(OCT 15) Stacy Prestage was the first Women’s International Boxing Federation (WIBF)
world champion, but she did not have the belt that she won
anymore because it was stolen. It was my mission to give her a
WIBF belt. It is not the belt that was taken from her, but it is
an authentic WIBF belt. It was the last belt made for Barbara
Buttrick before she retired. She co-founded the WIBF with Jimmy
Finn in 1993. That was the year that the WIBF sanctioned their
first world title fight. Stacy Prestage defeated Deirdre Gogarty
by a ten-round decision to win the vacant WIBF lightweight
title. Gogarty was inducted into the International Women’s
Boxing Hall of Fame (IWBHF) in 2015. Prestage was chosen for
induction in the class of 2024, but the induction ceremony this
year is for both the 2023 and 2024 classes. Prestage thinks that
a Hall of Fame plaque is the only award she will receive, but
there is another award for her and it is in the bag that I am
holding as I walk to the podium on the stage. I am in Las Vegas,
Nevada at The Orleans Hotel and Casino for the event. I had to
travel from Florida.
I was in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
carrying a WIBF belt in a duffel bag. I approached the security
checkpoint. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers
were checking bags for any dangerous items. There were several
lines of people standing. I chose the one on the far right
because the line was shorter. I removed everything out of my
pockets and took off my belt and shoes. I put my bags and
belongings in a gray plastic container which was then moved on a
conveyor belt. No one else was walking behind me, so I was the
last person in line. A TSA worker said that no one else can come
on the line. The line was going to close temporarily after I was
able to pass the checkpoint. I walked in a scanning machine for
my body to be scanned. I was instructed to put my arms up for
the scan. I walked out and stood near the conveyor belt as I
waited to get my bags and belongings.
Another TSA worker sat in a chair and looked at a monitor of my
baggage being scanned by the machine. He seemed to closely
examine the scan. I could not see what he saw, but I assumed
that he was wondering what the mass of metal was in my duffel
bag. I was hoping that he would not decide to do a “secondary
screening” because I did not want a TSA worker to remove the
WIBF belt out of the bag. The plastic container with my bag
moved out of the scanner. If the container continued straight on
the conveyor belt, then there would be no secondary screening.
However, there was another conveyor belt and the plastic
container was diverted onto it which was parallel to the other
one, but farther away from me. The TSA worker apparently decided
that my duffel bag needed to be examined further. Since I was
the last person in line, the TSA worker who decided that my bag
needed to be opened got up from his chair and walked towards the
other TSA worker who unzipped my bag and lifted the WIBF belt.
“It’s a women’s boxing belt,” I said. The TSA worker who chose
my bag for secondary screening asked me how I got the belt, so I
briefly told him and left out the details. “I was a boxing
writer. I know the former owner of the sanctioning body. I am
going to give the belt to a former world champion.” The TSA
worker then asked me who it is. “You don’t know her,” I said.
“Oh, you don’t want to tell me,” the TSA worker said. Well, I
didn’t. I had plenty of time to get to the terminal, but I
wasn’t in the mood to talk. “Stacy Prestage. She won the title
30 years ago,” I said. “Did she fight Laila Ali?” he asked. “No.
Different weight classes, different time period,” I said.
Prestage fought from 1990-1998 in the featherweight, super
featherweight, and lightweight divisions. Ali fought from
1999-2007 in the super middleweight division. I don’t think he
knew much about women’s boxing. I believe that he mentioned
Laila Ali not because of her boxing prowess, but because she is
Muhammad Ali’s daughter!
The event for the first day started in the afternoon at 1:00 PM.
It was an opportunity to meet some of the inductees and see a
special awards presentation. I bought a program magazine which
had biographies of the Hall of Fame inductees for 2023 and 2024.
Two classes were going to be inducted on Saturday. I met Yvonne
Trevino who was a former world champion for the WIBF. She had a
table with her WIBF belt on it which looked different than the
one I was carrying. The older design had a larger woman with
angel wings and the metallic globe was not painted in color.
