Jacqui Snow's "K.O.'s"

Tuesday Report By "K.O." Jacqui Snow

A little over a year ago, Colombian power-puncher Joel Julio was a top ten contender and future star of the welterweight division, but the star went supernova following just one loss: a drubbing at the hands of Carlos Quintana, a guy he was supposed to beat. Even though Julio won his next two fights, he's now relegated to ESPN's Friday Night Fights, where he wasn't even the main event on last week's card. For the first time in ESPN history, that honor went to a women's bout. The featured fighter of the evening was Mary Jo Sanders, undefeated as a professional, with a record of 24-0 (7 KOs), and considered one of the premier female fighters in the sport. Sanders has held seven titles in four weight classes since making her professional debut at 135 pounds. Early in her career, she won minor IBA titles at Light Welterweight and Welterweight and later went on to win the IBA, WBC and WBA Female Welterweight titles. In 2006, she moved up to win the IBA title at Light Middleweight also. Two months ago, she captured the IBA Middleweight title with a 2nd round TKO stoppage over Gina Nichols.

The ESPN fight was Sanders' first title defense at middleweight and her opponent, Valerie Mahfood, wasn't exactly top-notch. Mahfood is winless in her last seven and has a less-than-stellar record of 19-12-3 (9 KOs). Predictably enough, Mahfood lost the fight by a wide margin--in fact, she failed to win a single round on any of the judges' cards. It's obvious that Mahfood and Sanders aren't in the same class, but what's truly eye-opening is that this applies to their weights also: Mahfood fights at  heavyweight!

It goes without saying that a promoter would never try to arrange a bout between, say, Mikkel Kessler and Joel Casamayor, but in women's boxing, huge size mismatches are considered acceptable. Laila Ali, who weighs 170 pounds, has built up her undefeated record by routinely taking on much smaller women. For example, she saw nothing wrong with fighting--on pay per view--Christy Martin, who's six inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter. Martin hit the scales wearing full-body fatigues in a futile attempt to make the size difference somewhat less noticeable. Needless to say, the fight was completely one-sided, culminating in a fourth-round knockout for the much bigger Ali.

While men's fights are occasionally marred by mismatches, they're actually quite typical of women's bouts because the talent pool is so shallow. Admittedly, the possibility of serious injury exists in any kind of combat sport, but it's downright dangerous for a boxer to face someone who vastly outranks her in terms of skill, strength, experience and size. The most extreme example of a mismatch gone awry is the 1996 bout involving Katie Dallam, the woman upon whom the "Million Dollar Baby" story is said to be based. Dallam, at 37, was fighting for the first and only time in her career when she took on Sumya Anani, a 24-year-old welterweight who bulked up to 173 pounds for the bout. From the start of the fight until Dallam's corner threw in the towel four rounds later, she endured a horrific, bloody and completely one-sided beating. Following the bout, Dallam passed out and ceased to breathe. She was carried from the ring on a stretcher and rushed to hospital, where she underwent brain surgery. The life-threatening injuries she suffered that night were permanent and Katie Dallam was left brain-damaged and partially blind.

The problem with women's boxing is simple: while there are certainly some good female fighters, there just aren't enough of them. All too often, elite fighters like Anne Wolfe, Lucia Rijker and, most notoriously, Laila Ali fight women who are completely outclassed. Holly Holm, the pretty southpaw from Albuquerque, was a welcome exception last week when she defended her stack of welterweight titles against a very game and equally strong Ann Saccurato on Fox Sportsnet, but unfortunately, bouts like that one are rare. You're much more likely to see contests like Mahfood/Sanders, or Ali's last one against 37-year old Gwendolyn O'Neil, who was so hopelessly outgunned that she was taken out in just 56 seconds. One-sided matchups like these have no entertainment value, won't capture the imagination of boxing fans and present a real danger to the women involved. Until there's a richer depth of talent in the division, there's no reason for ESPN or any other network to showcase female fighters.

http://www.myspace.com/jacquis