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5'6" southpaw Terri Blair was born on July 6, 1975 in
Paintsville, Kentucky. She now fights out of Terry Middketon's gym in
Louisville, Kentucky.
Terri has a biology degree
from Georgetown College, but she is putting that on hold and working as a
shipping clerk while she trains 3 hours a day, six days a week for her
career as a pro boxer. She studied karate for seven
years before taking up boxing.
On June 30, 2001 at Westwood Recreation
Center in Dayton, Ohio, Terri lost to Trisha Hill of
Kennesaw, Georgia in a 132-lb amateur boxing bout.
In her pro debut on February 22, 2002 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, she faced Ohio State student Kelli Cofer (128 lbs). Kelli dominated
Terri (126½ lbs) winning a lopsided four round decision behind one of the better jabs in women's
boxing. The unbeaten Cofer was able to keep the shorter Blair at the end of her punches
for most of the fight and improved her record to 5-0 (1 KO). Blair fell to 0-1.
On July 12, 2002 at Applebee Park in Lexington, Kentucky, Terri (127 lbs) evened
her pro record at 1-1 with a first-round TKO of debut fighter Sherrie Simms (120
lbs) of Cincinatti, Ohio.
On August 23, 2002 at Promo West Pavilion in Columbus Ohio, Terri (132½ lbs)
improved her pro record with a four-round unanimous decision over Sue Mullett
(135 lbs), who fell to 7-8.
On September 27, 2002 at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Terri (128½ lbs)
lost a four-round unanimous decision to pro debuter Kara Ro
(5'8", 128½ lbs) of Windsor, Ontario. Ro was a former national Golden Gloves
champion with considerable amateur experience before turning pro.
On January 31, 2003 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, Terri lost a
majority decision to Kelli Cofer in a rematch of her
debut bout. Kelli, now ranked #16 at featherweight moved to 9-0-1 (3 KO).
On May 23, 2003 at Gray's Armory in Cleveland, Ohio,
Mary Jo Sanders (140 lbs) of Detroit won a four-round unanimous decision
over Terri (140 lbs), advancing her own record to 2-0.
On June 14, 2003, at the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville, Indiana, Terri (129
lbs) TKO'd Shelby Walker (125 lbs) of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at 1:48 in the
fourth round of a scheduled four-rounder, dropping Walker's pro record to 5-2-1
(5 KOs).
On July 31, 2003 at Kewadin Casino in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan, Mary Jo Sanders (138½ lbs) won a four-round unanimous decision over
Terri (137 lbs).
On October 10, 2003 at the Holiday Inn in Janesville, Wisconsin, Terri won a
four-round decision over Andrea Nelson of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, who fell to
8-1-1. Nelson, who had been out of the ring for over two years, was
attempting to make a comeback as a pro boxer, but did not fight again after this
loss to Terri.
On May 23, 2004 at Club Avalon in Denver, COlorado, Terri (128 lbs) TKO'd
Mercedes Mercury (130 lbs) of Centennial, Colorado at 1:56 in the fifth round of
a scheduled six-rounder. Mercury fell to 3-5 (1 KO) with the loss.
On June 25, 2004 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Garfield Heights, Cleveland,
Ohio, Terri (134 lbs) fought to a four-round draw with
Kelli Cofer (127½ lbs). Cofer was now 10-2-4.
On July 16, 2004 at the Memorial Civic Center in Canton, Ohio,
Mary Jo Sanders (142½ lbs) improved her record to
10-0 with a four-round unanimous decision over Terri (142 lbs).
On December 10, 2004 at the Isleta Resort and Casino near Albuquerque, New
Mexico, Holly Holm (138 lbs) of Albuquerque won a
ten-round unanimous (99-91,99-91,96-94) decision over Terri (138¼ lbs) for the
vacant IBA Junior Welterweight title. Fighting her first ten-rounder, Holm
made Blair chase her round the ring and then out-boxed her, but she also won the
close-quarter battles. Blair had taken the fight on a week’s notice after
Denver’s Angie Poe got the flu, setting up a rare two-southpaw match-up. Holm improved to 8-1-2 (3 KO) with the win while Blair fell to 5-7-1 (3KO).
