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Photo
Credit: Dalia Duran/International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame Event,
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - July 2014
5'6" junior welterweight Lucia "Rijker-Striker" Rijker of Holland, now living in Los
Angeles, California, may be the world's most dangerous female fighter on a
pound-for-pound basis. She has been
referred to as “The Most Dangerous Woman in the World,” and “Queen of Lightning”.
Born in Amsterdam on December 7, 1967, Rijker began training in judo at the age of six.
At seven, she became a member of the Dutch National Softball Team. At thirteen,
she took up fencing and won the Amsterdam championship, going on to
become the Netherlands' junior champion.
Claressa Shields hugs Lucia Rijker right after Rijker was inducted into the
International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame in July of 2014. Shields also
came up to the podium and spoke to the audience at the IWBHF Event.
Photo Credit: Dalia Duran
Rijker began kickboxing at age 15, studying in the gym of Johan Vas, one
of the most respected training facilities in Holland and training
primarily with male kickboxing, boxing and
judo champions. She burst into
prominence in the kickboxing world in her
sixth match on January 15, 1984 ... disabling veteran American champion
Lilly
Rodriguez (sister of then world champion kickboxer Benny "The Jet" Urquidez)
just 30 seconds into a scheduled five-round fight with powerful kicks to the legs.
Rijker gained an international reputation as a kickboxer, fighting in Europe and
Japan. She defeated then-world titleholder Cheryl Wheeler of the USA by decision
in Amsterdam on October 6 1985 (and is considered responsible for helping to persuade Cheryl to retire, by
breaking her nose in that fight!) She also defeated French champion Nancy Joseph in three rounds, Master Toddy's British
star Ann Holmes in 30 seconds in Amsterdam on April 26, 1986, and the skilled French kickboxer
Daniëlle Rocard in just 15 seconds in Arnhem on February 14, 1988.
Bonnie Canino lasted a full seven rounds against Lucia in a clinch-filled affair but lost the decision, while
Valérie Henin was dispatched by her in four rounds in Amsterdam
on November 8, 1987 (though not
without a struggle).
Lucia eventually amassed a 36-0 (25 KO) record as a kickboxer, and won four different
world titles. Her only defeat in a kickboxing ring was in a Muay
Thai style exhibition match at Sporthalle Zuid in Amsterdam in October 1994,
when Lucia fought
male Thai boxer Somchai Jaidee, who knocked her out in the second round.
It was time for something new ... regular boxing ...
In Amsterdam on June 19, 1988, she had knocked out Vivien Gonzalez of the USA in the third round
of a scheduled 12-round boxing match.
Her pro boxing career resumed on March 21, 1996 at Los Angeles' Grand Olympic
Auditorium, where she made her US boxing debut by knocking out Melinda Robinson of Austin,
Texas at 1:37 in the first round. Rijker quickly rendered
Robinson helpless with several rights and left hooks. One minute into the
fight, she knocked Robinson down with a flurry of blows that opened a cut
above the Texan's left eye. After a standing eight count gave Robinson some
breathing space, Rijker put her away with a combination of uppercuts followed
by a left hook to the jaw. Robinson, who fought (and lost) to Christy Martin
twice,
has been quoted as saying that Christy Martin's hardest punches don't
even compare to Rijker's softest blows!
Lucia TKO'd Kelly Jacobs of Kansas City in the first round in Reno, Nevada on December
6, 1996.
Rijker then decided to go
back to Holland and test her boxing skills further. She
defeated Zsuzsanna Szuknai of Hungary by a first round TKO in
Rotterdam on December
17, 1996 (Szuknai has since fought in amateur competitions in Europe!)
and captured the WIBF European Championship from
Irma Verhoef of Holland with a fourth round TKO in Rotterdam on February 4,
1997.
Now confident in her abilities as a pro boxer, Rijker was hungry for a championship
fight in the United States.
On a March 22, 1997 pay-per-view event
at Meorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi, Texas, Rijker knocked out then-novice (1-0) Chevelle Hallback
of Tampa, Florida in the fifth round. Chevelle later told me that she had no idea that she would be fighting someone
of Rijker's background and experience when she accepted this fight contract. On May 14, 1997, Rijker
fought gritty Dora Webber of Paterson, NJ in Ledyard Connecticut and won a sixth-round
unanimous (60-54 x 3) decision.
