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Roosevelt, Utah native Summer DeLeon, shown above with trainer
Livingston Bramble, lives in St.George, Utah.
Summer began boxing as an amateur. She competed in the 1998 USA Boxing/Everlast
National Senior Championships at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California,
and lost by a 10-3 decision to eventual titlist LeKeia Coffen in the
preliminaries on May 28. (Coffen won the title by disqualification over
Ann Wolfe). Summer made her pro debut on July 11, 1998 at the Hilton in Reno, Nevada,
losing a four-round unanimous decision to light-heavyweight
Brenda Bell Drexel from Seguin, Texas who advanced her own pro record to 1-1.
On October 17, 1998 at the Casa Blanca Resort in Mesquite, Nevada,
Summer weighed in at 151 lbs and evened her pro record at 1-1
by winning a four-round unanimous decision over
Heidi Tibe (152 lbs) of Las Vegas (who fell to 2-4 as a pro boxer).
On April 9, 1999 at the Pechanga Center in Temecula, California,
she won a four-round unanimous decision over
Dawn George of Lowell, Massachusetts, who fell to 3-4-1 with the loss.
On March 6, 1999, fighting in front of her home fans in St. George, Utah,
Summer (145 lbs) put previously undefeated Canadian-born
Marsha Valley (150 lbs) of Los Angeles on the canvas in the second round
and went on to take a four-round unanimous decision that dropped
Valley's pro record to 5-1-1.
 On October 22, 1999, at the Orleans in Las Vegas, Nevada,
Summer weighed in at 146½ lbs and moved her record to 6-1 by stopping
Victoria Lara (141½ lbs) of Jacksonville, Texas, at 0:31
of the first round. Lara, who fell to 0-2, was a late substitute
for Heidi Tibe of Las Vegas (who DeLeon had beaten a year earlier).
This mismatch, which was booed by the crowd,
quickly became controversial, as fans asked why the inexperienced
Lara, who had only a few months' training as a boxer, had been matched against a
clear title contender like DeLeon. (Summer was said to be looking for a
match with Las Vegas-based welterweight Hannah Fox).
Summer came to my Women's Boxing Forum on October 24, 1999 to say:
"I feel I need to apologize to the public for that fight Friday
night. I was upset at the turn out, but there was nothing I
could have done. I knew going into the fight that she was an
under match but she came to fight and had signed the contract,
so therefore the outcome could not be any different. I agree
with most of the people out there, that fighting an 0-1 female
with no training is crazy, especially when it is me, because I
train so hard to be the best there is, but it is hard to prove
what you got against females with not much training. I was
begging for a fight and I know for a fact that I was supposed to
fight three people before it came down to Lara, because I had
signed the contracts. I signed a contract to fight Heidi Tibe,
Ann Wolfe, and
Mitzi Jeter but for some reason they all fell
through. I am not saying the females backed out themselves, but
for some odd reason a day before the fight I was fighting Lara.
But I do want to say one thing about Lara she does have a lot of
heart to even have been in that ring."
On January 27, 2000 at Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos, Texas,
Summer weighed in at 143 lbs and lost a four-round majority decision
to her earlier nemesis Brenda Bell Drexel (142 lbs) of San Marcos.
Bell Drexel came out aggressively and never let up to improve her pro record to
2-6. Bell nailed DeLeon with a flurry of body shots in the first round,
then stunned her
in the final seconds of the third round with a combination to the head.
On March 23, 2000 in Atlanta, Georgia,
Mitzi Jeter (145½ lbs) of
Doraville, Georgia moved her record to 12-3-1
with a six-round majority decision over Summer (147 ½ lbs).
On May 3, 2000 at Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California,
Summer lost an eight-round rematch with Danielle Doobenen of Venice,
California, who improved to 7-2
(4 KO's) as DeLeon slipped to 6-4-1, 1 KO). Summer decked Doobenen
for a three count with a hard right in the second round but was
stymied by Doobenen's power jab, which left her bloody-nosed at the final bell.
The scorecards were 78-74, 77-74, 77-74, all for Doobenen.
On July 20, 2001 at Pala Casino in North San Diego, California,
Summer won a 38-38,39-37,40-36 four-round majority decision over experienced amateur Muay Thai kickboxer
Sunshine Fettkether of Mesa, Arizona who fell to
0-2 as a pro boxer. Ralph Gonzalez of Inside Women's Boxing
reported that "Sunshine pushed the issue by being the aggressor throughout the bout.
Summer decided to box and it worked well as the Utah native caught Fettkether with
well-placed shots to the face and body. Sunshine got the worst of it in the third
round when Summer caught her with a perfect shot to the head that rocked (her)
and probably would have put her out had the round not ended ten seconds later."
On October 12, 2001 at Pala Casino in Temecula, California,
IFBA Junior Welterweight and WIBF Lightweight champion
Marischa Sjauw (147 lbs) from Surinam and Holland
by way of Long Island, New York, advanced
to 20-5-1 (6 KO's) with a majority (57-57,58-56,58-56) decision over
Summer (147 lbs). After a feeling-out round, Sjauw began to take control in the
second after landing a big left hook that backed Summer off. Sjauw bloodied DeLeon's nose with an
uppercut after trapping her against the ropes in the third round,
but the rest of the fight was a close battle with both landing well. DeLeon
found a home for her uppercuts but Sjauw caught her with a huge right that sent
her mouthpiece flying. Both landed heavily in the final round to the delight of
the fans, who were standing and screaming as the women went toe to toe to the
final bell.
On April 26, 2002 at Spa Casino in Palm Springs, California,
Summer battled to a 4-round draw in an exciting rematch with
Sunshine Fettkether in a welterweight bout. DeLeon was the early
aggressor but Fettkether cam on strong in the fourth round.
One judge saw it 39-37 for Fettkether, another 39-37 for DeLeon, and the third
called it a 38-38 draw. Fettkether's record stayed even at 2-2-1 (1 KO). On October 25, 2002 at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut,
Jaime Clampitt (142 lbs) from
Calgary, Canada eked out a 58-56,58-56,57-57 six-round majority
decision over Summer (143 lbs). The first five rounds were a
boxing clinic with the fighters trading trading jabs and
Clampitt's skills giving her a slight edge. They opened it up
in the sixth and slugged it out with each other
with DeLeon appearing to get the better of it and landing
well. Clampitt was often beaten to the punch but came back with
good counters to keep herself in the bout enough to preserve the
narrow edge on the scorecards. Clampitt, a Former Canadian national
amateur champion training in the USA, improved to
9-2-0 (2 KO) with the win while DeLeon fell to
7-6-2 (1 KO).
 Summer DeLeon was scheduled to fight on a May 30, 2003 card in
St. George when she tested pregnant. (The picture at right is one that she sent
WBAN that August.) Summer is a free agent who was first trained by Robert Stratton of St. George, Utah
and then worked in Las Vegas with Livingston Bramble.
She also works full time in a program teaching troubled youth. She has a
son who "keeps her on her toes through all that she does" and a daughter who was
born in 2004.
Page last updated: Thursday, April 29, 2004 |
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