Terri (right) battles Molly McConnell in April 2005
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mike Blair of
BoxingProspects.com
On April 2, 2005 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington, Molly
McConnell (139½ lbs) of Olympia, Washington won a four-round majority
(40-36,39-37,38-38) decision over Terri (137½ lbs), advancing her pro record to
4-0 (1 KO).
Terri vs. Molly McConnell in June 2005
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mike Blair of
BoxingProspects.com
On June 4, 2005 at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon,
Terri (136 lbs) avenged this loss with a six-round split decision win over
McConnell (140 lbs).
On July 7, 2005 at the Radisson Hotel in Morgantown, West Virginia, Angel
McNamara (135 lbs) of Cambridge, Maryland won a six-round split
(60-54,58-56,56-58) decision over Terri (136 lbs), advancing her own record to
5-1-1 (2 KOs).
On December 30, 2005 at the Mountaineer Racetrack in Chester, West Virginia,
Terri (130 lbs) battled Leslee Perella (128 lbs) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to
a four-round majority draw, leaving Perella's record at 3-1-1 (2 KO's).
On February 23, 2006 at the Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, California, Jessica Rakoczy (134 lbs)
of Las Vegas won an eight-round
unanimous (79-71,80-72,80-72) decision over Terri (132½ lbs)Rakoczy improved her record to 22-2-0 (7
KO's) while Blair fell to a deceptive 6-10-2 (3 KOs)
with the loss.
On March 25, 2006 at the Grand Victoria Casino in Rising Sun, Indiana, Terri
stunned the women's boxing world by TKO'ing the much-feared
Sumya Anani of Overland Park, Kansas at 1:37 in the tenth round of a ten-rounder for
the IBA Welterweight title. Blair
suffered a five-stitch cut over her left eye during the fight. Anani, who had never been stopped
before and was ahead by one point on two scorecards going into the final round, had risen to prominence with a
hard-fought win over Christy Martin in 1998. She fell to
25-2-1 (10 KO's) with this loss.
On May 27, 2006 at the Louisville Gardens in Louisville, Kentucky, Terri (141
lbs) again stopped
Sumya Anani (143 lbs), this time by a TKO at 1:59 in the ninth round. Anani
led in the early going and Blair took some punishment but Blair rallied in the
ninth, knocking an apparently tiring Anani down three times
to keep her IBA Welterweight title.
It had been an emotional week for Blair as her grandmother had died the Tuesday
before the fight and she had gone straight from her funeral to the weigh-in. "It's
been kind of bittersweet," Blair said. "I have all this stuff going on
with the fight that I should really be excited about -- and I am excited. But
with the stuff going on with my grandmother, I've been kind of walking around
not sure how to act." Terri
improved to 8-10-2 (5 KO's) with her second straight stoppage of Anani, who fell
to 25-3-1 (10 KO's).
Terri's manager Abdul Jarvis said about the fight: "(Anani) came out with a
different game plan. She boxed a whole lot better this time. But I knew that she
couldn't keep up that pace. I told you before that we don't degrade over a
period of time…; I knew (Anani) was getting hurt. She would freeze every time
she got hit."
Anani complimented Blair after the loss,
telling the Louisville Courier-Journal: "She
caught me. It happens. It's boxing. Who was it that made the statement that it
takes one punch to change a fight?" and adding
"She's such a sweetheart. As an athlete you always
try to do your best. Of course, you're kind of upset about it. But to lose to a
sweetheart like her … she represents her sport well."
On September 23, 2006 at the Belterra Casino and
Resort in Belterra, Indiana, Terri (133 lbs) won an NABC Lightweight title with
a TKO of Leora Jackson (5'4", 134 lbs) of Springdale, Arkansas at 1:17 in
the eighth round. Jackson fell to 2-10-0 with the loss while Terri
improved to 9-10-2 (6 KO's).
