

What followed on Thursday's telecast was two IFBA "championship" bouts which were unfortunate examples of a matchmaking plague that has become all too common in telecasts of Women's boxing, "the one good fighter" bout. Kelsey Jeffries and Elena Reid were cast in the role of the "one good fighter," Donna Biggers and Shin Hee Choi were the overmatched opposition. On the official scorecards, Biggers and Choi failed to win a round, Jeffries winning over Biggers 100-90 on all cards, while Reid shutout Choi 100-89. The scoring was all too accurate.

Let me be clear about one thing: Donna Biggers and Shin Hee Choi are professional boxers and as such they deserve recognition and admiration for competing in a dangerous and brutal sport and, like all boxers, they have mine.

 However, neither Biggers nor Choi possess the level of talent that would reasonably put them in the same ring with Kelsey Jeffries and Elena Reid. This is not the fault of the fighters, Biggers, Choi, Jeffries or Reid, fighters fight. The fault lies squarely with those who made the bouts, the IFBA and the local promoter. Neither the sanctioning body nor the promoter seemed sufficiently influenced by IBM's long ago dictum and it is only fair to ask, what were they thinking?

Rick Kulis is head of the IFBA and that organization sanctioned the two "championship" matches on the Pechanga card.  Roy Englebrecht was the promoter of the program.

 Both Kulis and Englebrecht are experienced boxing people with good reputations in the sport. Kulis put the first all female boxing card on ESPN and Englebrecht has been the promotion force behind the long running "Battle of the Ballroom" cards in Orange County, CA

. It is, therefore, surprising how little thought seems to have been given to the competitive capability of Biggers and Choi and their suitability for bouts with the likes of Jeffries and Reid. Is it possible that the matchmaker and promoter never looked past the top line records of Biggers and Choi, which were 19-4-1 and 8-1, respectively? One hopes not, but despite the reputations of Kulis and Englebrecht, the Pechanga card, the two main events in particular, was not a "Highlight reel" evening.

Donna Biggers' 19 wins have come against opposition who had, cumulatively, 15 wins at the time of the bouts (including 7 wins for one opponent, Joy Irvin). Shin Hee Choi, who had never fought outside Asia, had one win against an opponent with a winning record and was awarded the IFBA flyweight title in March, 2005, under somewhat murky circumstances, a technical draw with Maribel Zurita in a bout in China, that was stopped in the seventh round of a scheduled ten round fight. Neither Donna Biggers nor Shin Hee Choi, based on even a cursory examination of their records, could, reasonably, be expected to provide nominal competition for Kelsey Jeffries and Elena Reid.

 The disparity in talent in both bouts was further magnified by the fact that the fights were televised. Television coverage comes hard and infrequently to the sport of Women's boxing. It is in the interest of the sport to present the best and most competitive bouts when television presents the opportunity. This didn't happen with two of the three bouts on the Pechanga card.

However, the fact that Fox Sports network continued it's support of Women's boxing with it's second all-female telecast of the year, albeit, this one on a delayed broadcast basis (the "live" event took place July 2.) is an encouraging sign.

This card, however, was a significant drop-off, in talent, from the Albuquerque program, which in addition to Holm and Saccurato featured Kelsey Jeffries against Rhonda Luna and Lisa Brown and Jackie Chavez. Rick Kulis, it must be noted, was also the guiding force behind the Albuquerque bouts, proof positive that the IFBA head knows how to put together a good female fight card. Let's call the Pechanga card an "Off night" for Kulis.

The Fox commentators didn't have an off night although they managed to show real enthusiasm only for the first bout of the evening. During the last two fights, the ringside commentary seemed distracted and reflected a lack of interest in the one-sided action inside the ring. Barry Tompkins, the primary blow/blow Fox announcer, was missing from the Pechanga telecast and Rich Marotta, Tompkins usual color commentator, handled the action. Marotta is better at color, although he had the comment of the night wondering, aloud, why the Hallback/Blair bout hadn't been scheduled for ten rounds, given Blair's two late round stoppages of Sumya Anani. An MMA fighter, Frank Trigg, was alongside Marotta and seemed limited to generalities in his commentary, a trait he carried over into his lone post fight effort, an interview with Kelsey Jeffries. Trigg also exhibited a tendency to talk much too fast, a characteristic common to many on-air newcomers. Trigg's future probably lies in the MMA ring.

 Holly Holm filled out the trio of announcers and succeeded in making some very good "inside boxing" points about each of the fighters' styles, during the three bouts. Holm was also refreshing in the way she minimized talking about herself and her own career, concentrating, instead, on the on-screen action. Holm needs to learn to keep her comments to "sound bite" length, since when she tends toward lengthy commentary, she inevitably ends up "talking over" her colleagues. However, Holm's performance leads one to surmise that her future in the boxing business need not be limited to inside the ring.

It was, indeed, a mixed night for the sport of Women's boxing, one eight round fight that should have been ten rounds and two ten round fights that should have been shorter. Television time, even on a delayed broadcast basis, for the sport of Women's boxing simply cannot be wasted on "one good fighter" bouts.

On Thursday night Fox Sports network had two of those bouts and let's hope, for the sake of future telecasts and for the sport of Women's boxing, it's the last two. Let's also hope that Fox Sports continues it's support of Women's boxing. It had a wonderful three bout card in Albuquerque and a wonderful eight round fight last Thursday. The good fighters and the good matches are out there. Matchmakers and promoters like Rick Kulis and Roy Englebrecht have, in the past, and can, in the future, make those good matches. All they have to do is keep in mind IBM's long-ago admonition: THINK.

 

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