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Brooke Dierdorff Featherweight Brooke "No Mercy" Dierdorff was
born on June 15, 1981, in Canton, Illinois. She grew up as the youngest of
three in a small town - Somonauk, Illinois - and graduated from Somonuk High
School in 1999.
Brooke participated in basketball, volleyball, softball, and track
throughout school. She was offered a scholarship to play basketball
at Northen Illinois University but instead joined the U.S. Army after high school in 2000.
Dierdorff was enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years. While serving in the
Army she attended a female fight and became interested in the sport of
boxing. She was released from the Army and returned home to Illinois
where she began training at Jessie
(The) Torres Boxing Gym in Aurora, Illinois in October 2004.
Dierdorff competed in the Women's Chicago Golden Gloves Nationals in October
2004 and took second place in the 138-lb open division despite never
having competed before. After the National Tournament Dierdorff met
Sam Colonna from Windy City Gym and began training with him, traveling the hour and a half drive to Chicago.
.
Dierdorff took first place in the 125-lb division at the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament in May 2005
and then competed in 7 shows throughout Chicago, moving her amateur record
to 10-1.
In November 2005 she competed once again in the Women's Chicago Golden
Gloves Nationals and took second place competing three days in a row. She beat
two top contenders who were ranked 2nd and 3rd, but lost by decision in the
finals.
In 2006 Dierdorff again competed in the Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament
taking first place.
On September 1, 2006 she won her pro debut at the Par-A-Dice
Casino in East Peoria, Illinois, weighing in at 122½ lbs and TKO'ing Geboria Mayfield
(5'5½",122½ lbs) of Columbus, Mississippi at 1:34 in the second round of a scheduled
four-rounder. Mayfield fell to 1-1 with the loss.
On January 26, 2007
at the Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois, promoted by Eight Count and
Golden Boy Promotions, Dierdorff (123½ lbs) TKO’d Mercedes Mercury (127 lbs) of
Centennial, Colorado at 1:05 in the
fourth round of a scheduled four round bout. Mercury fell to 3-9-0 with the
loss.
On April 7, 2007 at the Par-A-Dice Casino in Peoria,
Illinois, Dierdorff (130½ lbs) brutalized DJ Morrison (132 lbs) of Billings, Montana from the opening bell
until the bout was stopped at 1:12 of the first round of the scheduled four
Dierdorff raised her record to 3-0 (3 KO's) while Morrison fell to 0-2.
This same month on April 20,
2007, at the Star Plaza Theater, in Merrillville, Indiana, Dierdorff (129
lbs) pulled
an upset when she beat seasoned veteran Mia St.John (136½ lbs). Dierdorff won by a six-round split decision (judges scores 59-55 (St. John) ,
59-55, 58-56 (Dierdorff). Dierdorff came out very aggressively in the early rounds,
while St. John whose left eye was nearly swollen shut, finished the fight
strong. Dierdorff earned an
honorable mention with WBAN as fighter of the month for this win.
"I took that fight on four
days notice after Rita Figueroa got hurt and had to drop out", Brooke
later
told
WBAN correspondent Bernie McCoy. "I didn't have time to properly train and
make weight but I still thought I won easily. There was a lot of talk about
how I got a 'hometown' decision. The fact is I live in Illinois and the
fight was in Indiana, and the truth is that Mia was the attraction that
night, she was the 'house' fighter. She even came into the ring wearing the
promoter's logo ... I won that first bout straight up."
Villarreal vs Dierdorff in July 2007
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mary Ann Owen
On July 2,
2007, Elizabeth Villerreal Moreno (126¾
lbs) from San Antonio, Texas
met Dierdorff
(123½ lbs)
at
Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California for a six-round
featherweight bout that was scheduled to be televised. The fight was
declared a technical draw and stopped after its second round from
an accidental headbutt that took place in the first round.
In a second fight with Mia St. John, that took
place in 2009, she once again defeated the veteran boxer with an eight round
unanimous decision (76-77, 78-76, 77-75) winning the WBC International
lightweight title. On January 29, 2010 Brooke married her trainer/manager Chris Milbrook.
Dierdorff (L) vs Mary McGee in February 2010 Courtesy photo/Dierdorff
In another noted bout in her opponent home ground on February 26, 2010 at the Hammond Civic Center in Hammond, Indiana, Brooke
(133 lbs) won a six-round unanimous (58-56,58-56,58-56) decision over
previously unbeaten local favorite Mary McGee (136 lbs) of Gary, Indiana. The
loss dropped McGee to 17-1 (10 KO's).
The win over McGee earned Dierdorff WBAN's Fighter of the Month award for March
2010.
Other highlights of Dierdorff's boxing career was fighting top
female boxers, Jeannine Garside, Alicia Ashley, Olivia Gerula and more. She
often fought in her opponent's backyard to keep active.
Dierdorff attended college full time at Colorado Technical University
On-Line and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
in 2007.
Dierdorff fought from 2006 to 2011 as a professional boxer.
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