I talked to Laura Ramsey of Lakeland, Florida because I was at
one of her fights in 2007. I was writing for the original Boxing
Tribune website which no longer exists. This was an event
promoted by Don King at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in
Hollywood, Florida. I was also at the pre-fight press
conference. I noticed that Ramsey appeared to be very angry
during the entire press conference which lasted a few hours. She
didn’t say much, but she had a scowl on her face. I have heard
the expression “putting your game face on,” but I thought that
would be for the day of the event. Samuel Peter of Nigeria was
in the main event against James Toney in a WBC heavyweight title
eliminator. Ramsey’s opponent was Ijeoma Egbunine of Nigeria who
won the WIBF light heavyweight title in 2006 by defeating
Valerie Mahfood by knockout in the second round. Mahfood was
inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame (IWBHF)
in 2020. Egbunine has yet to be inducted. Ramsey was inducted in
the IWBHF this year in the class of 2023. Ramsey vs. Egbunine
was in the super middleweight division.
I told Ramsey that I was at the pre-fight press conference of
her fight against Egbunine. After all these years, I finally
could find out why Ramsey was angry during the press conference.
Ramsey had heard through the grapevine that Don King was
planning on signing Peter and Egbunine to a joint deal since
both are from Nigeria. Ramsey felt slighted because this was
before her fight against Egbunine. It seemed that King was
expecting Egbunine to defeat Ramsey. Of course, Ramsey was not
happy about this and it gave her extra motivation to win. Her
fight was on the undercard, but this could have been the main
event on a club show. Both were world-class boxers with good
records. Egbunine had only one loss prior to this fight whereas
Ramsey had two losses. Ramsey’s nickname is “Lady Ram” and she
lived up to her nickname. The fight began with Ramsey charging
like a battering ram ready to lock horns. I don’t think Egbunine
was expecting that and Ramsey knocked her down with a right
hook. Ramsey knocked her down two more times and the fight was
stopped by the referee. Ramsey won by TKO in the first round. In
her next fight, Ramsey became a world champion by winning the
Global Boxing Union (GBU) middleweight title in Kenya. Ramsey
had to fight in her opponent’s home country against Conjestina
Achieng. Achieng was knocked down in the second, fifth, and
sixth rounds. Ramsey won by TKO in the sixth round to win the
GBU title.
Photo Credit: Sue TL Fox
Sue Fox who is the founder of the website WBAN (Women Boxing
Archive Network) knew that I had brought the WIBF belt and asked
to see it. I took it out of the bag. Fox held the belt and then
I let Ramsey hold the belt. Ramsey’s protégé Carrise Brown
rubbed the belt and maybe that will give her good luck in
winning a WIBF belt or another world title in the future. Ramsey
is the trainer for Brown who is a super featherweight contender.
Ramsey acknowledged that she had to accelerate Brown’s
development faster than she normally would because of her age.
Brown is currently 37 years old. Her record is 10-6, 6 KOs. Two
of her six losses were by TKO, but they were both to world-class
opposition. Brown lost by TKO in the second round to super
featherweight contender Beatriz Ferreira of Brazil. In Brown’s
next fight, she got a world title shot against Women’s
International Boxing Association (WIBA) featherweight champion
Rebecca Hawker of Australia. Brown knocked Hawker down in round
one, but Hawker knocked Brown down in round two. Hawker won by
TKO in the seventh round. After this fight, Brown fought
featherweight contender Sarah Liegmann of Germany. Liegmann won
by a close unanimous decision in a six-round bout. In Brown’s
most recent fight which was in August of this year, Brown
defeated lightweight contender Czarina McCoy by split decision
in a six-round bout. McCoy had a record of 11-1, 3 KOs prior to
the bout. It seems that Brown has been making progress and
others have taken notice. The Sugar Show with Natalie Brown on
the Talkin’ Fight: Boxing YouTube channel has touted the
abilities and potential of Carrise Brown. I believe that Ramsey
is going to try to get Brown another world title shot soon such
as with the WIBA again or the WIBF.