Webber, a veteran of tough bouts in the mid-1980's,
was heavier and strong, but gave away ten years, basic skills,
speed and power to Rijker.
After this first points win of her pro boxing career,
Lucia said it was a new experience being in the
ring with a heavier woman who liked to fight inside. She also stated her
interest in fighting Christy Martin.
On June 14, 1997 at Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, Rijker did
away with a very game but outclassed Gwen Smith by a TKO with 1:10
left in the fourth round.
Lucia then defeated Andrea DeShong by a third-round TKO
in Las Vegas on September 13.
Lucia (136 lbs) won the WIBF
Super Lightweight title in her ninth pro fight when she
easily defeated Germany's Jeanette Witte (135½ lbs) by third-round TKO in Los Angeles
on November 20, 1997. The fight was stopped by the referee at 1:25 in the
third after a bloodied Witte was knocked down.
The Rijker's undefeated record and clearly superior skills and abilities
made her
the subject of television specials by ABC’s Wide World of
Sports and HBO’s Boxing Series, and more talk of a superfight with
Christy Martin, who was then the icon of women's boxing to the
sports media in the USA.
Lucia Rijker's next fight was the first women's bout to be seen on prime time network
TV in the USA (albeit in a "death slot" opposite the Academy Awards). Weighing in at
139½ lbs, she TKO'd former WIBF super welterweight champion Mary Ann Almager
(140 lbs) at 1:03 of
the first round on March 23, 1998 at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, CT. Almager,
a 5'9" southpaw with a solid record (9-1 with 7 KO's) had been seen as an
opponent who might test Lucia, but it was not to be. Almager seemed nervous and
had been out of the ring since her bloody defeat by Valerie
Henin Wiet; she was also coming off knee surgery and had difficulty
making weight for the bout. Lucia drove her into a corner with her first concerted attack,
and decked her with a short left hook below the ear. The referee stopped
the contest when Almager got up looking dazed. Lucia's post-fight interview was
as long as the action ... she used it to make her disdain for Christy Martin
painfully clear!
On June 25, 1998, again at Foxwoods Casino, Lucia (137 lbs) won a fourth-round
TKO over Lisa Ested (141 lbs) of Virginia.
Lucia
(137½ lbs) won the IBO Women's (WIBO) Junior Welterweight title when she TKO'd Marcela Acuña
(135¼ lbs) of Argentina in the fifth round
at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT on September 25, 1998 (picture at right).
Acuña fell to 0-2, her other pro fight being a loss to Christy Martin. (She has
since fought more successfully as a featherweight!)
On April 18, 1999 at Miccosukee Indian Gaming in Miami, Florida, Lucia (141 lbs)
a third-round TKO of veteran Britt Van Buskirk
(145 lbs) of Carbondale, Illinois, who took the fight a two days' notice.
On August 28, 1999 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada,
Lucia (138 lbs) won by a TKO of former WIBF welterweight champion Diana Dutra
(139 lbs) of Vancouver, Canada at 1:23 of the third round.
Lucia
Rijker disappeared from public view after this fight, for what now apears to
have been a mix of boxing and other reasons, and her reputation was diminished
after she
canceled several fight opportunities.
Lucia's
manager Stan Hoffman also revealed in an
interview
with Katherine Dunn that Rijker suffered a broken
eardrum in her fight with Diana Dutra. Her association with promoter
Bob Arum severed (Arum preferring to promote the more superficial talents of Mia
St. John, who was fighting four-rounders). With talk of male-female boxing
also in the air at the time, Stan Hoffman suggested that Lucia might fight a man
in a "handicapped" bout.
Lucia was slated to fight in the co-Main Event on
an America Presents card in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on December 5th,
1999.
Numerous sources told me that Denise Moraetes, who
had been seeking a match with Rijker for over a year, also signed a contract for
the fight. But Moraetes was told on November 29 that the match was off,
making it the third time that a Rijker-Moraetes bout had been shelved at short
notice.
In 2000 she became the subject of a new flurry of publicity ... see the article
Rijker's Island by boxing writer Katherine
Dunn in the New York Times Magazine,
and the reports of a fracas at the LA Boxing Club where Lucia got into a public
fist fight and wrestling match with Christy Martin in what many observers saw as
a staged lead-up to their long-awaited ring tussle.
