(JUNE 25) Whenever a fighter goes "on the road" and wins a title bout in a difficult environment, it's practically traditional that the newly crowned champion is accorded a "homecoming" bout. On February 21, in Madison Square Garden, Kina Malpartida won the vacant WBA super featherweight title with a stunning tenth round TKO of previously unbeaten Maureen Shea. In the process, Malpartida overcame both a first round knockdown and overwhelming hometown support for Shea. Additionally, in the run-up to the bout, Shea received the unabashed praise of promoter Bob Arum and the WBA, another example of just how difficult road trips are in any sport. Overcoming this type of New York size hoopla, which practically excluded Malpartida, must have made winning the WBA title that much more satisfying for the Peruvian born fighter. Both Malpartida and Shea fought the best fights of their careers that February night in the Garden and the ten rounds showed what female boxing can be when it's done right. It's what female boxing is, ofttimes, outside the United States, where the sport is, more often than not, done right.

But the satisfaction of that win that night in New York for Kina Malpartida might surely have been matched when she returned to Peru for the first defense of her title last week against Halana dos Santos, who came to the WBA title bout with an 11-1 record. Reports of the bout in the Peruvian press described the atmospheric support for Malpartida at the Coliseo Dibos Dammert in Lima as a "fiesta." And the near sell out crowd, many adorned with T-shirts and head wear in the colors of Peru, offered full throated support, from the opening bell for "their champion." It was close to a perfect boxing night for the hometown fighter and her fans.

The only missing ingredient in Lima was the absence of competition. A close examination of dos Santos' record suggest labels such as "soft," and "padded." The eleven wins on her record were achieved against opponents who, cumulatively, had two wins. Five of those opponents were pro debuters. A tape of the bout indicates Malpartida in charge almost from the opening bell to the point when the bout was finally stopped in the seventh round. Kina Malpartida is a good fighter; she's not only a good boxer, she's a good athlete and she was clearly a much better fighter than Halana dos Santos. And while Malpartida, at this point in her career, is not close to being the top fighter in her weight class (the 130 lb division is one of the deeply talented in the sport) it's worth noting, once more, that this was Malpartida's "homecoming" bout. And, as a college coach once told me, "when you schedule a homecoming game, you don't go looking for the Yankees." So let's call the dos Santos bout a make-good for Kina Malpartida, for a very good, very tough win in New York in February.

Which, of course, begs a pertinent question about the new WBA champ: What's next for Kina Malpartida? An Internet report this week on "LivinginPeru.com," bylined Isabel Guerra, stated "Canadian fighter Olivia Gerula would be the next challenger of Peruvian boxing champion Kina Malpartida." A subsequent check with Butch Gottlieb, Gerula's manager, yielded the following response, "I have no idea where these people are coming up with all of this. NO, (emphasis Gottlieb), we have not been contacted by anyone from the Malpartida group." Gottlieb added that plans are currently being formulated for Olivia Gerula to fight Myriam Chomaz, this fall, for the WBC title. While Malpartida/Gerula would be a compelling bout and certainly a large step up in class from the dos Santos fight, the fact that it's an unlikely prospect does not leave Kina Malpartida bereft of talented future challengers.

The super featherweight division is, in a word, loaded: Melissa Hernandez, Missy Fiorentino, Rhonda Luna, Jelena Mrdjenovich and Jeannine Garside come, immediately, to mind. Any of these fighters would make for a compelling and competitive title defense for Malpartida. What is most hoped for is that the current champion is not considering another "homecoming" bout; one is the accepted limit. And given the fact that the thinking in the Malpartida camp was towards Olivia Gerula, it's a fair assumption that Malpartida's next title defense will not be of the "homecoming" variety. That's not only good for the champion, it's good for her sport. And Kina Malpartida has already proven, on that Saturday night in Madison Square Garden last February, that she can handle competitive bouts.

And while we're at it, let's make a pitch to Malpartida's management to consider bringing their fighter back to the United States for the next title defense. For starters, that's where the best female fighters are. Yeah, I get the point that the promoters in places like Lima (and France and Germany and Japan) "get it" when it comes making good female boxing bouts; unlike far too many of the promoters in the US. But, here's a fact: there's only one Madison Square Garden and it still has big time cachet when it comes to the sport of boxing. I hope that fact was obvious to Kina Malpartida and her team when she and Maureen Shea proved last February that Women's boxing can thrive in the Garden. The fans who were there that night got a good idea of just how good the sport can be, but, after just one bout, they hardly got to know Kina Malpartida.

The sport of Women's boxing is rapidly running out opportunities, in the United States, to spotlight the talented athletes that now proliferate the ranks of almost all weight divisions. Kina Malpartida and any one of the quality female featherweight fighters are among the large talent pool that would assure another good night in the Garden for Women's boxing. The promoters in Europe, Asia and South America do, indeed, "get it." Those promoters "get" why, when done right, the sport of Women's boxing can be a major attraction in big time venues. The question, then, is why don't the promoters in the biggest boxing country in the world wake up and realize that good boxing is good boxing no matter what the gender of the fighter coming out of the corner happens to be. Kina Malpartida came out of a corner in Madison Square Garden last February and proved that point decisively. It would be a shame if that was the last time that storied arena and it's boxing fans saw her. But, if that be the case, cue the bagpipes and start playing that mournful Celtic dirge, "Kina, We Hardly Knew Ye" and dedicate it to a good fighter and her sport.

Bernie McCoy