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5'3" junior lightweight
"Lethal" Lindsay Garbatt (b. Sept 25 1982) was born and raised in
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada and now lives in Canada's "Motor City",
Oshawa, Ontario. She has always been an enthusiastic athlete, involved
in basketball, hockey, rugby, wrestling, martial arts and boxing.
She played varsity soccer and basketball at Durham College
but switched to boxing when she left school.
She had lifted weights for her
bodybuilding hobby since she was 15. “When
Lindsay came to us three years ago, she was in great shape,”
says
Don Nelson, her coach and head of the Motor
City Boxing Club in Whitby.
“But she had to be trained to
box. We spent some time with her and she really took to it well. I
think she hadn’t even come into her own as an amateur. She is starting
to come into it as a professional. Her skills are developing more as a
boxer. She’s
physically strong which doesn’t necessarily translate into boxing.
Being well built doesn’t necessarily make you a good boxer. Training,
dedication and a clean lifestyle has made her better. Mentally, this is
something she really wants to do. She wants to be a champion and she’s
willing to do whatever it takes to get there.”
Garbatt had a 12-4 record as
an amateur boxer, with seven wins coming by knockout.
She made her pro debut on
August 15 2007 at Frontier Field in Rochester, NY, USA, weighting in
at 123¾ lbs and losing a four-round majority
(38-38,38-39,37-39) decision to Ela Nunez (126 lbs) of
Jamestown, NY. The Rochester News reported
that "Both women mixed it up from
start to finish in the four round event, with Nunez coming away with a
majority decision - two judges calling the fight for Nunez and one
calling it a draw. Nearly everyone on press row thought it should have
been a draw, with Garbatt winning rounds 2 and 4, while Nunez carried
the first and third. The crowd voiced their displeasure, raining down a
chorus of boos after the decision. Nunez improved to 3-2, but Garbatt
was clearly the crowd favorite and should have a bright future in the
ring. Both fighters displayed some of the best technical boxing of the
entire evening, a tribute to their dedication and the skill of their
trainers."
Lindsay says
of this fight "(It) was
a good opportunity to prove myself. She’s a great fighter and my coach
Don Nelson felt it would be a good match up for me because we were
unknown and might pull off an upset. Regardless it was an opportunity
to jump right into the rankings. It was a great fight, although I lost
it was entertaining and the fans enjoyed it." Nunez moved
her record to 4-2 (0 KO's) with that win.
On March 5, 2008 at the
Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, Lindsay Garbatt (123 lbs)
notched her first pro win when she KO'd debut fighter Tracy Hutt (120
lbs) of Island Park, NY in the final round of a scheduled four-rounder.
A WBAN correspondent at ringside told
us that "Hutt
was pretty quick, had good flurries, not with a lot of power,
good side to side footwork, crouched down low occasionally. Her style
seemed to give Garbatt troubles. Garbatt was more hittable with her
head less mobile, but she was strong, determined, took a good shot, was
in very good shape with a rock solid body, and a strong punch. It was a
close and competitive fight. The first 3 rounds were tough to score.
Garbatt might actually have been getting outboxed and down a round
going into the 4th, but came out very aggressively and jumped on Hutt
with two really strong rights on the chin that dropped her. Hutt could
not get up, despite her best efforts." [Video]
Lindsay Garbatt vs Lucia Larcinese July 2008
© Copyrighted photo by Durell Wambolt
On July 19, 2008 at the Quinte
Sports Center in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, Lindsay Garbatt (125½
lbs) TKO'd Lucia Larcinese (127 lbs) of Montreal, Quebec at 1:10 in the
final round of a scheduled four-rounder.Larcinese
fell to 0-2 with this loss, but strongly protested the TKO stoppage in
a letter
to WBAN.
On November 19, 2008 at
the OnCenter in Syracuse, NY, USA Lindsay Garbatt (125½ lbs)
lost an eight-round unanimous decision in a rematch
with Ela Nunez (124½ lbs) of Jamestown, NY.
Nunez improved to 9-4 (2 KO's) with that second win.
On August 1, 2009 at Mohegan
Sun Resort
in Uncasville, Connecticut, USA, Lindsay Garbatt (128 lbs) TKO'd Maureen Shea (126¼ lbs) of New York at
1:52 of the seventh round in a scheduled eight rounder.
Lindsay Garbatt vs Ayana Pelletier in November 2009
© Copyrighted photo by Mary Ann Owen
On November 13, 2009 at the
Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Lindsay Garbatt
(134¼
lbs) won a six-round unanimous decision over Ayana Pelletier (135¼ lbs)
of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Pelletier fell to 6-2 (3 KO's) with the
loss. For
more of Mary Ann Owen's
photos of this fight, see MPEG/Photo
Gallery #514
on the WBAN Records
Member Site.
