On August 26, 2000 at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California, Erin (164
lbs) won a four-round unanimous (40-36,40-36,40-35) decision over pro debut
fighter Coreena Grizoffi (169½ lbs) of Fresno.
On October 7, 2000 at Centennial Garden Arena in Bakersfield, California,
Erin (168 lbs) won a four-round majority (38-38, 39-37,40-36) decision
over pro debuter Veronica Sanchez (178 lbs) of Los Angeles. Toughill used
her reach advantage to keep Sanchez away with snapping left jabs early in
the fight. When Sanchez worked her way past Toughill's jab, she was unable
to do much with the opportunity, according to a ringside correspondent.
On December 5, 2000 at ReMIx-World Cup 2000, Erin won a split decision
over Elina Rodina (230 lbs) of Russia but then lost to 6'3" 330-lb Svetlana Gundarenko
of Russia by a submission (choke). According to Toughill: "I
had some problems when I fought Rodina, mostly with the takedowns. I wasn't
prepared that well for those fights. I could have done much better. I have
all new trainers and have been working on my weaknesses for quite some time
now. I used my punching skills a lot with Rodina."
On May 3, 2001 at Remix-Golden Gate 2001, Erin defeated Megumi Yabushita of
Japan by TKO with an arm bar at 3:08 in the second round.
On July 27, 2001 at the MMA W-Fusion 2001 event, she won a unanimous
decision over Kaori Ito of Japan after three five-minute rounds.
On December 6, 2001 at the Palace Indian Gaming Center in Lemoore,
California, Erin (163 lbs) battled to a four-round majority draw with former
USA Boxing 1999 national amateur 156-lb champion Dakota Stone (161 lbs) of
Aberdeen, Washington. Judges Abe Belardo and Dave Nelson scored the fight a
38-38 draw while judge Marcos Rosales saw it 39-37 for Stone, whose pro
record moved to 5-1-2 with this result. Stone's only pro loss had come to
the formidable Ann Wolfe, so this draw was a signal to the pro boxing world
that Erin Toughill was to be taken seriously in their sport!
On June 4, 2002 at the Temple Corps Community Center in Philadelphia, Erin
fought Jacqui Frazier-Lyde of Philadelphia for the
WIBF Intercontinental Super Middleweight title. The scheduled eight-rounder was ruled a no contest after the bout was stopped 1:17 into the third round for a cut to Toughill
that required ten stitches to close. The injury came from a clash of heads near the end of the second round which
Frazier-Lyde admitted was caused by a head butt. The two and a half rounds
that were completed hadn't seen much action as Frazier-Lyde said she had
planned to wear Toughill down ... "I was waiting on her, she was waiting
on me, and we were both waiting on each other".
Toughill's take was "she is a tough woman and a true competitor [but] I
clearly dominated the fight and would have most likely won the bout."
Toughill's trainer Jesse Reid stated that his fighter
"wanted to start off slow and attack Jacqui to the body. We were going to be
patient until the fourth round, then turn Erin loose."
Frazier-Lyde was 8-1-0 coming into this bout, her only loss being to
Laila Ali.
On September 1, 2002 in the MMA competition SG 7-Dyanmic, Erin won by
decision over Miwako Ishihara of Japan.
On July 24, 2003 at the Performing Arts Center in Oxnard, Califorria, Erin
(163 lbs) won a four-round unanimous (40-36) decision over Nikki Conant
(164½ lbs) of Las Vegas, who fell to 1-2 (and has not fought since).
Toughill out-punched and out-landed Conant from the outside with right hands
over the top. Toughill also scored with rights and left hooks on the inside.
Conant was cut over her left eye, but this wasn't a big factor in the bout.
On November 14, 2003 at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California, Erin
(158 lbs) won a four-round unanimous decision over debut fighter Ku'ulei
Kupihea (159 lbs), a southpaw from Honolulu, Hawaii. Toughill was ranked #8
at super middleweight by my computer rankings at the time of this bout.
Erin was scheduled to fight IFBA, WIBC and NABA Super Middleweight champion
Ann Wolfe of Waco, Texas on February 7, 2004 at
Grand Casino Coushatta Pavilion in Kinder, Louisiana, but the bout was
canceled at the last moment when Wolfe pulled out (for reasons that were
variously reported as complaints about the purse, stomach flu and lip sores.
At the time that the fight was scheduled to have taken place, emcee Nora
Papillion invited Toughill to take the microphone and say a few words to the
packed (6000+ estimated) house, whose reaction indicated that this fight had
been a major draw. Toughill struggled with her explanation as to why
the bout didn't happen. “I’m sure she would want this fight but she’s
sick or something…” said Toughill. Nobody from Wolfe's management was
present to offer any explanation for the cancellation.
On July 31, 2004 at Sam's Town Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, Erin (170 lbs)
won an eight-round unanimous (79-73,77-75,78-74) decision over Cassandra
Geiggar (170 lbs) of Fayetteville, Arkansas, who fell to 6-3-0 (5 KOs) with
the loss.