On December 14, 2006
in Tokyo, Japan, Emiko Raika (133
¾ lbs) of Japan won a
10-round unanimous (97-95,97-94,98-93) decision over Terri (134 lbs) for the WIBA World
Lightweight title. Raika
improved her record to 16-2-1 (6 KO's) while Blair fell to 9-11-2 (5 KOs).
On May 17, 2007 at the Tachi Palace Hotel and
Casino, in Lemoore, California, a sold-out crowd of 1,450 saw Jessica Rakoczy (136 lbs) of Las Vegas win an
eight-round unanimous (80-72,80-72,80-71)
decision over Terri (133½ lbs) in what was
described to WBAN as "a very entertaining fight". Rakoczy improved to
27-2-0 (11 KOs) while Blair fell to 9-12-2 (5 KOs).
Chevelle Hallback slugs it out with Terri Blair
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mary Ann Owen
On July 2, 2007 at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, Chevelle Hallback (133¾ lbs) of Plant City, Florida defeated
Terri (133¾ lbs) by an eight round unanimous (79-73,78-74,77-75) decision in an eliminator for the IFBA Lightweight title. Hallback boxed skillfully to hold off the hard-charging
and hard-hitting Blair. The fifth round was a slugfest with both trading their best shots
in toe to toe action that liberated Hallback's chest protector, forcing her to continue
without it. “It was rough” said Hallback, adding
“She never hurt me in the fight but after the fight those body shots she landed
bruised my ribs. My trainer kept telling me to fight outside but you know me, I like to
fight on the inside too. I felt I was doing alright inside.
It’s easy to see how she beat Sumya Anani that girl can really punch, she can really fight.
She’s very good.”
Chevelle improved to (26-5-1, 11 KOs) while dropping the bloodied but
always-pressing Blair to 9-13-2 (6 KO's).
“That was as good as a women's match can be,” said promoter Roy Englebrecht.
"I felt it was a lot closer,” said Blair after the bout "but Chevelle is a great fighter.”
On December 6, 2007 at the Tachi
Palace Hotel and Casino, in Lemoore, California, Terri won an eight-round split
decision over Jill Emery for the NABF Junior Welterweight title. The judges'
scores of 78-74, 74-78, 77-75 were announced as all for Blair at the fight, but
this was later corrected. The 37-year-old Emery, who went 62-8 in a long amateur career,
fell to 8-2-0 (3 KOs).
On May 2, 2009 at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, Terri (139 lbs) returned to competition of and defeated Adelita
Irizarry (143 lbs) of Hartford, Connecticut, by a six-round unanimous
(59-55,59-55,60-54) decision. Irizarry fell to 6-3 (2 KO's) while Blair improved to 11-13-2 (6 KO's).
On August 28, 2009 at New Mexico Highlands
University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Holly Holm (145 lbs) of Albuquerque
defeated Terri (143½ lbs) by a ten-round unanimous
(100-90,100-90,99-91) decision for the WIBA Welterweight title.
Holm improved her record to 24-1-3 (6 KO's) with the win while Blair fell to
11-14-2 (6 KO's).
On November 28, 2009 at the Mulungushi Conference Centre in
Lusaka, Zambia, Terri Blair fought to a 10-round draw (98-96,96-96, 94-96)
with Esther Phiri of Zambia for the WIBA junior welterweight
title. Blair, who had pressured Phiri for the whole fight, stated after the fight
“If you want
to know the winner of this fight, give us another two rounds just now and see
what I am gonna do to her. I have been cheated. I'm ready to fight her again
anytime, anywhere including now." Phiri was cut under her
right eye and the fight was halted temporarily in the sixth round to clean the
blood.
Blair moved her record to 11-14-3 (6 KO's)
while Phiri's went to 10-3-2 (3 KO's).
On March 26, 2010 at the Isleta Casino & Resort in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, Victoria Cisneros (136 lbs) won an eight round majority
(77-75,77-76,76-76)
decision over Terri (140½ lbs) who fell to 11-15-3 (5 KO's).
Cisneros improved her record to 4-8-2 (1 KO).
Page last updated:
Tuesday, 02 April 2024 |
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