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5'9" 130-lb southpaw Doris "The Hammer" Hackl from Pugwash, Nova Scotia,
Canada went 17-0 in local, national and international amateur
competition before winning the IFBA Junior Lightweight
title in her fourth professional fight.
Hackl says she got into boxing as the result of teasing by her husband
and trainer, Rudi. Doris was born in Graz, Austria on 23 Jun 1969 and
moved to Canada from Austria in 1996 with husband Rudy.
During a boxing match Rudy commented to Doris that
the famous female boxer on the card would be too much for her. "That insult
from him is what triggered my interest in the sport", Doris told Truro
reporter Cathy von Kintzel. "I thought about it in the back
of my head ... I knew that I had to prove him wrong."
Doris won her first Canadian national senior title in Edmonton,
Alberta in January 1998, defeating Ontario's Jenny Reid 16-4 in the 57-kg (125½ lb)
preliminaries on January 15, and Quebec's Danielle Bouchard 7-5 in a close
bout for the title on January 17. Correspondent Misty
Shearer told the Women's Boxing Page about Hackl's national title win: "Talk about a height difference!
Doris was the tallest fighter of the tournament.
Doris is tall and has a big reach advantage over Danielle. Doris mainly would
throw straight punches and they were pretty powerful. Danielle had a great
tight defense but had trouble getting in those scoring blows. I thought Danielle
had won this fight because when she did get in she threw lots of combinations.
But the height difference was the thing; she had to reach up to get to Doris."
On January 24, 1999, in the finals of the 1999 Canadian national
championships in Sudbury, Ontario, Doris won the 60-kg (132-lb) title, defeating Nicole Bird
of Ontario by 13-7.
On March 24, 1999 in the first leg of the Canada-Sweden Dual in Sudbury/Azilda, Ontario,
Doris Hackl narrowly defeated Sweden's Erika Långström, 7-6. Three days later, in
the second leg of the same tournament at the Atlas Boxing Club
in Toronto, Doris Hackl won a rematch with Långström by 10-3 (and
was also voted Best Canadian Boxer in the competition.)
On May 19, 1999, the day before her professional debut, she received an award from
Sport Nova Scotia for excellence in amateur sports.
Doris's debut was a six-round barn-burner on May 20, 1999 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
She faced a stiff test in a six-rounder with the
1998/1997 US national amateur 125-lb champion former US champion
Alicia Ashley from Westbury, New York.
Alicia had beaten British kickboxing star Lisa Howarth in her own pro
debut. But Hackl won a hard-fought majority (57-57,58-56,58-56) decision in a razor-close
battle that had the Halifax fans on their feet and dropped Ashley's pro record to
1-1. Alicia Ashley went on to defeat veteran IFBA champion Bonnie Canino in her next
fight.
On September 7, 1999 at the Metro Centre in Halifax,
Doris moved her pro record to 2-0 with a six-round unanimous decision over
Shakurah Witherspoon of Williamsport, Pennsylvania,
who fell to 7-14-1. To Witherspoon's credit, she'll go anywhere to fight anyone,
and has no fear of ranked opponents on their home turf.
On November 10, 1999, again at the Metro Centre in Halifax,
Doris improved her pro record to 3-0 with a TKO at 0:55 in the first
round over Jenny Miller of Bismarck, North Dakota,
who was making her own pro debut. Doris
entered the ring to the tune of "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC
then shook Miller with about a dozen solid left hooks before the rookie's corner
threw in the towel. "When you have someone in trouble, you just have to work,"
said Hackl in a post-fight interview. "Once I landed my first punches, I thought
that she didn't see them coming, that she wasn't able to avoid getting hit, so I
knew I just had to keep on going." Miller said that her team had misjudged Hackl
in accepting the fight after watching tape of Doris's win over Witherspoon, adding
"She's just really good. I shouldn't have gone against a fighter that good.
I got my ass kicked, plain and simple, I wasn't ready for a fight like that.
She just knocked the **** out of me."
Doris was now more than ready to fight the top Americans in her weight
division. She even accepted an offer to fight fearsome junior welterweight
Fredia Gibbs, telling me at the time: "I know I am not heavy enough but
now I can eat and feel good ..." But this deal never came off, and Doris's
debut in the USA eventually came against a US fighter who had also
scared most of her top competition away ... Florida's
Chevelle Hallback.
