(FEB 6) Being that I live in a household that cannot afford anything more than basic cable service, I rarely get a chance to watch many professional boxing matches on ESPN2 Friday Nights Fights, but last Friday evening, I especially wanted to watch a 10-round championship match between two woman boxers, Mary Jo Sanders and Iva ‘Terrible’ Weston.

I have been observing their careers from the Internet and I never got a chance to see either of these ladies fight before, so I really wanted to see a good woman’s match and being that it was supposed to be a championship match, I thought to myself, “This is going to be a good match”.
 

I decided to ask my sister and brother-in-law if I could watch the fight from their house, being that

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they had more than one television, with all the cable service one could want.

Fortunately for me, my sister and brother-in-law graciously allowed me to watch it from their house; therefore, I wouldn’t miss out on this rare moment, with two good woman boxers going to ‘get it on’ for 10 rounds, or so I thought.

Since I have been watching both women’s careers from the web, I knew that Weston had won what had to be a tough match against Liz ‘All Biz’ Mooney, who I seen fight as an amateur and knew that she was going to be one tough customer when she turned pro.

Being that Sanders recently won a tough fight against another tough opponent in Chevelle Hallback, I figured she had to be something to watch as well, even though it seems that she has been dodging one of the best and most feared woman boxers out there, in Sumya Anani.

I’m sorry to say this; but, for a championship fight, I couldn’t have been more disappointed!

I spent about an hour over my sister’s house and the fight that I wanted to see was over in less than six minutes, if you exclude the commercials in between rounds 1 and 2!

The so-called, ‘Terrible’ Weston offered virtually no competition at all for the under challenged Sanders, who, at first, was tentative, but soon landed a few body and head shots that had Weston reeling, looking more like a novice than a pro in a championship bout!

I felt like it wasn’t worth bothering my sister and brother-in-law to watch it; and, as a matter of fact, my sister wondered why I was leaving so early in the evening.

Its so-called ‘championship’ fights like this that is the reason that there is less TV coverage of women’s boxing than they deserve. Why did a respected sanctioning body like the World Boxing Council even sanction this obvious mismatch as a championship bout?

I’m sure if Sanders had an opponent worthy of the challenge, like Anani or someone of her fearsome caliber, this fight would have lasted, at least five or six rounds, if not going the distance.

My disappointment with this ‘championship’ match prompted me to write a message to Ian Prescott, a writer for The Trinidad Express, a newspaper that has been critical of women boxers from Trinidad that are not what they have been built up to be, as so called, ‘World Champions’.

The message was as follows:
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Mr. Prescott:

After just watching a very uninspiring boxing performance by Iva ‘Terrible’ Weston against a tough hometown opponent in Mary Jo Sanders, I can see that Weston came by her moniker honestly.

Tonight, Weston really was terrible, when she couldn’t even last three rounds, collapsing under the pressure that Sanders put on her, with a few body shots, prompting Weston to take a knee, when she couldn’t take it anymore.

I realize Weston is only 20 years of age, with plenty of time to learn, but if this is the way she fought against ‘All Biz’ Liz Mooney, when she supposedly ‘won’ by decision over Mooney in Trinidad, I can definitely see why Mooney and her trainer, Rick Sweeney, feel that they were robbed in that decision.

Weston’s performance didn’t say much for Sanders, either, now with an undefeated record of 20-0, with 5 wins coming by way of knockout.

With twenty fights under her belt, maybe it is time for Sanders to step up to some tougher competition. Since she was able to stop Weston rather easily, maybe it is time for Sanders to fight Mooney, and if she can handle her, Sumya Anani will always be waiting by the phone for Sanders to call on her, even though Anani won’t be holding her breath.

Well, Mary Jo, what do you think?
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