On February 16, 2002 at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut,
Rijker finally returned to competition after a more than two-year absence with a fourth-round TKO of Shakurah Witherspoon of Williamsport, Pennsylvania
in a scheduled six-round lightweight bout. Witherspoon, who took the fight at short
notice after one scheduled Rijker
opponent pulled out and a second tested pregnant, was in survival mode for most
of the fight as Rijker attacked her with hard hooks to the body. Witherspoon went
to the canvas from a right hook in the third round and dropped to her knees
midway through the fourth, prompting the stoppage by referee Michael Ortega. Witherspoon fell to 9-27-1 (4 KO's).
On June 21, 2003 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California,
Lucia (138 lbs) reappeared again (after several more false alarms) to post a unanimous shut
out (80-72,80-72,80-72) eight-round decision over a game
Jane Couch (140 lbs) of
Fleetwood, UK. Rijker looked confident and fought most of the bout with her hands down,
while peppering Couch with strong rights, stiff jabs and vicious uppercuts. Couch stayed
in front of Rijker the whole way and made her pay for her hands-low stance
occasionally when she connected with hard shots of her own, some of which stunned Rijker.
Rijker landed two powerful rights to Couch's head with about 30 seconds left in
the seventh round, and when the bell sounded Couch appeared to have trouble
locating her own corner.
Rijker advanced to 16-0-0 (14 KO)
while Couch dropped to
20-5-0 (8 KO).
On May 20, 2004 at the Arena in Amsterdam, Holland, Lucia (134¼ lbs) won a
ten-round unanimous decision over IFBA welterweight champion Sunshine Fettkether
(138½ lbs) of Mesa, Arizona.
At the peak of Lucia's boxing activity
In the late 1990's, matching her with boxing's (then)
most-publicized woman, Christy Martin, looked like the one "superfight"
that might move the sport up to a new level in publicity (and
in compensation to the boxers, which still had a long way to go to match
the men's sport). At this time, the Martin vs. Rijker match looked intriguing because Martin could
probably have tested Rijker's defense and chin more than any of her previous opponents, and Lucia had had some problems with Chevelle Hallback's hard-charging style early in their
fight. However, the Martin camp apparently felt there was too much to
lose in this matchup.
On March 10 1997, when both were interviewed for HBO's Real Sports. Martin questioned Rijker's status as a female,
and implied that Rijker's
phenomenal physical condition was enhanced by
supplements. It never became clear whether this charge was a try at hyping a
future "grudge match"
or Martin searching for excuses for not fighting Rijker.
In 1998, the WIBF offered a $1.5 million purse for a Rijker-Martin match,
but only Lucia was willing to sign the contract. Martin balked at splitting the
purse with Rijker, saying that she (Martin) would be the drawing card for the
fight. Lucia then offered to fight "winner take all", but there was still no
deal.
Both fighters missed the opportunity to clash while they were at their peak,
bypassing the major payday that their fight might have
produced. Only after Martin had been supplanted by Laila Ali as
the sport's media icon, and after a period of prolonged inactivity (and repeated fight
cancellations) by Rijker, did the promotional stars align in favor of the Martin vs. Rijker
matchup. The key was Rijker's role as an advisor and as an on-screen
villain in 2005's Oscar-winning movie "Million Dollar Baby". This sparked more
interest in women's boxing and brought some media attention back to Lucia.
Bob Arum decided it was time to strike while the buzz was hot and parlayed the
"winner take all" idea into "Million Dollar Lady", a deal whereby both fighters
would be guaranteed $250,000 but the winner would earn an extra $750,000 to make
the first infividual million dollar payout in women's sport history. While close
to the deal that had failed to turn into a Martin-Rijker fight in 1997, it
brought Rijker and Martin to sign a contract for a bout in Las Vegas on July 30,
2005.
Lucia was the subject of an award-winning
documentary film about Women's Boxing,
"Shadow Boxers" by Katya Bankowski, released in 2000.
New Yorker writer Hilton Als called it
"as visually stunning as it is politically important, witty and
humane" and the Vancouver (Canada) Sun said that "Shadow Boxers is a
subtle achievement in filmmaking that reaches far beyond the screen."
Lucia was inducted into the
International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in
July of 2014.
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