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History First: Claressa Shields
Wins the FIRST Gold Medal in Boxing for the USA! |
In the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, the
olympics included for the first time women's boxing. Claressa Shields,
of Clint, Michigan, only 17 years old is the first female boxer in the
United States to win a Gold medal. Marlen Esparza won a bronze
medal as a flyweight. [WBAN's
special coverage of the Olympics].
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Like Father...Like
Daughter!
May 1, 2003 |
On May 1, 2003, at the Delaware
County Fairgrounds, in Muncie, Indiana, there was a "History
First" when father, Al Hughes, 54, and Daughter, Angela
Hughes, 18, fought on the same amateur event! Both Al and
Angela won their bouts...Angela who was making her debut stopped
Lynicia Hinson of Anderson in the second round by KO, and Al,
defeated 20-year-old Johnny Sparks of Indianapolis. In the
first round Sparks knocked "Dad" down to the canvass, but then Al
got the better of his opponent and KO'd him in the second round!
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Professional Female Fight in Canada - 1977 |
Referee Nick Nicholo signals it's
all over as Yvonne Barkley heads to her corner, a fourth-round
winner, and a beaten Smokey Robinson slumps in her corner clutching her midsection.
Barkley and Robinson competed in Canada's first professional female fight in Canada at
Pointe -aux -Trembles, Que. *This was an original History
First ---we now believe that there was boxing in Canada in the
1950s.
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February
1994 - First female boxing match sanctioned by USA Boxing |
These women finally got a chance to box in the
first female boxing match and were part of history in the making when they participated in
the first bout officially sanctioned by USA Boxing, the amateur sport's national governing
body. The female participates were Tracy Desmond, a 21-year-old senior at DePaul
majoring in international studies and Jacqueline Ta, an 18-year-old from the University of
Chicago. The fight ended in a TKO for Desmond.
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August
26, 1986 - Ohio Boxing Commissions Allows Female Bout |
The Ohio Boxing Commission had
finally allowed a female boxing match to be scheduled on a 7-bout card at the Lakeland
Community College. The female boxers who participated in that
"first-time" ever bout was Parma's Debra Kennedy and Cleveland's Sharon
Harrington.
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First
Women's Bantamweight World Championship - 15 rounds |
Darlina Valdez, of Santa Fe, was
in the women’s first bantamweight world championship before more than 1,000 screaming
fans in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She fought a 15-round battle and won a unanimous decision
over Holly McDaniel of Muncie, Indiana. Apparently the fight was
a crowd pleaser, and it was reported that the crown "roared with delight" at the
performance of the two women. McDaniel, a high school beauty contest winner and mother of
a three-year-old. She got her nose broken in the 11th round, but continued bravely
to the finish. The rules at the time in 1983 for fighting a championship fight, was
the same as men’s, 15 rounds for championship fights and eight-ounce gloves. Chest
and abdomen protectors were optional and at the time, only about 50 percent of the
women wore them.
