The song goes, "If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere." The song is Frank Sinatra's ode to "New York, New York" and the "there" is the city of the title.
 
Melissa Hernandez, the newly crowned GBU lightweight title holder, has always been a New York fighter. She grew up in the Bronx, fought in the Daily News Golden Gloves and, as she said to me last week in that quintessential New York boxing gym, Gleasons, "Even when I was fighting in the amateurs in Florida, I claimed New York as my home." And spending an hour with Hernandez in Gleasons, you have no trouble understanding what she means: everyone in the old gym, boxers and civilians, whether they're coming through the door or on their way out, coming down from the ring or getting off the heavy bag, or just hanging out, they all take time to come over to say "hey" to Melissa Hernandez. She's a New York fighter.

And yet, of her nine fights, thus far only her debut, a four round decision over Zhang Mao Mao, was held in a New York ring. "I get no love at all," Hernandez states with a combination of wonderment and bitterness, "I don't understand the promoters around here, they don't seem interested in putting on good female bouts, they just want some local face in against a pushover. That's not for me, I look for the toughest fighters, the Kelsey Jeffries, the Lisa Browns, the Layla McCarters and I say, ' let's fight, when and where.' Hernandez has a point. At one time, New York boxing promoters sought out the best female boxers as competition for the best of the New York fighters: Denise Moraetes, a local school teacher, against Sumya Anani in 1999, Kathy Collins, from Long Island, against Christy Martin in the Garden in 2001, to cite two of the more memorable examples of very good female boxing bouts. At present, it can be argued that the last good, competitive female bout in the New York area was Ann Marie Saccurato and Belinda Laracuente, in August, 2005 and, even then, fans had to travel to the Westchester County Center in White Plains to watch Laracuente win a split decision. "Now," Hernandez concludes, "most promoters in New York put ' token ' female bouts on a fight card and try to pass that off as the sport of Women's boxing. It's ridiculous, it's nothing more than a boy's club in New York and that's a shame."

"I live five minutes from one of the newer boxing venues, the renovated Paradise Theater in the Bronx," Hernandez notes, "I run by it doing my roadwork. Just imagine what kind of a crowd, I'd bring into that place against a Kelsey Jeffries or Lisa Brown or any of the other really good fighters in the sport. I'd sell it out with just the people I know from my neighborhood. But instead, what you get is Maureen Shea in against some import with a losing record. And, believe me, that's nothing against Maureen, she takes the fights her manager sets up, but such bouts are embarrassing for Women's boxing, such bouts don't showcase the female boxing talent that's available, such bouts aren't good for any fighter and such bouts certainly aren't good for the fans of Women's boxing. The promoters, obviously, can put on whatever fights they want to, but, for me, I choose to look some place else."

Hernandez started "looking some place else" in her fourth fight, going to Canyonville, OR, last June, coming away with a draw against Kelsey Jeffries, a veteran of 42 fights, that stunned the Women's boxing world. After two "easy" fights ("you've got to have a couple of those every once in a while") in Georgia and Nevada, Hernandez got back on the "high profile, tough fight" path, beating Lisa Brown in Edmonton, AB, Canada and splitting two bouts with Layla McCarter in Las Vegas. "The best opportunities for female fighters are in the West, the promoters out there think in terms of main event bouts for good women boxers," Hernandez states emphatically. "I'd love to stay in New York, I'd love to fight in New York, but the fact is that the opportunities for good bouts are just not there. New York promoters just don't seem to care about Women's boxing, they certainly don't seem to care about good Women's boxing. Laila Ali, the biggest name in the sport came to the biggest arena in New York (Madison Square Garden) and those four rounds (against Shelley Burton) gave a bad name to the phrase ' mismatch'. "

As far as"what's next" for Melissa Hernandez, not surprisingly, her plans include looking up in the rankings for fights rather than looking down. "I'd love to get a bout with Jackie Nava, I've also talked about a bout with Melissa Del Valle and, certainly, Jeannine Garside could be a really big bout." Any of those bouts could be big bouts in the biggest market in the country. But unless, and until, New York promoters recognize the sport of Women's boxing as a legitimate and compelling attraction and not something that fills out a boxing card, it's unlikely that the days of top female fighters, such as Christy Martin and Sumya Anani, competing in big bouts in New York will return any time soon. And that's not good news because female fighters as talented and worth watching as Martin and Anani are out there right now, in abundance. Melissa Hernandez is one of them. She's a New York fighter, through and through, and would be a big attraction in her town. She hasn't made it there yet, but unlike the song, she doesn't have to; she's already shown, beyond any doubt, she can make it anywhere.

Bernie McCoy

 

#          #          #          #

For Online IWBHF Tickets for Next Event!

Check Our Next Annual International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame Event that we have to celebrate hour IWBHF Inductees and Special Award  Recipients!  Next Event, Go Here!

Our Online WBAN/IWBHF Online Store

Proceeds from the Online Store is to continue our mission to support the INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S BOXING HALL OF FAME. The Official collection includes IWBHF and WBAN Merchandise and Memorabilia from the WBAN Boxing Collection. We will continue to list items from the collection and merchandise.