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5'1½" Terri "Too Tuff" Moss from Athens, Georgia was
born on January 25, 1966 in Denver, Colorado.
Terri began her intensive physical conditioning regime when she got a job in the
bicycle patrol with the University of Georgia Police Department. "It
was that first police job where I gave up smoking and social drinking and
started working out," she
told WBAN's Brian Ackley, "I learned how to
build a little endurance. Man, did this give me a rush! I had never felt so
good in my life. I rode for over two years and was addicted to exercise. I
kept lifting, kept riding, and it eventually stirred an interest in
triathlon, and I really began studying nutrition and holistic, organic
living."
Boxing didn't come into her life until a girlfriend who was going
through a divorce - and wanted to take out some of her frustrations on a
punching bag - suggested that Terri tag along to a gym for one of her boxing workouts. "I was just starting to train
for my first triathlon and had only completed a half-triathlon prior to
this. She begged me to come along and I finally agreed, but told her she was
an idiot. I said, ‘Do I look like I want to get my face beat in?’ But I went
anyway. That’s when everything changed," says Moss. "Here I
was, what I thought was a pretty good athlete. I mean, when I was in the
gym, people would come up to me and ask if I was an instructor because I was
in really good shape. But you know, I couldn’t hit those pads for one minute
without getting winded. I was totally impressed. There was something to this
sport, and I wanted to know what it was."
Originally Terri trained to become a boxing trainer, corner and cutman. "I’m
an expert at these things, including hand wrapping and handling contracts,
matching fights. You name it, in boxing I can do most anything," she
says.
She was motivated to box competitively by seeing
Atlanta's Nina Ahlin fight. "When I met her
then, I said ‘I’m going to fight this girl.’ I was training then, but I
really didn’t think I was going to fight because I had all these obstacles.
But I said, ‘You know, I can do this. I can beat this girl."
Terri's
age when she started boxing competition made her pass up on fighting as an amateur and
go straight into the pro sport (once she had convinced to
state commission to grant her license.)
Terri (105 lbs) made her pro debut on
February 22, 2002 at the Roxy Nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts, dropping a
four-round decision to
WIBF Americas Flyweight champion Wendy Sprowl (108 lbs) of Hull, Massachusetts, who advanced to 6-1-0 (2 KO).
On
August 16, 2002 at Sunset Station in San Antonio, Texas, 23-year-old Maribel Zurita
(5'0", 108 lbs) of San Antonio won a four-round unanimous (39-37) decision
over Terri (107 lbs). Moss gave Zurita all she could handle for one
round but the showy "Little Thunder" Zurita adapted and was able to work her way inside successfully
on the taller Moss for the next three rounds. Zurita had Moss hurt repeatedly in the later rounds
and ended the second with a big flurry before going to her corner waving her right
glove in the air. Zurita improved to 5-2-1 (1 KO) with the win while Moss remained winless at 0-2.
(Zurita would become the IFBA world Flyweight champion in 2004)
On August 30, 2002 at Holiday Inn Center in Manchester, New Hampshire,
flyweight Patricia Martinez of Miami, Florida advanced to 7-1-0 (2 KO)
with a four-round unanimous decision over Terri. This fight was described to me as "a rock-em, sock-em
contest that wowed the 300 or so spectators. Martinez's lightning quick combinations punished Moss' body
and midsection ... any ignorant preconceived notions I had that female boxing was
just some sort of pugilistic burlesque show were quickly put to rest after seeing the preparedness,
dedication and professionalism of these fighters." Moss fell to 0-3-0 (0 KO)
with the loss.
On
September 13, 2002 at Coca Cola Roxy Theater, Atlanta, Georgia, Terri spoiled the ring comeback of
Atlanta's Nina Ahlin
by winning a four-round split (39-38,39-37,36-40)
decision over the former Atlanta Falcons cheerleader. According to WBAN
correspondent Marc Delamater, who took the photo at right, after a fairly even
opening round Moss
stunned Ahlin with her overhand right in the second and then continued to pepper
Ahlin's face in the third. The usually
slick Ahlin, who had not fought since April 2001, tried to
pull the fight out in the late going as Moss tired ...
but she convinced only one judge that she had done enough to
win. Moss was now 1-3-0 (0 KO)
while Ahlin fell to 8-3-1 (2 KO).
Terri told WBAN's Brian Ackley after the fight: "I’ve
never been happier. My 19 year-old daughter was at the fight with Nina. She was
so proud she cried for two days. Boxing is really the life for me. I really do
love it. I wish I had a fight right now. I’m calling all the promoters I know."
On December 3, 2002 at New Daisy Theater in Memphis, Tennessee, Terri improved to 2-3-0 (1 KO)
with a first-round TKO over Angela Kirkes of Shreveport, Louisiana, who fell to 0-2.
Moss knocked
Kirkes down twice, the second time with the overhand right that ended the bout.
On January 18, 2003 at Song Martial Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Terri (105¼ lbs)
won a four-round unanimous (40-36,40-36,39-37) decision over Stephanie Dobbs
(104½ lbs) of Moore, Oklahoma.
Moss counterpunched well and landed numerous hard rights to the
head of the more aggressive Dobbs.
Moss evened her record at 3-3-0 (1 KO)
while Dobbs, fighting one of the busiest schedules of any female boxer,
fell to 4-6-1 (3 KO)
On March 27, 2003 at War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
reigning IFBA Strawweight champion Vaia Zaganas (5'1",105 lbs) of Burnaby, BC, Canada (fighting out of Las Vegas) advanced
to 7-1-0 (3 KO) with a six-round unanimous (60-52) decision over Terri (104 lbs) who fell to 3-4-0 (1 KO).
