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Jolene Blackshear, a hard-hitting 4'11" biology major from Sonoma State University was
trained by Herb Cody out of Rohnert Park, California.
Jolene rose quickly to the IFBA Flyweight world title.
Jolene graduated with Honors from Sonoma State University with a
Bachelor's Degree in Biology. She also excelled in collegiate sports, earning
all-Conference Honors in fast pitch softball as well as track and field. Jolene
began boxing as a new challenge and a continuation of her competitive nature. Her fast, aggressive and exciting
ring style would give Yvonne Trevino,
Anissa Zamarron and British kickboxer Sara Hall all they could handle!
Jolene was stopped by a cut from
the elbow of Yvonne Trevino
On May 17, 1997 Jolene fought Yvonne Trevino
in the first IFBA all-women's card at the Reseda Country Club. She knocked
the heavily-favored Arizonan down twice early in the first round. Both
knockdowns were ruled slips, but nobody who watched the fight agrees with
this! Later in the same round, Jolene was deeply cut under her right eye
by a strike from Yvonne's elbow. The fight was stopped in Yvonne's favor
... to a storm of protests, from Yvonne, from both corners, and from many
in the crowd!
A ringside correspondent described the scene to me: "Yvonne looked a
tad awkward and did hit the canvas (it was ruled a slip) and she appeared
to be smiling or laughing at various times. She did eventually get to
Jolene who soon had a deep gash in the left cheekbone area although the
blood did not appear to be flowing ... the ringside physician asked to
examine it ... as soon as he started shaking his head, the crowd began to
boo. Oddly enough, Yvonne was the one who seemed to protest the most
vociferously. I could read her lips saying, "No! I want to fight. I want
to fight..." The crowd started to chant 'Let them fight! Let them fight!'
with the obvious encouragement of Yvonne and Jolene's cornermen. Yvonne
did not even acknowledge the announcement declaring her the winner by TKO
... Jolene raised her fist to the crowd which aroused a big cheer. The
crowd further expressed its dissatisfaction with the physician's decision
by chanting 'Bullshit! Bullshit!' From my vantage point, however,
the wound did seem rather severe and I believe the doctor probably made
the right decision."
Unfortunately, the rematch between Blackshear and Trevino that seemed
inevitable at the time of this early stoppage never took place.
Mixing it up with Anissa Zamarron
in October 1997
On October 4, 1997 at the Lady Luck Casino in Lula, Mississippi, Jolene
won the IFBA flyweight championship with a ten-round (99-93, 97-93, 96-94) decision over
Anissa Zamarron of Austin, Texas
in a war that was easily the best fight
on the card. Zamarron's nose was broken but she still gave the aggressive
Blackshear a tremendous battle. Both fighters received a standing ovation
at the end of the bout (see the full
fight report from Erik Anderson,
who said this battle was "Hands down, the fight of the night and easily the most exciting IFBA fight
yet. These two women poured everything into this fight and went at each other
the whole way.")
On June 30, 1998 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
Jolene retained the IFBA Flyweight title with a brutal fifth-round TKO
over Sara Hall of Chesterfield, England, a 5-0 kickboxer who was making
her pro boxing debut. Jolene went right at Hall from the opening
bell and ate some hard right hands but got the better of most of the
toe-to-toe exchanges with the English fighter. Late in the fourth round,
as she pounded Hall against the ropes, Blackshear emitted a loud
grunt remisiscent of Monica Seles. "It comes from the bottom of my
heart, the bottom of my toes," Blackshear said after the fight, adding
"that's my spirit coming out." Hall suffered a broken nose
and broken jaw and could not answer the bell for the sixth round.
On September 17, 1998 at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi:
Jolene successfully defended the IFBA Flyweight title against the veteran
Delia Gonzalez of Chamberino, New Mexico
with a unanimous ten-round decision before an estimated crowd of 1,200.
Judge Paul Cita had Blackshear ahead 96-95, Freddie Steinwinder III had the bout 98-93
and C.B.Jenkins scored the bout in favor of Blackshear by 97-93.
Blackshear got off to a fast start as usual but Gonzalez began a
comeback in the fifth, using her jab to keep Blackshear off balance.
Jolene had to come on stronger in the ninth and tenth to secure
the win.
Blackshear praised Gonzalez after the bout, saying "This was the classiest fight of my career. Gonzalez fights clean and is
a good technician." Gonzalez fell to 10-3-2 with the loss.
Battling Canada's Margaret Sidoroff for the IFBA Flyweight title
© Copyrighted photo by Sue TL Fox
On February 11, 2000 in Kenner, Louisiana,
Jolene lost the IFBA Flyweight title to Canada's Margaret Sidoroff
by a hard-fought ten-round unanimous decision.
Although Blackshear had been out of the
ring for over a year, she showed no ring rust as she won the
first two rounds and tagged Sidoroff repeatedly with her hard-charging aggressive
style. However, Sidoroff improved the timing of her counter lefts in the
third and the fight turned around in the middle rounds. Sidoroff
showed great head movement and superb reflexes to slip Blackshear's
punches while landing her own busy and effective combinations.
As Blackshear fell behind on points, she escalated the
pressure and the final round was a war with both fighters taking
and dishing out significant punishment. Sidoroff rose to the
challenge and was backing Blackshear up as they went toe to toe
to end an exciting, skilled and heart-filled bout.
The
scorecards recorded a unanimous (98-92,98-92,97-93) decision for Sidoroff
... but the real winner may have been women's boxing in the USA as
the bout was carried live on ESPN2 and drew non-stop
praise from the Friday Night Fights commentators.
Sidoroff advanced to 7-0 with 3 KO's while Jolene fell to 4-2 (2 KO's).
 Jolene took the loss of her IFBA title like a true champion,
telling me: "I had more fun before, during and after this fight than any before.
Margaret was the perfect opponent and a delight to work with.
I felt we both stepped up, did our jobs, and truly enjoyed ourselves."
See also Margaret Sidoroff's
comments on this superb fight, in
which she said Jolene "is awesome! I
admire Jolene's work ethic and pre-fight focus. She was the
lightest opponent I've ever faced as a pro, however she was still
the strongest! I knew I was in for an incredible test when I was
on the wrong end of a butt-kicking for those first couple rounds!"
Unfortunately for fans of women's boxing, this classic
battle with Sidoroff, who won three world titles, would be Jolene's last
pro fight. "Boxing takes athletic prowess, skill
coordination, hard training and profound dedication," said Blackshear,
who trained four hours a day to keep in shape for her fights. "It's not
street fighting or mud wrestling or Jerry Springer, and it's not something
you just step into the ring and do. You have to be really dedicated to
succeed."
Other Jolene Blackshear Links
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records Member Site
Page last updated:
Friday, 11 April 2008 |
