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5'3" southpaw Eva "Sweet Magic" Jones-Young was born in South Bend, Indiana
on July 14, 1964. She made her mark as a world-class pro boxer starting in 1996,
after competing in karate and kickboxing. Eva won several national championships in karate and
is a fourth degree black belt in TaeKwonDo.
She finished 1995 and 1996 ranked #1 nationally in women’s Black Belt
lightweight fighting by the North American Sport Karate Association.
Eva notched a 2-0 record as a kickboxer, then took up
boxing in October 1996, inspired by her two brothers who had boxed professionally.
Eva made
her pro boxing debut on November 9 1996 at the Veterans' Coliseum n Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, weighing in at 123 lbs and winning a four-round decision over
Deirdre Rodriguez (119 lbs) of Iowa, who fell to 1-1 with the loss.
Her second bout was on January 14, 1997 at the Hale Arena in
Kansas City, Missouri where Eva (116 lbs) boxed to a four-round majority draw
with unbeaten Brenda Rouse (111 lbs) of Bartlesville,
Oklahoma. Rouse was 4-0-1 (0 KOs) after this result.
On March 3, 1997 in Austin, Texas, Eva (110 lbs) won a four-round
unanimous decision over local favorite Anissa Zamarron
(110 lbs), dropping her pro record to 7-6-0.
On June 17 1997 at Marker Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana
Eva (120 lbs) easily won her home-state debut with a first round TKO of novice
fighter Kris Mansfield of Indianapolis, who didn't box again! On
August 14, 1997 at Coeur d'Alene Tribal Bingo in Worley, Idaho, Eva (115
lbs) faced much stiffer competition in unbeaten Para
Draine of Spokane, Washngton, and lost by a four-round unanimous
(39-36,39-37,40-35) decision to the future IWBF Flyweight world champion,
who improved her record to 4-0 with the win.
On September 9, 1997 at Fort Mitchell, Kentucky Eva rebounded from
this loss with a first-round TKO of novice Kim Jeffreys of Cincinnati, Ohio in
what would be the first of three fights inside three weeks. On
September 12, 1997 at the Armory in Pikesville, Maryland Eva (117¼
lbs) won a clear (40-36 x 3) unanimous four-round decision over Rose Johnson
(116¼ lbs) of Rockville, Maryland, who slipped to 1-1 with the loss.
On September 26, 1997 at the Fairgrounds in Dubuque, Iowa, Eva
(117 lbs) scored a TKO over Shelly Walden (133 lbs) of Lincoln, Kansas at 1:45
in the first round, dropping her record to 0-3-1 and apparently persuading
Walden not to fight again!
It was back to more serious competition for Eva on October 24,
1997 when she faced veteran Delia Gonzalez of
Chamberino, New Mexico in an IFBA card in Lula Mississippi. Gonzalez had been
boxing professionally since 1993, won the WIBF World Bantamweight title in Las
Vegas in 1995, and brought a 10-1-2 record into the bout. Eva weighed in
at 110 lbs and defeated the experienved Gonzalez (109 lbs) by a six-round
unanimous decision.
On January 10, 1998 at the Tropicana in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Eva (117 lbs)
scored a seventh-round TKO over another seasoned veteran,
Theresa Arnold (115 lbs) of Boise, Idaho to win the vacant IWBF World
Bantamweight title. This was Arnold's first loss in fifteen pro fights and
dropped her to 13-1-1. On March 21, 1998 at the Tropicana in
Atlantic City, New Jersey, Eva (116 lbs) took the WIBF world Bantamweight
title from England's Cheryl Robertson (113 lbs) with a TKO following a
knockdown at 1:05 in the fourth round. On October 20, 1998 at
the Arena Theater in Houston, Texas, Eva (120½ lbs) tuned up for a
forthcoming rematch with Para Draine with a four-round unanimous decision
over Tina Speaknan (120¼ lbs) of Atlanta, who fell to 1-8-1. On
November 12, 1888 at the Market Center in Kansas City, Missouri, Eva (118
lbs) avenged her previous loss to Para Draine (114
lbs) of Spokane with an eight-round unanimous decision in a non-title bout.