On October 22, 2004 on a black tie charity card at the Municipal Auditorium
in Sarasota, Florida, Erin (167 lbs) won a ten-round unanimous decision over
Yvonne Reis (164½ lbs) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the WIBF 168-lb
Intercontinental title. Reis fell to 3-5-1 (0 KOs) with the loss. Toughill
was now 6-1-0 (0 KO's) as a pro boxer.
On December 19, 2004, Erin fought in the Smack Girl 2004 World ReMix in
Tokyo, Japan, the top female mixed martial arts competition in the world.
Erin dominated her bouts in this tournament, only to lose by a
disqualification in its final. She defeated Miwako Ishihara of Japan by a
TKO at 0:27 in the first round when Isihara's corner threw in the towel
after Erin landed a series of punches.
She next defeated Marloes Coenen of
Olst, Holland, who
brought a perfect 11-0 MMA record and was regarded as one of the world's top MMA female fighters. Coenen,
who once
described Erin as the "personification of arrogance", also lost by TKO when she
could not continue into the second five-minute round after being knocked down by a flurry of punches
(see picture). In the final, Toughill was dominating Megumi Yabushita of Japan
when Yabushita began hanging on to Erin's
glove and trying to twist her arm around, an illegal maneuver. Erin responded with an elbow to Yabushita's back, also illegal.
Toughill's infraction rendered Yabushita unable to continue; the bout was
stopped and Toughill was disqualified, giving the win to Yabushita.
On June 11, 2005 at the MCI Center, Washington, District Of Columbia, with
her father Muhammad Ali among the 15,472 ringside fans,
Laila Ali (167½ lbs) TKO'd Erin Toughill
(168 lbs) at 1:54 in the third round to win
the newly-minted WBC Women's Super Middleweight title. In the first
round both boxers began the round cautiously. By the second round, Toughill
sported a bloody (and broken) nose. Ali had the faster hands, and Toughill
was unable to mount a consistent attack, so Ali took charge. Though Ali used
a jab occasionally to set up other punches, most of her damage was done with
a stiff right hand that Toughill seemed unable to avoid. By the end of the
second round, Toughill's nose was bleeding profusely, and her corner was
unable to stop it. Toughill started the third round more effectively but by
the end of the round, Ali backed her into a corner throwing a barrage of
combinations, landing about 15 unanswered punches to Toughill's face. The
bout was stopped when Toughill turned her back to her. The bout was
also a defence of Ali's WIBA Super Middleweight and was carried live on
Showtime pay-per-view. Ali improved her record to 21-0-0 (18 KOs) while
Toughill fell to 6-2-1 (0 KOs).
Toughill said after the fight
"I believed in myself and so did those who worked with me for this fight.
You cannot step back into time and change anything. You just move on. I have
always taken on the challenge. I love to fight and sometimes you fight when
you can. In boxing, I have taken on competition that was near or equal to my
time in the ring. I knew Ms. Ali had the experience and I did not care. I
still do not care and I would fight her again. I could have waited and
fought more, but I did not. This was something I really wanted to do and I
did it. Unfortunately it did not work out the way I wanted LOL but it is
just a minor setback. More ring time - that's all. I will get my chance to
fight for a title again. I have come into boxing wanting to better myself as
a fighter and wanting to fight the best, I can say that. I will continue to
fight and fight until I reach my goal. I went into this fight willing to
take a shortcut to the top. We wanted to reach it this year - not next year
or the year after. Would it have been nice to have that "shortcut" work?
Definitely. But now, we will go back to the beginning and take that longer
route. We will climb that ladder again and again till we reach the top."
On January 27, 2006 at the
Palladium in Hollywood, California, Erin
(164 lbs) used straighter punches and more footwork to win by a six-round
unanimous (58-56,59-55,59-55) decision over heavy-hitting
Laura Ramsey (167
lbs) of Orlando, Florida. Erin improved to 7-2-1 (0 KOs) with the win
while dropping Ramsey to 5-2-0 (1 KO).
In June 2006 Erin signed a
management contract with Infinity Boxing LLC, saying that she was looking
forward to returning to the ring in August and wanted to challenge any
junior middleweight or middleweight especially if they hold a title. She
joins a team
that includes Chevelle Hallback (IBA & WIBA
world champion) Shelley Burton (WIBA Super
middle champion) and former world champion, Laura
Serrano from Mexioo.
On August 31, 2006 at Harvey's Lake Tahoe, Stateline, Nevada,
Laura Ramsey (160 lbs) avenged her earlier loss to
Erin (158½ lbs) by scoring a spectacular TKO at 1:28 in the first round when she
knocked Erin through the ring ropes and onto a ringside table.
The fight was called so that Toughill could be checked for a more
serious injury than the cuts she sustained in her fall from the ring,
whose ropes were unusually loose. Laura Ramsey improved her record to 6-2-9 (2 KO's)
while Toughill fell (literally!) to 7-3-1 (0 KO's).
Page last updated:
Monday, 14 November 2022