Photo Credit: Sue TL Fox
Special awards were given on the first day of the Hall of Fame
event. Three of them related to longevity for still active
boxers Chevelle Hallback, Layla McCarter, and Olivia Gerula who
all have been boxing for at least 25 years. A special award was
given to Alicia Ashley who also had a long career and achieved a
Guinness World Record by regaining the WBC super bantamweight
title by defeating Christina McMahon in 2015 at 48 years and 67
days old. Ashley is recognized as the oldest female world boxing
champion and she is also recognized as the oldest overall which
includes the male world champions. Three pioneers of women’s
boxing were honored and awarded WBAN mini belts. Darlene
Buckskin, Jamie Johnson, and Pat Pineda received these belts in
cases. WBAN belts of the regular size are used for the best
possible matchups within a division which is like what Ring
Magazine belts have been for men’s boxing. Ring Magazine began
giving their belts to female boxers in 2019 when Claressa
Shields defeated Christina Hammer for the undisputed world
middleweight championship which included the belts of the four
major sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF).
A few years before Barbara Buttrick retired, I wanted to help
her have a WIBF title fight in the United States instead of
Europe where the title fights often were. I was trying to give
American female boxers the opportunity to win a WIBF title in
the United States because of the biased judging they often
encounter when competing in European countries. I offered to
purchase the WIBF belt, so Buttrick told the belt manufacturer
that I had permission to buy the belt. I found a promoter who
was interested in promoting a WIBF title fight, but he wanted a
local boxer so the fight would sell more tickets. My role was
like a matchmaker. I selected a local boxer from Florida even
though she had been inactive for more than one year. Buttrick
wanted to see her in training, but we were never able to
schedule a time and date to watch her train at a gym. I told
Buttrick that I wanted to change the boxer to someone else and
she agreed. However, the promoter was no longer interested in
promoting the fight since I had selected two boxers who did not
live in Florida. They both lived in the United States, but not
in Florida. The promoter was not willing to take the financial
risk of having no local following to boost ticket sales.
After about six years of having the belt, I began to think about
donating the belt to a museum of a boxing Hall of Fame. My
thought process was that if the belt was in a museum, thousands
of people would be able to see the belt instead of giving the
belt to only one person and not a museum that the public could
go to. I visited the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame Museum in Fort
Myers, Florida. It was in a large room within a boxing gym. I
thought about donating the belt there because Buttrick
previously lived in Florida. However, the museum did not seem
very secure. Some of the belts were not even in plastic or glass
displays. I thought about donating the belt to the International
Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF). It began inducting women in 2020
which I thought would never happen. I believe that they only did
this because women’s boxing became popular and they could no
longer ignore it. Buttrick was one of the first inductees in the
Women’s Trailblazer Category. There is also a Women’s Modern
Category. I was not sure how secure their museum was. Six
championship belts were stolen in 2015. Four of the belts were
won by Carmen Basilio and two were won by Tony Zale. The thieves
broke into the building through a window when the museum was not
open. The glass displays were smashed with an axe. Basilio won
world titles in the 1950s. Zale won world titles in the 1940s.
These belts must have been valuable due to their age and who the
belts were won by.
I considered giving the belt to Sue Fox and her International
Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame (IWBHF). I knew that she currently
does not have a building to display her memorabilia, but I felt
that it was the right time considering that it was the 30th
anniversary of the WIBF. Since Buttrick enabled me to buy the
belt, I wanted to talk to her first before I donated the belt to
Fox. I tried to contact Buttrick, but her phone number in Miami
Beach did not work. I then emailed Jimmy Finn who co-founded the
WIBF with Buttrick. I had his email because Buttrick visited him
in Europe during the time that we were trying to get a WIBF
title fight in Florida. Finn replied to my email stating that
Buttrick was happy that I thought of her before I made the
decision to donate the belt. Finn told me that Buttrick no
longer lived in Miami Beach and that she moved back to England
to live near her daughter. Finn revealed to me that Stacy
Prestage’s belt was stolen. My first thought was that it was
similar to a queen not having her crown.
Finn and Buttrick preferred that I give the belt to Prestage.
However, Finn stated that it was my decision to make since I
owned the belt. I talked to Fox on the phone about this. Fox
felt that it would be great for me to give the belt to Prestage.