On April 24, 2010 at the
Fuller Lake Arena in
Duncan, British Columbia, Canada, Jeannine Garside (125¼ lbs) of Windsor, Ontario TKO'd
Lindsay Garbatt (123 lbs) at 1:24 in the third round of a
scheduled ten-rounder for the vacant WIBA Featherweight title. Garside
was cut in the first round by a punch from Garbatt but Garbatt was
knocked down three times in the third round. The referee stopped the
bout after the third knockdown when Garbatt was unable to stand before
the count was completed. As reported
by Ashley Gaudreault of the Cowichan News Leader, "Garside
fans were a bit worried after Garbatt landed a strong punch and cut
Garside above her right eye in the first round. She was showing blood
but that didn’t dissuade her. Garside exploded in the second round. She
landed some great punches and then dominated the third round, knocking
Garbatt off her feet more than once. The final fall was the last for
Garbatt. Though Garside admitted she felt the worry from spectators
after being cut, she stayed focused and kept firing back. 'I trained
really hard for this. I trained for 10 rounds,' she said."
With the
win Garside, fighting in her original home town, reclaimed the world
title she had lost in a highly controversial decision in Sarajevo,
Bosnia-Herzegovina in December 2008. Garbatt suffered the first
stoppage loss of her career as Garside improved to 9-3-1
(3 KO's). [Video]
Asked about her loss to
Garside, Garbatt told
Gerry O'Neill on kocosports.com:
"
... It was dreadful, I usually go into fights thinking I'm
unstoppable, that has probably been the toughest part of my career is
just getting myself ready mentally. I went into that fight
feeling great and then to
take a step back after getting knocked out, it was just brutal, but
then when the next opportunity came up to face Melissa (Hernandez), I
told Don (Nelson) I wanted to get back on top and I felt I needed
to fight then best in the world in order to do that."
On
June 5, 2010 at the National Guard Armory in Evansville, Indiana,
Lindsay
Garbatt (131 lbs) won an eight-round
majority (76-76,78-74,78-74) decision over Melissa
Hernandez (131 lbs) of New York City.
Hernandez fell to 12-2-2 with the loss. "I didn't
overlook
Lindsay," Hernandez
told
WBAN correspondent Bernie McCoy in a post-fight interview. "She
(Garbatt) did
her homework and came to the fight totally prepared. I thought I fought
hard enough to get a decision or at least a draw, but I won't take
anything away from her, she got the ' W.' It was a good fight and now
it's time to get back to work, time to get back to my roots. First
thing is a rematch with Garbatt and I've been calling my manager every
day to get it done."
On
October 16, 2010 at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Bernalillo,
New Mexico, in the main event, Lindsay Garbatt and Melissa
Hernandez fought to a 10-round majority draw in a rematch of
their June
2010 bout, this time for the vacant GBU, WIBA, and WBAN Junior
Lightweight belts. The judges' scores were 95-95, 95-95, and 98-92 for Hernandez Hernandez
moved her pro record to 14-2-3 (5 KO's) while Garbatt progressed to
5-3-1 (3 KO's).
On
November 10, 2010 at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Lindsay
Garbatt (129¾ lbs) won a ten-round split (93-97,96-94,96-94)
decision
over Jelena Mrdjenovich
(129½ lbs) of Edmonton for the vacant WIBA Junior
Lightweight title.
Garbatt's nose was
broken in the second round, and she later said "I felt the blow and I felt the
blood gushing out of my face. I've never had that full-out
broken nose before. You don't feel anything in the fight, but when I
was going back to the corner to get the water, I was kind of
suffocating and I couldn't understand why, but it was because my nose
was full of blood." Mrdjenovich fell to 24-6-1 (12 KO's) with the loss.
WBAN named Lindsay its
"Fighter of the Month" in December 2010 for her win over Jelena
Mrdjenovich and the "Best-Kept Secret in
Womens Boxing" for 2010, with the citation "Garbatt
is not only one of the best fighters we have seen in the sport --- but
her fights are nothing less than fantastic. She has no
problem in taking on the likes of Jeannine Garside and Melissa
Hernandez (twice). She is highly skilled, tough, exciting to
watch in the ring --- and boxing fans who do not know her yet --- when
they
see her fight, they will not forget her!."
