AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 1
Join me as we sit down with Bonnie “Queen B” Mann, Marine Corp Veteran, Female Boxing Champion, 2X Hall of Famer & Writer! Bonnie will be sharing her personal journey and battles in her personal life and her boxing career with us giving you an inside look at the behind the scenes in her career! You don’t want to miss it! She is Queen B for a reason! Come find out why!
#femaleboxing #femalewarriors #badasswoman #champions #halloffamers #queenb #inspirational #personalstories #thetruth #thebsinwomansboxing @Brooke”NoMercy”Dierdorff-Millbrook @Nopunchespulledwithnomercy @talkinfight @bonniemann
Transcribed
Foreign [ Music, ] professional to the international women’s Boxing Hall of Fame.
Last year, I’ve been through some good a lot of BS, some bad all in this sport of women’s boxing.
We started this platform where we talked to talk and we walked the walk.
My goal on this show is to bring out the truth in women’s boxing, so you’re going to hear from pioneers of the sport past boxers current boxers, even future up and coming boxers, but we’re going to sit down with them and we’re going to get.
You know we’re going to get down dirty and speak the truth of what takes place.
What really happens behind the scene in women’s boxing? You definitely don’t want to miss an episode.
That’S for sure make sure you are liking, subscribing and sharing.
So you don’t miss an episode every Tuesday um on today’s show, I’m sure you’ve already seen.
We have Bonnie Mann aka the queen bee in the house.
Bonnie is um.
Another very well-known female boxing champion uh two-time Hall of Famer um, also adding to the resume.
Now.
She has her own book um.
She has shared the ring with some very notable opponents, such as examples, Holly Holm, Yvonne Reese and Anne sakurado, just to name a few.
Please help me welcome in the special queen bee.
What’S up Bonnie how’s it going good? How are you I’m very good, I’m very good um, it’s definitely such an honor and a pleasure to have you here with us.
I mean we’ve spoken over social media and stuff for years and years, but it’s actually nice to sit down with you face to face and do what we do and talk about boxing absolutely uh.
Hopefully we can get together out in Vegas this year and and really be face to face.
Yes, yes, I missed you last year at the inductions.
I was so sad when you weren’t able to make it, but yes, um Sue did invite me, but invite me back.
I probably think she probably invited everybody back for the 25th anniversary, so, yes, we are planning on being there, so hopefully we’ll get to meet a whole lot of people this time yeah it’s going to be a good time.
Definitely definitely um! So talking about you in your career, I figure first of all, we might as well just rewind a little bit and take us back to like the beginning, your childhood, your upbringing, and you know like what led you to boxing sure uh.
Well uh.
You know I was uh born and raised in New York.
Uh born in Buffalo uh grew up in a couple of hours: uh South uh, east of Buffalo um in a small town and uh yeah.
Just you know kind of very rural area.
Um graduated from high school went into the Marine Corps two days after I graduated high school and uh had some.
You know rough patches, uh growing up that I never talked about until I was ready to uh write my chapter in this book and um, and I talk about that being a member of the metoo movement before people knew what me too meant right, yeah, so yeah Just uh, you know, played Sports um.
While I was in school.
You know I started playing baseball um with the boys first, one in Steuben County in New York um to play in the Steuben County uh grasshoppers, which then goes to Little League okay.
You know so I played baseball with the boys and um.
Then the following year.
There was another girl that joined um, but yeah always playing sports every sport, you think of uh baseball, softball basketball.
I asked to play uh football.
My mom said no yeah.
I think we’ve all probably been there yeah every one of us.
I think everyone that I’ve ever spoken to, we played all the sports, and we always also wanted to play football.
Well, yeah, it’s just the fact that you know that’s what the boys were all playing and yeah.
You know I wasn’t the type of person that was gon na go and play with the Barbies um.
If I did get a Barbie, I was cutting her hair, so you know I I just I want to be outside.
I wanted to be active and the boys were playing.
You know football, so I wanted to play and you know they’d.
Let me play like flag.
Football touch football and stuff, but I wanted to play in the teams and my mom wasn’t going for that.
So yeah yeah, I feel you there yeah.
I definitely feel you there um my parents kind of left out, because my school didn’t have a football team.
We were in such a small town.
We didn’t have football um, but I did try to play soccer on the all boys soccer team, but they didn’t allow.
They didn’t allow it, but you know it was for the boys but um.
I tried I tried, but I played everything else so yeah same it was.
You know, a little bit of track, which I didn’t like, because I didn’t really care to run but yeah.
I I did soccer volleyball softball basketball, all that stuff uh, all the way through high school um played in the Marine Corps.
I was on the all-marine softball team and uh.
You have to try out for that.
You know the what it’s equivalent to what the Army has for um the world-class athlete program.
So I was fortunate to do that and uh yeah just uh kept on rolling into sports.
As I, you know, playing softball and stuff as an adult, once I got out of the Marine Corps and then stumbled upon boxing and then there that was the next chapter of the uh Athletics, along with uh women’s professional baseball league um, played in that for a Couple seasons: awesome awesome.
I know you kind of briefly touched about um your chapter in read that um.
When you sent it over to me, I was excited to read that um.
If you’re comfortable talking about it.
I know there was some very touchy.