Eva's
next bout on February 26, 1999 was in an attractive winter location,
St.Thomas in the Virgin Islands ... but it put her on a collision course
with Margaret Sidoroff of Windsor, Ontario,
Canada. Although just 3-0 against weak opposition as a pro boxer, and fighting one weight class above her usual
weight, Sidoroff was no novice. She was an experienced boxer who had built a
13-0 record as an amateur in Canada and Australia and who had won her
national 51-kg title in 1998. Sidoroff was about 10 lbs lighter than
Jones-Young, who was able to outmuscle her in the clinches and win the early
rounds. But Sidoroff gamely piled on the pressure in the late going to earn
a hard-fought split decision over a grueling ten rounds. This loss stripped
Eva of her IWBF World Bantamweight title and improved Sidoroff's record to
4-0. Sidoroff went on to an undefeated pro career in which she won
three world titles.
Eva (left) vs. Leona Brown for the IFBA title
© Copyrighted photo taken by Sandy Goldberg On June 11,
1999, at the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, Louisiana, Eva (114¼ lbs)
rebounded from this defeat to win the vacant IFBA World Bantamweight title vacated
by Bridgett Riley with a 10-round unanimous (99-91, 98-92, 98-92) decision over
Leona Brown (114¼ lbs) of Pawling, New York. The loss
dropped Brown to 7-1.
On July 23, 1999 at the Ice Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, Eva (121
lbs) moved her record to 13-2-1 by winning a six-round unanimous decision over Jamillia Lawrence
(116½ lbs) of Atlantic City in a defense-oriented bout that was
seen on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. Lawrence dropped to 3-1.
On February 5, 2000 at the Rhein-Rhur-Halle in Duisberg, Germany,
Eva weighed in at 121 lbs and lost a ten-round unanimous decision to Britain's undefeated
Michele Aboro (122 lbs) in a battle
for the vacant WIBF Junior Featherweight title. Aboro moved to 15-0 with 10
KO's. Eva went into retirement after this bout with
a 13-3-1 (5 KO) record, her only losses coming to top-notch opponents who
were unbeaten at the time. Her management told me that she planned to return to the ring in the first part of 2003,
"looking to stir things up in the
bantamweight division", but she did not in fact return to competition until
March 2008. On March 22, 2008 at the National Guard Armory in
South Bend, Indiana, Eva (141 lbs) won a four-round unanimous
(40-36,40-36,40-35) decision over Renee Richardt Douglas (140 lbs) of
Fenton, Missouri who fell to 11-5-1 (4 KO's). On November 25,
2008 at the Pepsi Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eva (139 lbs) won a
four-round unanimous (40-36,40-36,40-36) decision over Kerri Hill (130 lbs)
of Little Rock, Arkansas who fell to 2-13 (1 KO). On
March 3, 2009 at the Pepsi Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana,
Kristy Follmar (136 lbs) of Muncie, Indiana won a
ten-round unanimous (97-92,97-93,98-92) decision over Eva (138 lbs) for the
vacant World Boxing Foundation Junior Welterweight title. Follmar, who was
coming off a four-year absence from competition, improved her record to 16-1
(9 KO's) while Jones -Young dropped to 15-4-1 (5 KO's).
She and her husband Richard run a high-rise window-washing business, and she
balanced this and bringing up daughter Eva Marie against a rigorous boxing
training schedule. Eva trained hard, getting up a 6 a.m. six days a week for
a 5-mile run, a few thousand steps on a stairmaster, 600 sit-ups and then some weight
training before she headed off to a day's work that might include
rappelling down a high-rise building!
Page last updated:
Monday, 14 November 2022 |