Jelena Mrdjenovich vs Lindsay Garbatt in
Barrie, Ont
Feb 4, 2011
© Copyrighted photo by Durell Wambolt
On February 4, 2011 at the Molson Centre in Barrie,
Ontario, Canada, WIBA Junior Lightweight champion Lindsay Garbatt (129¾
lbs) defeated Jelena Mrdjenovich (128¾
lbs) by a ten-round
majority
decision. The judges’ scores were 96-95, 96-94 for Garbatt
and 95-95.
Rick Mclean
told WBAN that "Both
ladies picked up where they had left off in
their previous fight as each went right at the other landing hard
combinations in a tit for tat battle in the early rounds ...
In rounds two through five Mrdjenovich was able to land solid straight
right hands to the head of the champion however Garbatt would respond
right back by landing good hooks to the her (head) and body on the
inside.
These were incredibly difficult rounds to score. In
the sixth round Mrdjenovich got a bad cut over her left eye that was
caused by a right punch. Garbatt battered Mrdjenovich around the ring
for most of the round however Jelena was able to score but only with
only one punch at a time usually just enough to keep Garbatt off of
(her). Mrdjenovich’s face (was) a crimson mask throughout the seventh
round
but she fought right through it taking the fight to Garbatt in what was
her best round of the fight. Garbatt took the eighth round with steady
pressure and a high volume of punches while Jelena threw punches back
but would then hold on a lot. Rounds
nine and ten were an absolute toe to toe war as both fighters chopped
away at each other’s head and body. Both fighters landed hard crowd
pleasing punches and neither took a step back. The judges did get the
decision right however as Garbatt did do more than enough to earn the
decision." Garbatt
improved her record to 7-3-1 (3 KO’s) while Mrdjenovich
dropped to 24-7-1 (12 KO’s). For more of Durell Wambolt's
photos of this fight, see MPEG/Photo
Gallery #528
on the WBAN Records
Member Site.
Lindsay was named WBAN's "Fighter of the Month" in
March 2011 for her win over Jelena Mrdjenovich.
On September 24, 2011 at Grand Star Receptions in
Altona North, Victoria, Australia, Diana Prazak (128¾ lbs)
of
Australia won the WIBA Junior Lightweight title by a TKO over Lindsay
Garbatt (128 lbs) between the ninth and the tenth rounds.
According to Aus-Boxing.com,
"Prazak
was in trouble early and given a count in round 1 but toughed it out
and began to take control through the middle rounds. 'Dirty Di' worked
away at the face of Garbatt and the fight was stopped after the 9th
when Lindsay's eye closed over and the doctor called an end."
Prazak, who was the PABA and WIBA International Jr
Lightweight champion, improved to 9-1-0 (7 KO's) while
Garbatt
fell to 7-4-1 (3 KO's).
On March 23, 2012 at
the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada the third time was a charm for Jelena Mrdjenovich (126
lbs) of Edmonton as she stopped
Lindsay Garbatt (126 lbs) by TKO at 1:45 of the opening round to take
the
vacant WBC Featherweight title and retain the WIBA Featherweight belt.
Mrdjenovich
emphatically erased her two prior close losses to Garbatt by taking
command of the fight from the
opening bell and scoring three knockdowns in quick succession.
Mrdjenovich improved her record to 26-8-1 (13 KO's) with this win
On August 31, 2012 at Dover Downs
Hotel and Casino in Dover, Delware, USA local fan
favorite Ronica Jeffrey of Brooklyn, NY won a ten-round
unanimous (98-92,98-92,97-93) decision over Lindsay Garbatt for the
vacant WBC Silver Junior Lightweight title. The hard
fought bout was the card's main event and took place
before a large crowd of cheering fans.
Jeffrey has fought at Dover Downs in all but three of
her eleven pro bouts and has been adopted as a fan favorite. Garbatt
chased the back pedaling Jeffrey who countered with jab after jab and
stopped long enough to deliver combination after combination to get the
judges' decision. Jeffrey improved her record to 11-0 (1 KO)
with the win while Garbatt dropped to 7-6-1 (3 KO's). with her third straight loss
Garbatt works full time as a security guard at the
Pickering, Ontario nuclear power station, a position that also
allows her to train hard for her boxing career. She also
plays in a women's (ice) hockey league.
Asked
what she would change in women's boxing if she could, Garbatt says "I would just like to see it grow
and I believe it is. The shows that I have seen the female fights are
getting a lot of appreciation the fans seem to really enjoy them,
perhaps more than a lot of the men’s bouts and that’s what will change
things. It’s a case of giving people what they want and the women in
boxing these days are stepping it up for sure."
Page
last updated: Sunday, September 2, 2012
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