Doris (left) won the IFBA title over Chevelle Hallback
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mary Ann Owen
On April 26, 2000 at the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner, Louisiana,
Hackl faced Hallback for the IFBA Junior Lightweight title.
(Both Chevelle and her fellow Floridian Melissa Salamone were ranked
above Hackl by the IFBA going into this fight, while we rated Doris #1 in
the featherweight division and Chevelle #1 in the junior lightweight
division!) Hackl's ring skills showed in a close battle that pitted
Hallback's aggression and punching power against Doris's height, defense
and endurance. Hallback was all that Hackl could handle in the early going but
Chevelle appeared to tire in the later going of the ten-rounder
and Hackl pulled out a majority decision win with her stamina and boxing skills
(see the more detailed report by pro boxer Ryan Wissow).
On June 9, 2000 at Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax,
Doris (131 lbs) won by a TKO over Shondell Alfred
(123¼ lbs) of Georgetown, Guyana at 1:14 of the
fourth round. Alfred was now 3-1. "I was satisfied that I was able to get
her out of the ring. That was the minimum I was expecting of myself.
She did me a favor when she was leaning on the ropes, so I could unload the
power punches."
On November 24, 2000 at
the Metro Centre in Halifax,
Doris (129½ lbs) retained her IFBA Junior Lightweight title and
moved to 6-0 with a very hard-fought 10-round split (97-95,97-95,92-98) decision
over Brenda Vickers (130 lbs)
of Tampa, Florida who fell to 4-2. This was a bout that one judge and Brenda
Vickers herself thought she had clearly won with her stiff right jab.
"I kept this woman into my jab, I was having fun, I was having a
great time and I won every round," Vickers told local reporters
after the fight. "She's had many, many more fights, many, many
more years of experience and for the level where I am, I did well.
I really thought I had it won. I don't know (about the decision),
I guess this a lesson I have to learn in boxing."
Vickers would turn out to be Doris's nemesis in their rematch in March, 2002
(see below).
In January 2002, after numerous attempts to get fights with other top-ranked
fighters in her weight class, Doris sent me this open challenge to
Mexico's Laura Serrano (then ranked #1 at Junior
Lightweight division by my computer rankings):
"Serrano's record is based on the
fact that she was always underestimated by her opponents. I do
not underestimate Serrano. I take her seriously as the
fighter she is, but I am going to beat her. If she avoids me
in the future, people may think she is chicken. Serrano, you want
to fight for a title, so come on and show what you got. I am waiting
for you!"
Hackl had originally trained with Taylor and Wayne Gordon at the Citadel Amateur Boxing Club in Halifax.
Taylor Gordon promoted Hackl's IFBA junior lightweight title fight against Brenda Vickers at Metro Centre
and Doris trained with the Gordons through her amateur career.
After the first Vickers fight she switched to working with Rick MacDonald at the East Coast Boxing Academy
in Halifax. MacDonald said that Hackl's biggest attribute was her dedication and strength of will, adding
"She's a good athlete, it's just nobody's ever worked on the technical end with her.
We'll get her a little looser in the ring. She's a nice tall girl for her weight. She's
got nice long arms. Well work on her jab more, parrying off punches and her footwork."
On March 28, 2002 at the Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada,
Doris returned to the ring for a rematch with Brenda Vickers, who had
fought twice since their first bout, losing tough bouts to Tracy Byrd and Corinne VanRyckDeGroot. This time
Brenda (134 lbs) knocked Doris (133 lbs) down in the third, eighth and ninth
rounds on the way to a clear ten-round unanimous decision for the vacant IFBA lightweight
title. Hackl came back from the third-round knockdown to keep
the fight fairly even until Vickers settled matters with two more
solid knockdowns in the late going. Vickers moved well and consistently beat
Hackl to the punch to land heavy leather.
Vickers advanced to
5-4-0 (1 KO) with the win, while Hackl suffered her first loss in 23 pro and
amateur bouts (going 6-1 (2 KO) as a pro).
Hackl immediately announced her retirement from boxing.
Page last updated:
Saturday, 12 November 2022 |
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