Obviously, you’re kind of come if you wrote about it, so I guess you’re, probably okay, with talking about it a little bit now um, but there’s a lot of stuff in there that I think, would really really help.
So many people, especially coming from um, like the sports background and things that you had to deal with and overcome that you’d, have some very good information to share with people um when you were young.
You talked about some of the traumatic experiences briefly um when you were a child.
Can you kind of I mean you, don’t have to give it all away, because we don’t want to tell them about the whole book, but maybe briefly touch on um.
Some of those things that you know you had to go through, so other girls, maybe can relate sure um.
So you know it is in this chapter uh in the book pulling each other along and uh.
Your copy will be in the mail uh this week.
Yes, and so you know as uh when I was about six seven uh, we you know, my mom was a single mom yep and did what you know any single mom had to do, which is you know, find sitters, yeah and unfortunately uh one.
That was in the area that lived just a couple: houses down, um sexually abused, both my sister and I, and you know we were both very young and uh.
It went on for a while um I never ever spoke about it um, but just I you know, I can’t tell you why.
I just think: that’s just how innate what was inside of me was.
I never looked at myself as a victim uh right.
I always kind of knew you know it wasn’t me doing anything wrong, which I I know that a lot of you know people who do suffer abuse at the hands of someone else.
You know think it’s something that they’ve done, which you know most of the time.
Obviously, that’s not the case um, but I never let myself be a victim.
I you know, although growing up back in the day where it was like, you just really didn’t talk about things you just kept on going about life.
I never shared that with any of my family until I was about 40 years old and um.
Even then, I did not tell my mom um only because she had dementia it.
You know it just kind of wasn’t.
It never became the right time right and it wasn’t a change and it wasn’t going to change the outcome.
It wasn’t going to change anything.
What had happened, no that far back um so um, I you know when it happened.
Um you know.
Obviously, when you’re only six, seven years old, there’s not a lot, you you’re, you can do to someone who’s a a grown.
You know 19, 20, 21 year old, male right anyway.
The events happened.
I do go out and publicly speak about it now, um at colleges at schools, um just talking about how to overcome obstacles and how to not.
Let certain events like that defeat.
You, because, right you are not.
You are not uh the person you are based on what happened to you right.
You are the person you are based on how you respond to that and move forward exactly and um.
You know I I tell, and I encourage most most the time believe it or not.
When I do speak at uh schools and colleges it, I always have a lot of females that will come and talk to me, but the very first one I ever did at a university.
It was a young male.
They said he had the same experience and it was very interesting.
I was shocked, uh yeah.
I was actually moved to tears because he was crying.
You know – and I just encouraged him to you know, go speak to someone find someone on campus, find a counselor that you can trust that you can talk to and and start you know dealing with it to me.
What I’ve learned, obviously throughout all of these years, is that it wasn’t a burden that I needed to be carrying and should have never carried uh.
You know people can get out there and, and if you are a victim, you know find someone to talk to and it may not be an actual therapist.
It could be.
You know a friend of the family if you’re not comfortable telling your family, it could be just a friend, it could be.
You know it could be a teacher.
It could be some anybody, anybody yeah, but it really to me.
I feel that it’s important that individuals understand that they need to talk about it and they so that they can start to process.
The events that happened and continue on to you know, have and live their life yeah and try to try to move forward um.
The best that you can but yeah, if you keep it bottled up you’re, definitely I’m gon na have trouble moving from that time in space and moving forward because you’re going to always be stuck there.
If you don’t talk about it and try to get yourself comfortable with moving on and definitely at that age, 100, nothing that you don’t! You could have done wrong or you could have prevented for that matter.
Um, I’ve been six years old and you didn’t even at that being that young with kids that young that that stuff happens to um they can’t even you can’t even digest what’s happening or you don’t even understand the concept of what’s Happening.
Let alone know what to do about the situation, because you probably at that time you don’t even know if it’s right or wrong right, because you’re six years old, you don’t even know you’re just thinking.
I trust this person and if they say it’s okay.
Well then, I guess this is what I’m supposed you know, I’m supposed to be, do you don’t even you can’t even comprehend it you can’t comprehend it and when it’s someone who you’ve known uh, you know in your neighborhood and you trust you just don’t know that It’S not something that’s supposed to be happening, and you know when I was writing this.
My part for this book.
I really one of the things I did struggle with was.
I knew that I was getting ready to cross that line where this individual’s family yeah.
If they read this, they were gon na know now he’s no longer alive um he passed away, but you know just saying it was a he anyone.
That knows me we’re in a very small town and my mom was a server at a restaurant for 26 years.
Everyone, you know, knew her loved her.
They they’re gon na know who it is, and the person’s not mentioned by name.
You know, I don’t do that.
Um, but there are certain people that are absolutely going to know and – and I only talked to one person in my family, which was my aunt about this and because I really didn’t know if I should address it with the family right and say: listen, I I Don’T blame any of you, I don’t hold any of you accountable, there’s no ill will, because this had nothing to do with them.
This was all about.
One person didn’t even know yeah.
They didn’t even know right um, but at the end of the day, um you know we, my aunt myself.
You know we decided, you know what I’m just I’m gon na write about it.
It’S it’s my right to do so.
