(SEPT 26) Eileen Olszewski won the IFBA flyweight title, Wednesday night, with a sensational eighth round TKO over Patty Alcivar at the Five Star Banquet Hall in Long Island City, Queens, NY, within eyeball distance, across the East River, from the concrete canyons of mid-town Manhattan. The title fight was the scheduled ten round main event on a ten bout boxing card presented by Uprising Promotions before an SRO crowd of frenzied fight fans, almost all of whom exited the venue raving about "the great bout" that capped the evening.

And it was a great bout, featuring two terrific fighters, who just happened to be the only females among the 20 boxers on the card. To call the bout "fight of the night", runs the risk of eliciting a "Duh" reply from almost every fan who yelled themselves hoarse during these nearly eight rounds of sustained action. Olszewski and Alcivar matched weights at 111.

In March, Alcivar and Olszewski fought in this same venue for the NY State female flyweight crown. That night, Alcivar took a unanimous decision, outboxing Olszewski over eight rounds. Olszewski's game plan for the return bout was clear, from the opening bell. She seemed to spring from her corner and commenced throwing "punches in bunches" at her, seemingly, initially surprised opponent. Alcivar quickly gathered herself and the fighters spent the next two minutes neither taking a back step, nor willing to let a punch from her opponent go unanswered. The opening round was two minutes of toe-toe action that had the crowd on it's feet for most of the stanza. The second and third rounds mirrored the initial two minutes: Alcivar starting each round fast, Olszewski withstanding the initial pressure and answering in kind in the second minute of the round. In the fourth round Alcivar seemed to slow her pace almost immeasurably and Olszewski responded by picking up her, to this point, unrelenting pressure. In retrospect, the fourth round portended the bout's outcome, most visibly, via a swelling around Alcivar's right eye.

Olszewski continued the pressure in the fifth, worsening the swelling around Alcivar's right orb, with pinpoint, damaging left and rights. Alcivar gamely tried to keep pace, but the round was clearly Olszewski's best thus far. Alcivar and her corner seemed to realize the direction the bout was heading and in the sixth, Alcivar stormed from her corner with a determined effort to turn the tide of the bout. She won the first minute of the round, but Olszewski, once more, had the answer and reached down for yet another level of response in the second minute of the round, to make the stanza a close call for the judges. Alcivar had gone "all in" in an effort to turn the tide of the fight and Olszewski had met the challenge and raised the bet with an answering rejoinder of her own punching prowess. Round seven was all Olszewski, she battered the by now back tracking Alcivar and at the end of the two minutes, not only had the swelling around Alcivar's eye worsened considerably, the game fighter was now bleeding copiously from her nose.

During the break, the referee, Sparkle Lee, and the ring doctor examined Alcivar in her corner and appeared on the verge of calling a halt to the bout. In fact, the start of the round was delayed momentarily as the doctor and ref conferred. Alcivar was standing in her corner, pleading to be allowed to continue and officials decided to toll the bell for an eighth round. Alcivar, realizing that it was now or never, launched one final offensive effort in the opening seconds of the round, but the end was nigh. Olszewski, now in control, patiently avoided Alcivar's last effort, measured her foe and closed the bout with a final flurry of punches to the head of her game opponent. Sparkle Lee made it official by stepping between the two fighters, fifty-one seconds into the round.

Uprising Promotions awarded "fighter of the night" trophy to Eileen Olszewski in what was the easiest call of the long ten bout evening. Judy Kulis, President of the IFBA, wrapped the title belt around an exultant Olzewski in the middle of the ring and a thoroughly sated contingent of fight fans exited into the cool, late night, September air, many probably possessing a newly discovered or a renewed appreciation of just how good the sport of Women's boxing can be when given the opportunity by a forward leaning promoter who has the good sense to put a bout with fighters like Eileen Olszewski and Patty Alcivar at the top of his fight card. It will be worthwhile if others, in the boxing community, take heed.

Bernie McCoy

 

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