Terri was deducted two points for holding in this bout
On July 18, 2003 at Dekalb Civic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Terri (105 lbs) won a four-round unanimous decision over
an elusive Charimar Caban (106 lbs) of Puerto Rico.
Moss evened her record at 4-4-0 (1 KO)
while
Caban fell to 1-2 (0 KO) in a very tense, tactical match-up.
In November 6, 2003 at Polideportivo de Alcobendas in Madrid, Spain María Jesús Rosa
(108 lbs) of Magarinos, Spain won the
WIBF Junior Flyweight title with a ten-round unanimous decision
over Terri (108 lbs). The 29-year-old
Rosa controlled the bout and had the 37-year-old
Moss reeling in the eighth round,
according to a report received from Spain.
Rosa had dropped a weight division to make this WIBF world title fight,
which marked her return to the ring after a six-month suspension for a cannabis
violation and
the forced vacation of her WIBF European Flyweight title.
Rosa advanced to 17-0-0 (3 KO)
with the win.
On April 8, 2004
at the Argosy Casino Atrium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Terri (110 lbs) won a
four-round unanimous decision over pro debut fighter Elizabeth Gandy (115 lbs)
of Greensboro, North Carolina.
On November
20, 2004 in Greensboro, North Carolina, Terri (107 lbs) TKO'd Loreen Miller
(112 lbs) of Oklahoma at 1:13 in the first round of a scheduled four-rounder.
On December 16, 2004 at Garibaldi's La Pantera Rosa in Doraville, Georgia,
Hollie Dunaway (98 lbs) of Fort Smith, Arkansas won a ten-round unanimous
(98-92, 98-92,97-95) decision over Terri (102 lbs) for the vacant WIBA
Minimumweight Title. Both fighters began cautiously using their jabs in the
first round but the action picked up in the second as Dunaway began to score
with solid rights from the outside. The next rounds were close as they
exchanged solid rights in the middle of the ring, but Moss appeared to fade in
the later rounds, allowing Dunaway to score the better shots and pull away for
the victory. Dunaway improved to 13-3 (8 KOs).
On February 26, 2005 at Argosy Casino in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mirasol
Miranda (110 lbs) of Hollywood, Florida, trained by former world champion
Bonnie Canino, improved her record to 2-1 (1 KO) with
a four-round unanimous decision over Terri (107 lbs).
On June 11, 2005 at Harrah's Hotel and Casino in North Kansas City, Missouri,
Mary Elizabeth Ortega (107 lbs) TKO'd Terri (106 lbs)
at 1:40 in the second round of a scheduled 10-rounder for the IWBF Junior
Flyweight title. Mary
improved her record to 30-2-1 (7 KOs).
On December 10, 2005 at Emperor
Garden in Budapest, Hungary Krisztina Belinskzy (5'3",
101½ lbs) of Budapest won a ten-round unanimous decision over Terri (103¼ lbs)
for the vacant WIBC Straw-weight title. This was by all accounts an ugly fight
characterized by a lot of holding and wrestling inside, although only Moss drew
warnings or penalties, for a head butt. Moss's nose was broken early in the
fight,
according to Moss by an elbow or shoulder strike from Belinskzy. Moss and
trainer Xavier Biggs wrote
open
letters to WBAN on their return to the USA protesting sub-standard (hostel)
accommodation, arrangements and refereeing for this fight.
Belinskzy improved to 17-5-2 (9
KOs).
On February 2, 2007 at the Georgia Mountain Center in Gainesville, Georgia,
Terri (106 lbs) won a six-round unanimous (5-54,59-55,58-55) decision over
Natasha Wilburn (108¾ lbs) of Atlanta, who fell to 1-15 with the loss.
On April 14, 2007 at Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
Terri (113 lbs) TKO'd 19-year-old debut fighter Whitney Gunter (114 lbs) of
Pelham, NC at 1:45 in the second round of a scheduled four-rounder.
On May 10, 2007 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Terri
(103 lbs) won a 10-round split (93-97,92-98,99-91) decision over
Stephanie "All Action" Dobbs
(103 lbs) of Moore, Oklahoma for the vacant WIBF Strawweight title.
“She ran and I came after her,” Dobbs
told
her local newspaper. “I missed a lot of
punches, but I threw three times as many. She would run and use her
jab. I felt like I landed the bigger, harder shots. She never snapped
my head back like I did hers. She was tired in the final rounds and I
was getting stronger. I felt really good.”. Terri Moss told me:
"Stephanie has really improved. She looked like a little
force to be reckoned with in there. I really had to stay on my toes,
literally. The jab was the winning factor for me, that and constantly
turning her. It was a well-skilled entertaining female fight. I really
hope Stephanie gets a title soon ... she deserves it." Moss,
at 41, improved her record to 9-9-0 (3 KOs) while the 26-year-old
Dobbs fell to 24-26-4 (13 KOs).
Terri
is trained and managed by Xavier Biggs at the Decatur Boxing Cub. Biggs, who
trains mostly men, said he saw a champion in Moss from the beginning.
“Terri’s experience has really developed her to be a real fighter,” he
said. “She’s a rock. She obviously has a strong spirit, a lot of
people might start where she did and quit, but she’s probably one of the
toughest I’ve trained.”
Page last updated:
Thursday June 13, 2024 |
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