Yeah um, you know if, if they have an issue, they can either come in and talk to me about it and address it with me, privately um and and I’ve not had I’ve not had that they’ve not reached out to me, but I do know the family.
A couple of the family members and um, you know it’s, it’s not been an issue, but it was just something I I had to do.
That would do it for you yeah yeah yeah.
It wasn’t even about him at that particular time or um, letting people know what he did.
It was more so release you know releasing that from you and letting it off your chest yeah.
It was just taking my truth.
Yeah telling your truth, nothing more than that.
Um and then I know from there um you briefly and I’m assuming that the two are connected when you um were struggling with some depression and the alcohol, and I’m sure that’s due to that issue.
I’M assuming is where that came from right.
Well, you know I haven’t dove into it that far to know, if really that was part of it, I’m assuming probably some to some degree but as it turns out uh.
My grandfather was an alcoholic which he died, of cirrhosis from the liver and I I never met him.
He died when I was six months old, um yeah and you know, and it from the research I’ve seen and I’ve read.
It can tend to jump a you know, a generation which would make sense um it it bypassed.
My mother, um and my aunt landed right in my lap, but I never knew that because I was you know in high school.
I was always playing sports.
I didn’t you know it wasn’t really around alcohol or anything.
Then I got stationed in Japan where there’s no age limit and started hanging out with everybody else and to me it was just oh, this is what we’re gon na do, and this is good and it was fun.
It becomes normal and it became.
But for me it became a problem and um.
You know when you’re going out almost every day and and of course that again, though, that’s what many were doing and it was normal today for me, it just became a problem.
You know stumbling downstairs backwards.
You know ending up in a hospital um and – and I put myself into rehab um at 18 – part really, because I knew after talking to a commanding officer that if I volunteered to do that, it wouldn’t come up on my records.
And I want I wanted to try to grab a hold of this and figure out what was going on um and did a it was nine months uh or six months.
Sorry, I think it was six months, but did the course you know, and I I admitted I was the first one like yep there’s a problem.
I don’t understand it completely, but I need to to deal with this and I’ve had a perfect record.
You know my entire life yeah well, because there was times I thought.
Oh I you know I I was that person that thought.
Oh well, I can I’ve done like a year.
I haven’t done any touch any alcohol, I’m good, and then you start in and you realize – and I finally got to where you know in you know 20 15 years ago, that I’m like no, I can’t uh go ahead and just dabble a little bit here there, Because it’ll become habitual yeah, so yeah, so I mean it’s, you know non-issue yeah and but it just you know, everyone deals with things in their their own way, exactly exactly they sure do um uh.
So you can briefly talked about the Marine Corps.
I’M an army veteran, so we’re.
You know whole battle buddies there.
So that’s awesome! Thank you for your service.
Thank you.
Thank you um.
So I did Army.
You did the Marines two a little bit different little different uh camps there um, but tell us about your experience in the Marine Corps, because there’s tons and tons of people that always ask me about boot camp and how it was, and my husband, that’s where I Met him he in the in the military um.
We have two totally different stories: uh.
We both have completely different opinions, which everybody has their own personal opinion on their experiences, but tell us about the Marine Corps a little bit, because I’m sure people ask you all the time they do.
I I actually was just at the ER with my son yesterday.
Last night um for hours – and I happened to sit right next to a guy who was a marine veteran in Vietnam, and we talked for three hours about our experiences so again, generationally it’s it’s very different um.
You know I went in and uh we were the art.
Our platoon was the very first female platoon to train with a weapon during boot camp back in 1985.
with the m16a2, and they wanted to see you know uh, could women train with them and that become a part of their normal training cycle and we successfully completed That, and to this day it that’s the way that it is um, but I went in uh two days after I graduated out of high school and um.
I was in for eight years um I loved just being physical being an athlete.
I loved boot camp um, but I will tell you I went down with two buddies from high school.
We we went in together because I was on delayed entry when I was a junior in high school and the guys they were on the we’re on the bus.
Uh driving to Paris, Island and they, the dis for the men, got on there just screaming, and I and at that moment I’m like.
Oh my god, what have I done yeah, but I knew enough to like just okay.
Keep your mouth closed.
Just do what you’re told to do it yeah.
Well, I was as a kid as you know, as a kid I was very shy.
I was such an introvert.
I didn’t really like come out of my shell.
Probably until you know, 10 years after I was out of the Marine Corps – um yeah, but I um I enjoyed it um I wanted to re-enlist and I had a weight waiver because I you know I was working out lifting all the time playing sports.
But my commanding officer uh, where I was at on my second uh Duty, my second Duty base, because the first Duty base was Japan.
Second one was was uh Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and uh.
He didn’t like the fact that I played Sports.
He liked the fact that I got to um plays softball, for you know two or three weeks out of the year um and he was like nope.
If you can’t.
This was a one week before I was supposed to re-enlist.
He said if you can’t get down to your original weight, I don’t care what kind of weight waiver you have um.
You can’t re-enlist and I just looked at.
I was like well there’s no way, I’m gon na make that you know in one week so yeah.
I guess I’ll go ahead and get out and that’s what I did yeah amen.
The art is funny because um my schooling, I was a 1345 which is heavy equipment operations.
