HISTORY OF
WOMEN'S BOXING

JULY 2004

(JULY 31) On October 1, 2004, at the The Functions Centre, Southport Sharks Australian Football Club, Cnr Musgrave & Olsen Avenues, Southport, Australia, Sharon Anyos of Australia will be fighting an IBA title bout. Anyos opponent will be named soon!

(JULY 31) A new boxing career for Helga Risoy...Risoy was one of the true pioneers of women boxing in the U.S and the rest of the world, and is now making a career as a boxing trainer in Las Vegas. She is daily to be seen training young talents at famous boxing referee Richard Steele’s gym in Las Vegas. She is also a matchmaker and event coordinator for boxing events in the U.S.

(JULY 31) WBAN has learned this week that IBA world champion Jessica Rakoczy, will be out of commission for fighting until November-December, after suffering torn ligaments on her ankle, and is in a cast!  Team Rakoczy said, “As soon as Jessica's ankle heals properly, she’ll get back in the gym with her trainer Donald House, and continue to prove that she is the most complete female boxer on the planet regardless of weight class..she has evolved. She plans on fighting meaningful fights and gaining increased exposure."  Rakoczy was set to fight Melissa “Honey Girl” Del Valle on the Palace’s next boxing card in Lemoore, California.

(JULY 30)Tonight in Louisville, Kentucky, Laila Ali, 168,  successfully defended her IWBF Super Middle Belt, when she stopped Monica Nunez, 164, 42 seconds, in the ninth round.  Ali had Nunez on the ropes when her corner threw in the towel. 

(JULY 30) Today, the weigh-in took place for tomorrow's card in Tunica, Mississippi. Three of the seven bouts will be women's bouts. Weight: Erin Toughill, 170 vs. Cassandra Geigger, 170 - 8 rds; Alana Alexander, 137 vs. Leonora Jackson, 140 - 4 rds; Christy Nichols, 150 vs. Kim Catlena, 164, 4 rds.. Reported by Valerie Mahfood!

(JULY 30) Last night in Oakland, California, Mia "The Knockout" St. John, now 34-4-2 (15KO), of Los Angeles, California, won a four-round unanimous decision over Talia Smith, now 3-5-0 (3 KO), of Cleveland, Ohio.

(JULY 29) Tonight at the Marriott Hotel, in Irvine, California, on the "Battle in the Ballroom" card, Julie Rubalcava, 2-0-0, with ten prior amateur bouts under her belt, will be facing last minute opponent, Gina Abel, 0-5-0.  It will probably be an easy night for Rubalcalva, as Abel has been stopped in four of her five fights so far as a pro....Sue TL Fox

(JULY 28)  Paul Brown, Tonya Harding manager-trainer is in the process of protesting Harding's last fight that took place on June 25, 2004,  in Edmonton, Canada, against Amy Johnson.  Brown showed the tape to the Edmonton Sun, and after Scott Zerr of the Sun viewed the tape, he wrote, “The planned protest of the outcome of the Amy Johnson/Tonya Harding fight could have some..

(JULY 28) WBAN was contacted by Sarah Goodson, in regards to her upcoming fight against Stephanie "All Action" Dobbs.  A rarity to say the least, instead of the standard "Trash Talk" that seems to be more of the norm in this sport, Goodson wrote to WBAN, "I am just wanting to say.....

(JULY 28) WBAN has received a request to put a call out for women boxers for the hit reality show "Blind Date". They would like to interview women boxers for their sixth season. All participants must be single, 21 or over and in the Southern California area.  Anyone interested should call Paress Salinas at 323.954.2035 or send a current photo and contact info to

(JULY 27) Maybe it’s the “red carpet treatment” Mia Rosales St. John often receives at award ceremonies or perhaps the numerous magazine photo shots she’s partaken, but many critics forget the female fighter known as the “Knockout” has a family to raise.  St. John is scheduled to fight Yvonne Chavez in Oakland this Thursday in a six-round fight. It’s her first fight since undergoing the knife for an undisclosed injury. She doesn’t want to give opponents an advantage by revealing where the operation took place. 

RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIFORNIA-It was expected to be a bruising test of wills between two young fighters Melinda Cooper and Johanna Pena Alvarez, but resulted in a clinch fest for six rounds.  Cooper won a unanimous decision against Pena Alvarez (15-3-2) before a sold out crowd of more than 700 at Agua Caliente Casino, but would have preferred settling it with her fists in a more dramatic fashion.
©Photos by Mary Ann Owen of BILV  Full Story

(JULY 23)  Elecia Battle, the woman who got hammered by the law for falsely claiming she won the winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, will be trying her hand at boxing  on August 27, 2004, at the Cleveland Convention Center, in Cleveland, Ohio.  Battle, who is fighting under the name of “Mega Battle Bad Girl” will pro debut against an opponent not yet announced.  Miss “Mega” is also making challenges to Laila She Bee Stingin’ Ali-----even though she has yet to step in the ring professionally as a boxer.  Mega Battle Bad Girl, may be suffering from  a “Mega imagination.”  Mega DID  imagine that she was the lottery winner, when she filed a false police report for 162 Million bucks…More

Vonda Ward’s is hoping to turn a nightmare into a dream.
Ward is tentatively scheduled back in the ring Dec. 10 at Gund Arena in Cleveland, according to her manager Ed King, in an IBA Heavyweight title defense. No official opponent has been named, but one newspaper account has indicated Monica McGowan is a possible foe. Full Story

(JULY 19) Agile, mobile and hostile was the intentionally alliterative description that Alonzo S. "Jake" Gaither, that wonderful gentleman and legendary football coach at Florida A&M, used to describe the qualities he looked for "in his boys." Those qualities are also extremely helpful in assessing a good fighter.  Laila Ali is agile, mobile and hostile in the ring and those attributes were on display Saturday night, on a PPV telecast from Bowie, MD, as she dismantled a game, but decidedly, overmatched Nikki Eplion.   Full Story

(JULY 17) Tonight in Bowie, Maryland, and televised on Pay-Per-View, Laila 'She Bee Stingin'' Ali,, 167 ¼, now 17-0-0 (14KO),  successfully defended her IBA 168-lb World Super-middleweight title, and stopped Nikki Eplion,,167 ¾,  in the fourth round after Eplion was knocked down to the canvas four times between the third and fourth rounds.  Ali’s superior boxing skills and aggressive style were too much for the much slower Eplion.  Eplion did come to fight this night, she just did not bring the arsenal to compete with someone the caliber of Ali.  Ali’s next fight will be on the undercard of the Mike Tyson card set for July 30, 2004, in Louisville, Kentucky---but after having two opponents fall out, they are still negotiating with some potential boxers for that card. Five times world champion,  Isra “The Raging Beauty” Girgrah who was not only one of the promoters of this event also doubled as a commentator on this card!

Anxious to get back in the ring, Elena “Baby Doll” Reid would literally cross an ocean for a fight.  Reid, 22, the number one ranked-junior bantamweight, will meet Regina Halmich, Germany’s darling and owner of the IWBF junior bantamweight world title on September 12, in Germany.  “I’m overly excited,” said Reid (14-1-4, 4 KOs), who now lives and trains in Las Vegas. “I’m already training for it. It’s at 112 which I can get down.” 

(JULY 15) On Saturday, July 17, 2004 on the “Clash of Hurricanes” (Choque de Huracanes) card, at the La cancha Pepin Cestero, de Bayamón, Puerto Rico,  in the co-main event, Yahaira Bonilla will take on Yahaira Martinez of Puerto Rico, in an eight-rounder, that will be a local title bout.

(JULY 15) Adriana Chamoza traveled to Ciudad Acuña just across from Del Rio on the Texas/Mexico border, confident (she said) that the judges up there were fair and wouldn’t allow themselves to be swayed by the crowd getting behind the local girl, Rocío Vásquez. Whether she still thought that when she came face to face with Vásquez is doubtful. It must have smelt like an ambush. Instead of the ‘dumpy, right-handed fighter without much technique’, she’d been promised, Vásquez turned out to be tall and wiry with good technique, and for good measure... 

(JULY 10 ) Last night in Vinné, Slovakia, Krisztina Belinszky (48,10kg), of Hungary, won by KO in the fourth round against Blanca Placiemutova (51,30kg) of Slovakia in a rematch, in a scheduled six-rounder junior flyweight division. Placiemutov was down for a count in each round.  At the beginning of the fourth round, Belinszky made her mark with a beautiful left jab, followed by a right uppercut and left hook combination. The ref counted out Placiemutova. Belinszky is now 7-4-2 (4KO). Placiemutova fell to 0-2-0.  

(JULY 5) Boxing fans have definitely heard it before, that slight air of amazement which seems to involuntarily slip into an announcer's description of a bout between two quality female fighters. It happened again last Friday night on ESPN 2 as Joe Tessitore did the blow-by-blow of an exciting ten round bout between Chevelle Hallback and Layla McCarter for Hallback's junior ...Full Story

NEWS ARCHIVE
BACK TO WBAN!