(JUNE 24) WBAN had an
opportunity to go One on One with top ranked WBC/UBF/WBA
Heavyweight Martha "The Shadow" Salazar this week.
Salazar talked about her thoughts on her last fight, and about
her future plans in the sport.
In a brief summary, as many of
you may recall,
Salazar made a comeback after six years to make her mark
in the history of women's boxing and is one of the veterans in
this sport. After her fight with Sonya Lamonakis there was
great chatter and controversy surrounding the six rounder
between those two.
One observation I personally made with Salazar was when I had
the opportunity to meet her in 2013 for the first time, and to
attend the Beautiful Brawlers Amateur show. I saw
firsthand how Salazar gives back to the sport through the
Beautiful Brawlers program who puts on the amateur shows.
Salazar is
very respected in the sport, and I learned about how
instrumental she is in helping to keep the Northern California
female boxing sparring scene exciting, as she is always at the
sparring sessions, and will literally box anyone who wants to
get in the ring with her.
When I not
only attended the Beautiful Brawlers show, but I had also
arrived there a day before the event, I was able to see the
interaction of Salazar with the young amateur boxers. She
was a mentor for those young fighters, and it did not take much
to see that she interacts with each and everyone of them.
In my Q & A, she spoke with me about her career.
Fox: What made you decide to come back into the sport
after six year of not fighting as a pro.
Salazar: I was always in boxing, staying in the gym and
was actually waiting for an opportunity to come back. With the same talented
heavyweights fighting each other over and over, my Team
and I decided had talked about this at great length and had come
to a decision that I would step back into the ring to bring some
'heat' to the division, and that is exactly what I did.
Fox: When you were boxing, you won a
couple of world titles in 2004-2005. After your six-year
layoff, you decided to jump back into the frying pan without
a tune up fight---but to go directly to fighting the #1
World Ranked Heavyweight Sonya Lamonakis in your return to
the ring after this very long time. What are your thoughts about that fight and
in
making a comeback against the #1 ranked boxer?
Salazar: Well, we trained so hard for this
fight and the fight went as planned. We came out with the
win. I wanted to fight the #1 ranked in the world and
beating her was the best part of this fight.
Fox: What made you decide to leave the
sport as a pro six years ago in the first place?
Salazar: I stopped fighting because I didn't
have anybody else to fight. Blanca Gutierrez from Babyface Boxing was
telling me that there were a few heavyweight women that I
could fight if I wanted to. So, I when home and thought about
it. I came back to the gym and told Blanca that I wanted
to make a comeback. I wanted to get the world title that I
didn't get with Vonda ward.
Fox: The controversy about the Lamonakis fight was
that the California Commission timers made an error and the
rounds were three minutes instead of two minutes. Did you realize
you were fighting three minute rounds at the time?
Salazar: No! The only thing I was focused on
was to making sure I was beating Sonya and counting my
punches. I was making sure to throw more punches then her.
After the fight Sonya said to me 'you were the better fighter' but
that she wanted a 'no contest' because the rounds were too
long.
Sue: Do you feel that the fight would have gone
any
differently if you would have fought two minutes instead of
three minutes?
Salazar: I think that the fight would have had
the same outcome 2,3,4 minute. I was still beating her. The
only difference will be she would had not taken so much
punishment. This is why my team and I train so hard, so
that we have no excuses.
Sue: Former world champ Carlette Ewell is going to
fight Sonya Lamonakis for the IBO Heavy weight world title
in August. How do you feel about this heavyweight world
title fight?
Salazar: I am very upset about the situation.
I am the one that should be fighting for this title. It's
okay though I will fight the winner.
How long are you planning to stay in the
sport?
Martha: I will not retire until I become the
world champion again.
WBAN would like to thank Salazar for taking the time to talk
with us about her boxing career.