Okay, my schooling was at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, which is an army base.
That’S where I went to boot camp yeah.
Well, the Marine Corps in the Army didn’t get along when we did not yeah, no, not at all.
It was funny we and you know, for females, though it’s kind of funny, at least from what my experience like we were looking at the guys going like what is your problem like stop and the guys were just like bashing heads and I mean we’d go out And we’d all get a hotel room right off base and have the weekends out there and at least every other time get kicked out of the hotel because the guys were just being Knuckleheads.
I’M like seriously like come on now yeah.
I remember in Fort Leonard Wood.
That’S like one of the only bases where the Army and the Marines are on the same base and like we used to cross paths all the time like when we would go to for chow and different stuff and yeah.
I can remember it vaguely I got along with some of the Marine Corps, people that were there um.
Some of them were pretty cool, some of them not so much didn’t really like the other branches, but I really didn’t care.
I thought we were all fighting together.
Didn’T matter to me what you were, that was me, I’m like uh are we aren’t we really kind of all on the same team here yeah we are, but you know there the whole rivalry of which one’s better and who does what and then it it don’t Matter we all work together.
If we actually went to war, we would all be together anyway, we would all become one so like it’s not even worth that battle to me, we’re all we’re all battle Buddies.
If you ask me um, but yeah, that’s awesome! Yeah! I had a totally different experience with the Army, but that’s just my personal.
I went in with a with someone also um, and that just became a big problem for me with the drill sergeants.
The only thing I really didn’t like was basic.
I no problem with any of the physical stuff whatsoever because I was very athletic um them being in my face and spitting on me and yelling at me, and it was very hard for me to hold my tongue.
So that’s where we clashed um so, which makes it worse.
It makes it worse.
So anybody that’s thinking about enlisting out there, learn to hold your tongue or don’t go yeah.
If you can’t, I I tell people, oh now, I’m like you know.
I think it’s great.
If you want to go in and serve our country I’m like, but you know you think you can do what you want and say what you want.
Trust me you’re not doing that so yeah or don’t even bother you’re gon na definitely be sorry uh.
I can tell you from experience so uh just bite.
Your tongue bite your tongue um so from there after.
I know you, you also boxed in the Marines correct.
So no okay, but right after the Marines is when you got into boxing, so tell us how you got into boxing so the way I got into boxing, which actually was quite a ways after I got out of the Marine Corps, I still was playing softball um, A couple different travel leagues – I was playing 24 7 um in North Carolina State.
I remained in North Carolina for a long time about 26 years and um.
That’S when I also played uh when A League of Their Own came out the movie, it re-resurrected the women’s baseball league, so I played a couple: uh Seasons there um and then it got to be where it just wasn’t all that fun anymore.
I was on a very competitive team and I had gotten to the point where I was really.
I mean the rotation in my right shoulder because I’m pure sidearm yeah a short stop third base and yeah yeah, and it just became um kind of painful to play to be honest with you, and it was just got to where I wasn’t ha and I’ve always Said if I got to where I was not having fun, then I I just really wasn’t going to continue to do something right, and I got to that point so I I stopped for I stopped playing.
I made that decision.
I got into a gym just to work out spent about a year thought I wanted to get into bodybuilding, and I was doing really well because because I could put on size pretty easy um.
But then I was just like okay, this um one, I’m bored, and it wasn’t all that challenging for me anymore.
I just I don’t know.
I was looking for something different and I went ahead interviewed for a job uh with a moving company and the president of the company said.
You know asked me a question which I thought was kind of unique.
He goes well.
What do you like to do for fun? You know I’ve just never had like a president of a company just asked me like what do you like to do for fun right and I said well, you know honestly, I’m just looking for something different to do, because um I’m in the gym and I’m a Little bit bored and I used to play softball all the time and he goes I’ll.
Tell you what, if you take the job he goes, we’ve got a contract Packer here and she’s named in my book is my first experience into boxing.
He goes.
Her name is Teresa Arguello and she used to box out in California um in the 80s and 90s late 80s and early 90s, I’m like oh okay or 80s yeah, and so I took the job because I interviewed for one down in Florida as well.
For the same position, but I took the one in North Carolina and so about two weeks later, he introduced me to her and she said: well, you want to learn how to box.
You want.
You want to try a workout and, I said sure, she’ll meet me in the warehouse hotter than hey.
You know Hades, it’s uh right in Raleigh, yeah and she’s and she’s like come on, so she had a pair of gloves.
She put she put gloves on me.
We did about 20 minutes of workout.
That was it the next day it was so sore.
I couldn’t hardly move, and I said I just want to know more yeah, I kind of started the whole love affair with boxing for me yeah.
I I can relate to that so much because I can remember my very first um, my very first serious boxing workout um.
I got into boxing after the Army um but yeah.
I can remember the very first one and the the day after being so sore, but the day after that, like barely being able to move – and I and I had played just like you literally every sport there is – I played competitive softball as an adult.
I played all of them in in high school and it was literally the most brutal sport for a full body.
Workout.
There is so I always tell everybody if you’re looking for a full body workout, even if you don’t want to compete, one is good self-defense and two you literally work head to toe and all you got to do is like hit the mitts hit the bag.
