Days before engaging in a kickboxing bout with Bonnie Canino, Jorge Chaves was the subject of ridicule among his friends.  How, they wondered, could a guy get in the ring with a woman and sing savage kicks and punches in her direction?

“If (you) think it’s funny or easy, “Chaves asked his friends, “why don’t you fight her?”

That’s when Chaves’ buddies put away their jokes. Canino, one of the world’s top female kick-boxers, may be 5 feet 6 and 125 pounds and look as menacing as tapioca pudding, but she carries a big punch. And Kick.

Chaves, 5-5 and 126 pounds, knows. Last year, Chaves fought an exhibition with Canino at Hollywood Young Circle. During the bout, Canino let go with a punch that caught the Portuguese fighter on the nose. End of fight. End of nose.

The two went at it again in late June at the James L. Knight Center in Maimi. Tha Canino-Chaves fight was the main event in a martial arts exhibition.

Because of sanctioning problems with the State boxing commission, the event’s promoters decided to forgo naming a winner. Instead they allowed Canino and Chaves to fight for three rounds.

And fight they did. Early in the bout, Chaves returned a favor by punching Canino in the nose, causing it to bleed for the rest of the fight. Canino, in turn, hit Chaves with an array of shots that caused his body to change colors like a chameleon.

“He was stronger that the girls I’m used to fighting,” said Canino, a Hollywood resident and a Coral Springs High School graduate. “But I wasn’t nervous. A fight’s a Fight.”
Canino has fought 18 times as a professional, winning 16 with six knockouts. One of the losses came to Kathy Long, a world champion and parttime actress who worked as a double for Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns. The second loss came to world super lightweight champion Lucia Rijker.

“I’m not afraid to get hit”, Canino said. “I don’t like to get hit, but I can take it. As a matter of fact, getting hit turns me on. It makes me more aggressive and more willing to stick my neck out on the line.”

Canino was certainly doing that against Chaves. Chaves is known as a knockout puncher. Before the fight , Chaves said if there was an opportunity to drop his female opponent, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it. Canino stresses there were no pre-fight sessions with Chaves in which either fighter was advised to hold back.

“she’s a real tough girl so I have to fight her like any other person that steps in the ring with me,” Chaves said.
Canio said her fight with Chaves wasn’t a step to further the cause of women’s liberation, but a move to push her kickboxing career to another level.

“I enjoy being a winner, so succeeding in everything I do is my dream,” said Canino, 30, the No.1 contender in both the International Kickboxing League and Karate International Council of Kickboxing, “But my mission is to become world champion in women’s kickboxing, and I’m almost there.”

Bert Rodriguez, Canino’s trainer at U.S. 1 Fitness in Hollywood , never thought too highly of his fighter’s desire to brawl with a man.

“I didn’t want her career to turn into a circus, but this girl is tough,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said he thought Canino would have been declared the winner against Chaves if the fight had been judged. Rodriguez said Canino got in the most shots. But a shot at a championship is what interests Canino.
In the meantime, Canino will battle whom ever will get in a ring with her.

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Canino told WBAN this week the following about this "Flash From the Past" event:

"In 1992 I was trying to reach heights with my fighting career. It didn't matters at times who I stepped in the ring with, it was stepping in the ring and letting it all go with rewards. I was looking to get ahead of all the others women’s fighters out there with experience. I never meant to disrespect about a gender thing. When I saw the media was playing it up, I backed away on interview and anything with media, as this guy was giving me an opportunity to fight against him. Jorge Chaves the guy must thought highly of me to even step in the ring with me. I am very thankful and very much respect him. I do remember that I was happy it was over and will never have or want an exhibition or a real fight against a man. I never wanted or to make it to be a three ring circus.  I had kick boxed Jorge twice, which is stated in the newspaper article and boxed him once an exhibition on a wrestling show, between the years of 1991 to 1992."