I decided that it was the right thing to do. The belt was
intended to be used for a title fight and Barbara gave
permission to the belt manufacturer to make the belt and let me
buy it. I also thought about the fact that the belt was supposed
to be for a woman and I am not a woman. Also, I did not win the
belt in the ring. I had an opportunity to give the belt to a
woman who won the WIBF belt in the ring and who was the first
one to do it. There was more historical significance because
Prestage received the first WIBF belt made for Buttrick and she
will receive the last WIBF belt made for Buttrick.
The second day of the event was the day of the induction
ceremony for the classes of 2023 and 2024. I sat on a chair in
the hallway and waited until 5:00 PM for the Meet and Greet to
start. I knew that people would have to walk past me to go to
the event, so I would eventually talk to somebody. Eight-time
world champion Layla McCarter walked by and I said hi. McCarter
greeted me with her fist. It was a fist bump, so I am okay. More
people came and the hallway was crowded. I greeted Melissa
McMorrow and shook her hand. There was a table near the ballroom
where we got our tickets. I was given an envelope with my name
on it. The ticket had the words “Night of the Stars” on it. The
title was appropriate because this year was the first time that
all the inductees who are or were female boxers of the modern
age have been world champions. There were other people inducted
who were not boxers such as International Female Boxers
Association (IFBA) co-founder Judy Kulis, promoter Lou DiBella
(who was not in attendance), founder and chair of WBC Cares Jill
Diamond, and Gleason’s Gym President Bruce Silverglade.
The induction ceremony began at
7:00 PM. Master of Ceremonies Jake Gutierrez spoke first.
Introductory speeches were also made by IWBHF Director Sue Fox
and IWBHF Vice President Wanda Countiss. A short video of
Barbara Buttrick and undisputed world featherweight champion
Amanda Serrano was shown on a big screen. The video can be seen
on WBAN’s YouTube channel WBAN100 as well as other videos shown
during the two-day event. The keynote speaker was Christy
Martin. The inductees from the class of 2023 were inducted
first. Malissa Smith introduced each inductee who received a
plaque in recognition of their membership into the IWBHF and for
their contributions to women’s boxing. The inductees who were in
attendance received their awards. Sue Fox has sent awards by
mail to inductees who have not been present for previous
induction ceremonies. I have been to the Florida Boxing Hall of
Fame (FBHOF) induction ceremony a few times. An inductee to the
FBHOF (or a representative if the inductee is deceased) must be
present at one of two events to receive the awards (plaque and
ring): either attend an induction ceremony (which does not have
to be the year of induction) or attend the announcement of a
future class of inductees which is done in early January at the
boxing gym that has the FBHOF Museum. The FBHOF never mails
their awards, so it is very nice of Sue Fox to mail the awards
at her own expense to IWBHF inductees who are not present.
Photo Credit: Robert Vasquez -
Melissa McMorrow
One speech that I felt was memorable from the 2023 class of
inductees was by Melissa McMorrow. She cried and said that her
mom died. It was surprising to me because I have never seen her
show that kind of emotion. Her record was 10-7-3, 1 KO. For most
of her pro career, she fought top opposition in their home
countries. Take away the three draws and her 10-7 record looks
like it would be from a professional American football team that
barely qualified for the playoffs. Even with the losses on her
record that should have been wins, she is rated No. 21 on the
all-time pound for pound list for female boxers on the BoxRec
website. She is rated high despite her record because of the
quality of her opposition. I know that BoxRec has been
criticized for not including some fights on boxers’ records that
have occurred. This seems to be mainly due to BoxRec not
considering certain boxing commissions as legitimate. If a boxer
fights and then that fight is not included on his or her record,
then it adversely affects the boxer because it appears as if the
boxer is inactive. A loss in one year is better than having no
fight recorded in one year. BoxRec claims that they only publish
fight results from boxing commissions that have been approved.
However, BoxRec has published fights that were not sanctioned by
a boxing commission and BoxRec even states that the fights were
not sanctioned in red capital letters and a yellow triangle with
an exclamation point in the middle that looks like a caution
sign.