Like your whole body, You’re Gon na Hurt in places you didn’t even know possible could hurt and it’s not a lie like I’m serious exactly so yeah, it’s good! It’S good! It’S good! It’S good! Uh, Mad Chad Sports! Welcome in he says, yay boxing greatest sport on Earth.
Well, we agreed.
We agree.
We 100 agree with you.
There welcome in thanks for joining us today, great story.
He says we’re only a partially in there Chad stick around, we just started um, so did you.
So I know um I had a few things issues or whatever, but did you have any issues with finding coaching trainers that you know in the male dominant sport uh not wanting to work with females? Did you have any issues getting a good trainer uh? You know.
I I wouldn’t say that I had as much of an issue finding trainers as I had an issue finding the right trainer for me um to have that good fit, and that’s that is not to take away from you know.
I trained uh, Harold cook, cook, coach Cook and, and some of these guys were even a part of the team.
Even you know here and there in between after I got with my full-time coach, which was coach, Anthony Bradley, who was a army army uh.
As you say, Army Bratt as well Army, brat yeah, but uh yeah.
He was in for 24 years and of course he uh was part of uh, the coaching staff for the men’s U.
S Olympic boxing team for three Olympics, and so I feel very blessed, and that was just by way of uh.
My best one of my best friends, Paul marinaccio who’s, a boxer um, but you know I had Harold cook and and before Harold I had another gentleman that was in Durham North Carolina and you know he was to me.
He was kind of trying to make me into something I wasn’t instead of taking what I had in my length, because I I have Gorilla arms, my arms are longer than most men’s um.
You know he’s trying to make me an inside fighter, which you know wasn’t comfortable for me, especially when I was just learning: that’s my biggest pet peeve with coaches, that is like my biggest pet peeve and and that’s I always tell people, especially when I’m working with Boxers now I’m like look, I’m not trying to make you who I want you to be I’m trying to make you the best version of who you are are yeah and work on your weaknesses and increase your strengths, because you know why am I going to try To when you’ve got arms that are six foot long, why do I want to make you Mike Tyson? I’M not going to do that? I yes, I personally worked uh with some coaches, and I mean they wanted me to be what their style and that that they trained one style, and that was not me and – and you know they tried to force it and so yeah um.
That is to to this day, my biggest pet peeve with coaches is trying to force someone to be someone they’re.
Not you have to let them show you what they can do already and then you just build on their strengths and you add to it and that will make for a phenomenal fighter.
If you change them, they’re never going to be comfortable and it’s just not going to work in the long run it might work temporarily yeah, but it’s not going to work, long term, right and and so yeah.
So you know to your point: um I went through you know a couple trainers um.
I I, when I was started out as an amateur I had uh walked into this.
One gym that looked like it was, should have been condemned and, and probably really was, but we were all in there anyway, and they just it was right when they saw Christy.
Martin on the cover of Sports Illustrated and they so they see a female walk in they’re like oh and literally two weeks after I stepped into that gym.
My first time ever because I was with Teresa aguelo, but she kind of got me ready and we did some stuff, but we hadn’t gotten into the USA, boxing amateur uh circuit yet and um, and then she ended up having to step back because her her fiance At the time wanted more time with her, and you know she was spending a lot of time with me to get me ready yeah.
So I, when I walked into this other gym just trying to look for a place to work out, he’s the only place.
I could find um, you know they just kind of saw dollar signs, so the very first amateur bout that I had in North Carolina, which was two weeks after I stepped into that gym, was down in Wilmington North Carolina and it was Deirdre Fabian and she had Just won, I think it was a silver at the Georgia State Games.
She had just come back from that, and that was my very first bout and I mean it was.
It was a rough uh intro to boxing it was my first fight.
I came down my arm.
My hands were really were down like this coming across and I heard the uh, the crowd going, go, Deidra, kill her and I’m like killer like isn’t this like just like uh like what are you talking about killer? This is a sport.
I’M like calm down, calm down over there and and but not kidding.
I go across like this she’s she’s very well coached and trained, and she sees it and she just comes across and I’m just inching kind of Orange.
He Sprints and runs right a right hand right to the and it just everything was black yeah, and I I mean I survived, because that was kind of my Mo.
I could I was tough, you could hit me.
It was going to take a lot and um and I won’t I wasn’t gon na quit on my own, no ever and uh the second round, they finally threw in the towel, and I was like thank God.
Thank you because right like thank you, because I could not do that myself.
I couldn’t do it myself and she was going.
She was about ready to kill me and she was like four inches shorter than I was I’m like, but I mean I just I didn’t know anything you’re brand new.
I it’s so funny, I’m sitting here like cracking up inside because we have a very similar.
Like start to women’s boxing, because my very first gym that I went to um love him to death, Jess coach Jesse Torres, he was a fighter too, but Mexican style um.
That was the very first gym I walked into when I got out of the service and went back to Illinois, and I could just immediately throwing me in for sparring with all these like young, Mexican boys and uh.
You know you know the style um, so I mean I learned.
I mean that was going to be my style regardless, because I was just a bulldog fighter, but two weeks after I started training, they had the Chicago Golden Gloves and he’s like.
Oh, I need to put you in the gloves and I’m like okay cool yeah.
