Hawaiian female boxer Noel Domen takes one on the chin, left, from opponent Leona Brown in the 119 pound weight class during the 1997 Women's National Boxing Championships.BOB RIVES/STAFF

Fans find plenty of action from women boxers

Web posted July 19, 1997

By Todd Bauer
Staff Writer

They just came to watch.

They sat in the third bleacher from the floor and watched the boxers quietly but attentively. The pugilists for the third fight of the evening had just entered the ring.

``If you want my prediction, the one in blue is going to win,'' said one of them.

It was the first national women's boxing contest, and these three women from Augusta weren't going to miss it.

``The girls are more exciting than the guys,'' said Millie Brown. ``If a woman works out hard, she can take the punches.''

Her friend, Deidre Beasley, agreed.

``There's no fancy footwork. They're serious. (Women's Boxing) is long overdue,'' she said.

Charlene Louis, who accompanied her friends to the fights, said women take up boxing to relieve stress and learn to defend themselves. She said that although she has never considered stepping into the ring, ``there are a few people I wouldn't mind punching out.''

Several rows up, Doug Reed watched the fights with particular interest. The Grovetown resident had a dollar riding on the bout.

``No one thought of women as being physically capable of this sport before,'' he said. ``It's good that in this day and age women can step into the ring.''

Reed said support for women's boxing is something that would have to grow over time, similar to the WNBA. He said he hoped it wouldn't become a money-laden business like men's boxing. He also won his dollar.

Dutch Fayard, from Augusta, said he was glad women's boxing came to Augusta. Both he and his father are boxing fans, he said, and he became interested in women's boxing after watching some videotaped fights his father sent him.

``I enjoy seeing them when they really box,'' he said as he watched two fighters slug it out. ``Ooh, that one hurt.''

William Pope, a coach and a boxer at Aiken Boxing Club, watched the boxers with 14-year-old club member Brandon Simpkins.

``She's got the feel of her now,'' he tells Simpkins as one of the boxers figured out the style of her opponent.

Pope said his club has several female boxers, too.

``They're trying to prove they can do what the men can do,'' he said.

As the evening wore on, the crowd got rowdier. They chanted the boxers names. Floor-level fans shouted ``jab, jab'' to the fighters. Men and women in T-shirts that read slogans such as ``A woman's place - boxing'' screamed cheers.

Down in the first row of bleachers, Kyle MacKeigan watched the fights with her 3-year-old daughter, Jillian. A former boxer herself, she said it's nice to see that women's boxing has come this far.

``It's excellent exercise,'' she said. ``I have always liked one-on-one sports. (When I watched boxing) I wondered why there wasn't more female boxers,'' she said.

Ms. MacKeigan said women's boxing is more competitive than men because of the novelty of the sport.

``Women feel there it's a privilege to do it,'' she said. ``They put more of their heart and soul into it.''