The inductees from the class of 2024 were inducted next.
Daniella Smith was introduced first from this class. She is the
first female world champion of the International Boxing
Federation (IBF) which is not affiliated with the WIBF. After
this inaugural women’s world title fight was sanctioned by the
IBF in 2010, all four major sanctioning bodies were involved in
women’s boxing. The IWBHF inductees were limited to three
minutes for their speeches. When I was at a FBHOF induction
ceremony in Florida, former WBO heavyweight champion Shannon
Briggs talked for 20 minutes during his induction speech. I will
reiterate that. He spoke for twenty minutes. Apparently, there
is no time limit for speeches at the FBHOF. I am glad that Sue
Fox limits the speeches to three minutes. The FBHOF induction
ceremony is during the daytime. That is why they can have long
speeches. The IWBHF induction ceremony begins in the evening. It
was scheduled to end at 9:30 PM, but it would have ended around
10:00 PM if all the inductees were in attendance.
A short video of each inductee was shown on the screen. Malissa
Smith would give a brief speech about the inductee and his or
her accomplishments. Gleason’s Gym owner Bruce Silverglade was
the only male inductee in attendance. Promoter Lou DiBella was
not in attendance to receive his Hall of Fame award. Maria Jesus
Rosa was inducted posthumously with the class of 2024.
Obviously, she could not be in attendance. Her husband spoke
about her and there was a camera crew that filmed the event for
an upcoming documentary. Rosa won the WIBF junior flyweight
title in 2003. Her only loss was to Regina Halmich in Germany by
a close split decision in 2005. That was the last fight of
Rosa’s career and was for the WIBF flyweight title. Rosa was
born in Spain and is remembered as a pioneer of Spanish women’s
boxing. Rosa died of cancer at the age of 44.
A video of Stacy Prestage was shown of her in training and
highlights of her fights against Deirdre Gogarty of Ireland that
appeared to be filmed by someone in the audience and not a
television network. Gogarty was inducted in the second class of
the IWBHF in 2015. Prestage had a trilogy of three consecutive
fights against Gogarty. All the fights were in Kansas City,
Missouri in 1993 which is where Prestage was from. The first and
second fight resulted in two draws and Prestage won the third
fight which was for the inaugural WIBF lightweight title. It was
also significant because it was the first time that the WIBF
sanctioned a world title fight in women’s boxing. It was the
beginning of standards for women’s world title fights that were
followed by other sanctioning bodies. It was the beginning of
the modern age of women’s boxing. That is why Stacy Prestage is
not only the first WIBF world champion, but she is also the
first women’s boxing world champion of the modern age.
Prior to Prestage’s first fight against Gogarty, Prestage had a
fight against Christy Martin in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1992.
Martin was inducted in the first class of the IWBHF in 2014. The
Internet was in its infancy in the early 1990s, so I did not
know about this fight even though I lived in Florida. I did not
even know women’s boxing existed. Martin won this fight by an
eight-round unanimous decision. A written account of this fight
is in WBAN’s Historical Database. Martin left the ring (probably
immediately) after the fight and went to the locker room
thinking that she had lost. All the media went to Prestage’s
corner because they thought that she would be declared the
winner. Martin had to be told to come out of the locker room
(and I assume back in the ring) for her to be announced as the
winner. Based on this account, I believe that Prestage deserved
the victory even though it was officially a loss on her record.
Martin was from Orlando, Florida and Daytona Beach is only about
an hour drive away. The judges were probably biased.
An event promoted by Don King in 1996 had Martin and Gogarty
fight each other on one of the undercard bouts. Even though it
was on the undercard and not the main event, it stole the show.
Gogarty was knocked down in round two, but she was able to
continue. Martin’s nose was broken and bleeding profusely. It
was a thrilling fight that captured the attention of the world.