I mean I don’t know much but sure.
Well, I didn’t know there was a difference between novice and open and, like all the different divisions, because I didn’t know about boxing at the time and he’s like yeah we’re gon na put you in the open division.
You don’t want to fight those novice girls like you, will just will you just whoop up on them like I’m, like whatever coach? Like I mean, I don’t know whatever you say so like he made me this book like because you got to have fights to fight in the open division, right yeah, and I can remember at that time I was fighting at 138.
I obviously went way down after that, but I was started out at 138 and I can remember because I’m only 5’4 and the girl first girl I went in to fight was six like six two like a tree and when we walked to the ring – and I Saw her on the other side and I’m like that’s not like: that’s not how I’m fighting she’s like a damn skyscraper and I’m 5’4 and they’re like yeah and then so.
Then I see the books because you know they got the books sitting right there.
She had like 60, something fights oh and I’m like.
I don’t even know what the I’m doing I’ve been in here two weeks I mean I got I’m I mean I, whatever I’m not gon na quit.
I won the fight just because I stayed in her face.
Like I, she didn’t have a chance to set up and I was in her chest the whole damn time, but I’m telling you I look like I got hit by a bus afterwards and stuff um, but hey.
I guess.
Sometimes you just throw them into the shark and then you either sink or swim right and and and like you same way with me, I mean we swam and we kept above water sometimes barely.
But you know I I so after that, first very first amateur belt, um, the very two weeks later there was one in Greensboro North Carolina and at the gym that it was at it was a gym, ran and owned by Cheryl Nance, who had fought or well Later on, went to fight Christy, Martin and you know a bunch of others and so we’re up there and who’s.
My opponent again this time, Deirdre Fabian, two weeks later same girl, I’m like holy geez like what is this really how this goes like so do I have anybody else, yeah is there? No one else in North Carolina like there’s, got to be some other girl somewhere, and I think it was like at 1 47.
.
So I fought her and this time we went three rounds or we went the distance.
You know, and – and it was a much better fight and that right after the fight Cheryl came up to me and she said: listen, I’m not trying to she goes.
First of all, it took guts to get back in there against the girl that you know basically whipped my tail because she was there with her team down in Wilmington and uh.
She goes, but you know who are you working with? I said well, I’m really just kind of on my own, but I mean I’m with these guys because I I don’t know anybody else and she goes well.
If you want to come up here and just see what we’ve got you know, just I’m not trying to pull you for anybody, but you know at least we can get you some more work.
So I started traveling from Raleigh to Greensboro, which was quite a distance and eventually long story, short uh.
After two more, I think it was like two more fights um.
I I was Owen four, I’m like we’re like.
Well, let’s go up to the US Nationals.
It was the women’s first U.
S Nationals out in California, and I’m like why not so as an 014 fighter went out there, I’m like at least we guess I can get some more experience, yeah and see what’s out there and I you know, ended up winning the Bronze nice and then the following year won the bronze again at 154.
um.
But I mean I look at all the girls that were you know, fighting back then um as amateurs, and you know many of them went pro um, so some didn’t, but like Dakota, Stone and uh, you know all those girls um.
I still have a shirt somewhere.
That’S got all their names, Jamie, McGrath and and uh it’s kind of fun to go back and look and see all that have you know that went on and did more in the sport exactly yeah, so yeah yeah lots of girls that um I was amateur with Sweat Pro lots of them um, which was nice nice to see them um, okay over here in the chat.
Let me real quick because we got Angie um Angie Passmore is an amateur fighter that I met at the hall of fame inductions um.
She will be there again this year, so you’ll get to meet.
Angie Angie is wonderful.
Um, she said: hey, ladies lovely loving.
The story boxing is the best sport on the planet.
I did all the sports too, but boxing was the best you got it Angie, absolutely um.
Yes, texiana Cobb levels to this.
There is definitely levels to this for sure.
Um.
You weren’t a woman’s boxing fan until you listened to both of us much much respect Warriors.
While we appreciate you, then, because we like to turn everybody into women’s boxing fans, because women’s boxing is awesome, it sure is she’ll stick around and join us every week, because we have a different uh amazing fighter on here every week: um, okay, so moving on from There you got the metals and the and then, and then what was the deciding factor to GoPro uh.
Well, I had an asthma attack training for another amateur belt.
I was running Sprints had an asthma attack um.
Luckily, in that part of uh in Greensboro, there was a a fire station with an ambulance just 30 seconds down the road.
Otherwise I wouldn’t be here yep, and so I ended up having to go to Duke University Hospital Duke hospital to have a lot of tests and stuff done.
I was off for over a year trying to get my lungs back and stuff, and at that point really it was a decision of what am I going to do because of my age.
I was at that point.
I was going to have to go Masters um.
There wasn’t really Masters back at that point like there is now for women right and it was hard enough as it was back then to get bouts.
You had to travel all over the country.
Much less.
You know.
Try to do as a as a a masters, so I just made the decision to go pro at that point and uh, then kind of did the same thing: the offer over 0 and 4 before going on and and winning.
I think it was nine after that, including the first world title uh and you know I think I think, especially with boxing it just it’s about persistence and and uh.
You know if it’s what’s in your heart, to do you and you just got ta, dig in deep and go for it and you know that’s.
I know you did that.
I I’ve done that a lot of the women that came up during our time, yeah um.
You know and like you uh Brooke and myself, you know there’s a lot of us like Yvonne.
We didn’t have the same support like they do now and like some people like Christy, you know Christy and Lucia Riker, Chrissy, Martin, Lucia, Riker and wolf.
They had, they all had a lot more backing.
Yes, um, you know and – and that’s not that’s nothing against them, because you know their fan, they’re, amazing athletes and and champions um, but for the rest of us I mean we didn’t get that we all got the calls we’d get the calls.
We got the calls for Anne wolf yeah.
You know I got the call for Mia St John.
I got the call for you know all these girls Laura Ramsey and it was either.
You know it was always a b side which you know.
I don’t care.
I because my goal is always to go out there and win.
I don’t I don’t care how you’re looking at me when you’re putting me in there um, but you know um, you know Chrissy and I got a raw deal.
We were gon na fight at the Richmond Coliseum in uh.
Richmond Virginia is the headliner uh Main Event Hector Camacho Jr was the co-main event, and you know when you talk about the downside of boxing.
You know it was a female promoter who didn’t know what she was doing.
You know, I think I feel like she probably had good intentions right, but when you don’t sell tickets, you and you’re not doing the right things.
You don’t have the right people backing you.
You know she started in on this promoter started in on trying to play the blame game, and you know she didn’t realize that, like Christy’s team and and us you know, we were talking and yeah the line she was feeding was a bunch of BS and we Called him out on it and called the commission on it, and, and lo and behold they tried to still have the fight they.
We had signed like three months prior to that the contract for the fights and it was gon na, be it was gon na.
Be a fight for an nabf um and then from there.
Obviously, the winner would go on have a chance to the WBC, yeah and uh, so we were all excited about it.
Christy had like three bus loads of people already tickets already sold.
I had a ton of people because it wasn’t that far of a drive from North Carolina, so we had a ton of people coming.
It wasn’t a lack of us and they tried to.
You know say that Christy was asking for too much money and I knew that was crap, because I knew what Chrissy generally made and what she’s going to make for this fight and we all made concessions, yeah and then um.
So we we ended up having to get you know, threatened to have you know, lawyers involved and stuff and said: look you’re, not gon na.
You know you can’t put this fight on unless you have us on the card, because we’ve signed up contracts and they still up until the last day.
The day before the the fights they already tried to change the venue to a smaller venue, they bumped Hector, Camacho Jr up to the main event, pulled us off the card and ultimately they they couldn’t do the fight because they still didn’t have enough tickets sold or You know the money to back it and it it fell through and they had to cancel it um.
But you know when you talk about the dirty side of of the business, I mean: that’s it yeah.
You know pointing fingers at other people when you know the fighters we just wanted to fight there was there was nothing on them apart.
Nothing! No, you know except except blame.
You didn’t pull it off that you know things happen, that’s fine, but don’t don’t try to make excuses and try to blame somebody else, because you know discredit Christie or myself or anybody else, because it was neither one of us.
No, no.
You guys just wanted to fight.
You didn’t care about anything thing else.
So right, yeah, that’s that’s! Definitely one one dirty side of the women’s boxing for sure um, Mad Chad, all my favorite boxers had a loss or losses a very dirty business in boxing.
Yes, it is Chad, and that is why we have this show because um there are so many people out there that do not know the BS that we had to deal with as women in boxing it’s it’s on the men’s side too.
Don’T get me wrong um, but it’s way worse on the women’s side, especially for the pioneers and the past boxers before today’s era um.
Nobody knows the truth in women’s boxing and all the BS that we all had to individually deal with um, and I felt like it was time that even the fighters of today really understand what we all went through to get it to where it is today, because They don’t have, nobody has a clue because we never talked about it.
Nobody ever talked about it.
Nobody wanted to talk about the BS they dealt with.
Nobody want to talk about the scams they dealt with.
Nobody want to throw anybody under the bus and not get fights.
You know nobody want to talk about that because then you’re like um, if I say something wrong, I’m not going to get a fight at all.
Nobody want to make excuses or people have people saying.
Oh you’re just making excuses um, but I felt like it was time.
You know, we’ve all been retired long enough at this point, don’t really care what anybody thinks, but I feel like people need to know the truth, so they can really understand how bad it was for some of us um yeah, and that’s just it right.
I mean you know I’ll give you.
You know two quick examples: uh the second one I’ll save, which is an Ann Wolf and and them calling me about that one.
But the first one is my very first pro fight.
I got a call um to fight Nikki epleon out in Lexington Kentucky and I’m yeah.
I didn’t have a coach.
I didn’t.
I was just in transitioning from the one person I was working with to not having anyone yet, but I’m like my mentality, was, if I don’t get out there.
If I don’t get in the ring and people don’t start hearing my name, I’m never gon na get a chance.
I’M never going to get an opportunity right.
So I took it I had to drive.
I think it was like eight and a half hours drove by myself.
Um got out there.
They put me in this hotel that was so disgusting um.
I had to go to the Target buy stuff to clean the hotel room – oh Lord yeah, so I could stay there yeah, but I’ve been in one of those and then I go to the weigh-in.