The fight was scheduled for six rounds of two minutes each and
it went the distance. Martin won by unanimous decision, but more
importantly it was women’s boxing that won. Martin became an
instant celebrity and was featured on the cover of Sports
Illustrated magazine. Prestage never received that kind of
publicity. Her fights when she was in her prime are nowhere to
be found on the Internet. Those fights probably were never
televised. After Prestage’s third fight against Gogarty,
Prestage took a hiatus from boxing for more than two years. She
returned in 1996 and her last fight was in 1998. She went 3-3 in
6 fights during that time. The first three fights were wins and
the last three fights were losses. One of those losses was by
knockout in the fourth round against Sumya Anani. Anani was
inducted into the IWBHF in its third class in 2016. This fight
is on YouTube, but none of Prestage’s fights against Gogarty or
Martin are on the Internet either in highlights or their
entirety. Prestage must have been one of the best female boxers
pound for pound from 1992-1993 which was when she fought Martin
and Gogarty.
After the video of Prestage was finished, my name was called to
come to the stage. I walk to the podium on the stage, put the
bag next to the podium, and begin to read my speech: “Thank you
and congratulations to all the inductees. This is the tenth
anniversary of the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame and
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the WBAN website. It is also the
thirtieth anniversary of the Women’s International Boxing
Federation, the WIBF, sanctioning world title fights in women’s
boxing. This began in 1993 with Stacy Prestage winning the
vacant WIBF lightweight title. The WIBF was founded by Barbara
Buttrick and Jimmy Finn. The WIBF sanctioned women’s boxing
world title fights before any sanctioning body that exists today
and the WIBF itself still exists today. The WIBF created rules
and regulations for women’s world championships which were
emulated by other sanctioning bodies. Barbara Buttrick is now
retired and returned to live in England where she was originally
from to be close to her daughter, but she lived in Miami Beach
for decades. One WIBF belt was made by the belt manufacturer in
case there was a title fight that Barbara would supervise before
she retired, but this did not happen. Of course, Stacy Prestage
received the first WIBF belt when Barbara was WIBF President.
Unfortunately, that first WIBF belt was stolen from Stacy. (and
so) On behalf of Barbara Buttrick and Jimmy Finn who could not
be here tonight, I am giving the last WIBF belt made for Barbara
Buttrick when she was WIBF President to Stacy Prestage.”
Photo Credit: Robert Vasquez -
Ron Scarfone presenting
WIBF Belt to Stacy Prestage
I take the belt out of the bag
and look to my left. Prestage smiles at me and says thank you. I
am thinking that I should say you’re welcome or at least smile,
but I am too tired to show any emotion. I just look at her
stone-faced. I walk off the stage down the stairs. I stand next
to Sue Fox as Prestage talks to the audience. Malissa Smith
helps Prestage put the WIBF belt around her waist. It is not the
original belt that she won. It did not even look exactly like
the original belt because the design was changed some time
after, but it did not matter. It is a real WIBF belt and it
appears to be in new condition even though I had it for about
six years. After Prestage’s speech, Fox tells the audience that
I had considered donating the belt to a museum before I decided
to give it to Prestage. The audience perhaps are puzzled because
I did not reveal in my speech that I had purchased the belt and
owned it. It was my idea to have the belt made, but I needed
Buttrick’s permission for the belt manufacturer to make the belt
and sell it to me.
Photo credit: Stacy Prestage
I am glad that Prestage has a
WIBF belt again and that she is happy to have it. I was careful
in my speech to state that it was the last WIBF belt made for
Barbara Buttrick. It was not the last WIBF belt made while she
was WIBF President because WIBF Vice President Jurgen Lutz was
largely running the business in Germany at the time. However, it
was the last WIBF belt made with the intention of her being the
supervisor of a world title fight one more time before she
retired. I want to make that distinction.
I check out of the hotel and as I walk to the front door, I see
Laura Ramsey and Carrise Brown. Ramsey thanks me for letting her
see and hold the WIBF belt before I gave it to Stacy Prestage.
Sue Fox later tells me that Prestage wants to contact me. I was
not able to talk to her because I went to my hotel room shortly
after the ceremony. If she wants the case for the belt, then I
will mail it to her. I noticed that Prestage’s first name Stacy
was spelled incorrectly as Stacey on her BoxRec record. I
informed BoxRec and it was promptly corrected.
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