I don’t see Nikki anywhere, I’ve been there too yeah and and being my first pro fight like, I didn’t even know what what was what I didn’t know what was supposed to happen how it’s supposed to happen.
I had this UNC uh hoodie on.
I had this other guy come up to me and he’s like.
Oh, I like your hoodie um, he goes uh.
He just asked me where I was from.
I told him and he goes well who’s working your corner.
I said I have no idea, I’m like I’m here by myself and he goes well I’ll work it for you.
If you need someone to work, he goes I’m here to watch some other Fighters out of Ohio and I’m like okay um turns out he’s a world champion that ended up working my corner.
I didn’t know that till afterwards yeah I I lucked out, but I got on the scale.
I was like one one and a half pounds under the weigh in weight which was 154.
well.
She was 27 pounds heavier.
They announced her weight while we’re standing in the ring getting ready to fight.
I was like okay, this is Kentucky commission for you, I guess, and we fought now.
She had knocked out all of her opponents prior to that within the first round, and she was a southpaw.
I had no idea what to do with the Southpaw no and about the second round uh she caught.
She thumbed me not on purpose, but she thumbed me and I was seeing three of her and they they just told me, Michael.
It was Michael Clark.
He was a lightweight uh world champion.
He goes just throw your punches straight.
Just keep throwing your punches straight and that’s all I could do yeah, but we we ended up uh.
That was the first time anyone took her the distance and then I’d be.
I actually went out and then went out one time to be a sparring partner to help her try to get ready for uh Layla when she fought Laila Ali, but um man.
I was mad that I mean it was it’s crap like that that back in the day happened to us all the time.
Yes, that happened to me as well: um yeah, when I fought Janine Garside, she never weighed in at all.
You know – and she was way bigger than me, but I had people that had bought tickets and drove all the way out to see the fight, and I was like there’s no way, I’m not fighting.
I didn’t even see her until we did the ring walk until she walked out in the ring.
She never even was at the weigh-in or anything um, and I mean you could just tell she was twice as big as me when we stepped in the ring um that and then um the metal knee brace that she used to wear.
That was another problem that I and I had, but that’s a whole nother day for a whole nother story.
But yes, just to reiterate, I have been in the exact same scenario with the weigh-in and you know we were young and dumb and I wanted to fight anyways and I thought you know I had people that came all the way there to watch the fight.
So we’re not backing out of this.
I don’t care about that um, but yeah.
That was a whole hoo-ha.
So but that’s my story, yeah and I I mean you know I’m driving back home after the fight the next day.
I was like man.
What was I thinking, but at the same time I mean I knew what I was thinking.
I would I needed to get my name out there and the calls did start coming because no one had gone the distance until that point, so they’re kind of like well who’s this yeah.
So I mean it served its purpose: yeah um, probably not the smartest move, but it just was what it was back.
Then you know and then get calls from like to fight Anne wolf.
Well little did they know.
I had sat at a at that point.
I had sat um down in Florida after one of my fights um on an all women’s card, and it’s when I thought Yvonne and I’m sitting there watching her fight, Marcia Valley and I watch I watch and do an uppercut like this and watch Marshall Valley’s feet.
Both at the same time come off of the the canvas yeah and I was like holy crap and I talked to Anne afterwards that night for a while um super sweet, and then I get the call, I don’t even know it was probably a year, a couple Years later – and you want to know if I’d fight, Anne wolf and I was like well yeah I’ll fight, her um, the weight was right.
I think it was gon na be like around 160.
um and then they told me what they wanted to pay.
I was like look.
You saw what she did.
Devonda Ward, I’m like I’m, not gon na return Award right, I’m like I’m, not gon na turn it down.
I don’t turn it down for anybody, but come on.
I mean you wan na give you want to throw 3 500 and think that I’m gon na think that’s a good payday against Anne wolf right.
I’M, like I know, I’m putting my life on the line getting in there with her, I said, but I’m not afraid to get in with her, but I’m not doing it for peanuts right and, of course, when I told my I I at this point I was With Anthony coach Anthony Bradley, I told him what they were offering he’s like nope, and I said oh no, I already told him no.
I said I I said I will, if you make the money right right, I’m like it was a six round.
Six round of that, I’m like yeah, but you know I’m like no, no, not happening no, not today or not.
Tomorrow.
Call me back when you got that figured out: okay yeah! When you get that money right, let me know and I’ll I’ll be there yeah.
We don’t we don’t do uh no’s, but uh.
We do notice.
Stupidity.
Sometimes you have to just say no just say no okay and walk away, just yeah um.
I know you also had some issues.
If I remember right you talking about it with Holly Holmes right.
Getting that well, we didn’t have.
We really didn’t have any issue with I mean we were offered the fight.
We took the fight um and again.
This was before I ended up getting with Coach Bradley.
So this is when I was with Harold cook.
We had just gotten together the week before.
Okay and again, we were like okay, you know, let’s, let’s take the fight, get our name out there um, I didn’t know much about her and they they fly us out a day and a half before the fight.
That was it now.
Anyone that knows, Albuquerque New Mexico understands 5000 feet above sea level.
Of course, I didn’t really know for real what that did to your body, um yeah, we got out there.
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