AIR DATE:
EPISODE: Episode 1
Join me on Tuesday May 23rd at 8:30pm EST as we switch things up with a very special guest! We will be discussing the female USA Boxing Female Amateur side of the sport! We will be learning about how the amateur female games have changed and are coming along with growth over the last 10+ years! We will be joined by Michael Campbell the USA Boxing National Events & Operations Senior Manager talking about changes and growth over the last decade and a very big 1st Ever all Woman’s Boxing Championship being held in Toledo Ohio in July! You don’t want to miss all the great news and info about the amateur female boxing games! Set your reminders! See you there!
#femaleboxing #amateurboxing #usaboxing #teamusa #historyinthemaking #firstever #allwomanschampionships #mikecampbell #nopunchespulledwithnomercy #boxingsaveslives #startingyoung #brooke”nomercy”dierdorff-millbrook @MikeCampbell @Brooke”NoMercy”Dierdorff-Millbrook @Nopunchespulledwithnomercy @talkinfight @usaboxing @MichaelCampbell
Transcribed
Here it is Tuesday night, so you already know what time it is.
It’S time for no punches pulled with me, no mercy.
Some of you probably already know who I am, but those of you that don’t my name is Brooke Millbrook.
I am your host, Formerly Known in the fight game as Brooke no mercy deardorff.
I am a retired professional boxer held the WBC lightweight title until I retired and I was inducted into the international women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 2022.
.
I have been through some good.
Some bad and, of course, a lot of BS in the sport of women’s boxing.
Welcome to my platform.
This is where we talk to talk and we walk the walk.
We will bring out the truth in women’s boxing and behind the scenes stuff that nobody knows about we’re we’re going to talk to pioneers of the sport past boxers current boxers, even future boxers we get down and dirty here and speak the truth of what takes place In women’s boxing, you don’t want to miss a single episode, so please make sure that you like subscribe and share.
So you don’t miss us live here every Tuesday night on no punches pulled with no mercy, but today, though y’all we have we’re switching things up.
A little bit with a very special guest in the house we’re going to be discussing the female USA, boxing amateur side of the sport, we’re going to learn about how the amateur female side of boxing has changed and has and how it’s coming, along with growth growth.
Over the last decade, or so we’re going to be talking with Michael Campbell Michael is the USA boxing National events and operations, senior manager, we’re going to be discussing the growth and changes in female boxing and we’re going to be talking about a huge, huge historic.
First.
Ever in Women’s Amateur Boxing, the first ever all-female Women’s Championship that will be held in Toledo Ohio this coming July.
Please help me welcome Michael Campbell to the show hey Michael.
Thank you so much for joining me.
How are you I’m doing great doing great thanks for having me on pleasure to be with you, thanks for all that you do for uh, for the sport of boxing and for promoting it and growing it and uh.
I’M just glad to be here and talk about some uh things going on in the amateur game right now.
Yes, I’m so excited to learn and – and I had a brief amateur career, so I can’t even really say I knew a whole lot about it, because I only had 15 fights um before I turned Pro, but I know a lot has changed since I was fighting At the gloves and doing the tournaments and stuff, so I’m super excited to hear all about it.
I know when I had Zion on a few weeks ago: um her dad was super excited about the stuff coming up and we talked a bit and he recommended me having you on um about this tournament.
So I’m super excited to to get into like what’s new in the amateur world yeah.
I know it’s funny, because I did look up your amateur you’re still in our database.
There you boxed out of Illinois yeah yeah Chicago, I lived in the suburbs, but I fought out of Chicago.
I won the Nationals um a couple times.
I won the Chicago Golden Gloves: um yeah, that’s really the my most fights were at the gloves: um yeah yep yep.
I just got back from the national Golden Gloves.
Uh, where you know it was awesome to see uh women’s boxing alongside you know, one for one.
Uh they had finals uh, and you know that’s only been a couple of years that they’ve even Advanced the national competition.
So it was great to be a part of that event.
You know in in growth in all aspects, um.
In fact, I was a ring Captain and the ring Captain sitting.
Next to me we were code.
Captains was uh, Lizette, Nelson from Minnesota, so you know we have uh female participation in all aspects.
Really, that’s kind of um leads into the goals of this.
This tournament and the initiatives uh that we’re trying to do with USA boxing is, is uh, created, more opportunities and uh growth and more participation in the sport for everyone, yeah absolutely yeah.
I mean I can remember even when I fought in the golden gloves and the Golden Gloves Nationals.
Um I mean I had several fights.
Sometimes sometimes I have one.
Sometimes I have three um, it just kind of depended, but I know there was a huge difference between we always had to like kind of wait until like the end of the tournament, because there were so many guys, your brackets are smaller yeah, it’s not evening out Now so that, like every day, there’s females, there might have been one female on every day like that was it’s definitely still a challenge and there’s still a lot of work to be done.
Um, but but that’s the problem is uh.
There isn’t as much participation.
You see that on the pros and the amateurs as well uh, there isn’t the depth in each bracket so uh.
So there isn’t as many competition opportunities uh even at our national tournaments, um that there you might be in it find yourself in a bracket of one or two or be unopposed or um.
You know uh, never usually more than a bracket of eight, but but that’s the goal of this women’s event is is to bring everyone together in one event, so that way, it’s not spread out.
Over the year, uh Junior Olympics national championships, qualifiers uh, have everybody at one event and uh subtract the men and then have uh uh three rings available for for us to box every day.
Yeah um yeah, that’s gon na be awesome.
I’M super excited about it.
Um.
First, can you tell us, though, a little bit about your background, how you found yourself involved in boxing? Oh thanks for asking so um after college, I moved to Houston and I was working offshore.
I was doing uh an oil and gas job and had a little free time, so I started going to local boxing events and uh started to get more interested and created sort of a media role uh covering covering matches for uh for websites and newspapers, um that Increased eventually, I had a magazine called undefeated magazine that I published there uh and then um got involved in the LBC uh.
I just started covering the Golden Gloves: go in there and doing interviews and going to gyms getting to meet boxers like Hyundai, Fountain, um, Juan Diaz Ronnie Shields, those boxers Rocky Juarez and then um.
The LBC asked me to get involved.
I became there on their board and started a refereeing judge, and I found that so much more redeeming um in fulfilling than that.
The previous media role and I could contribute a lot more and felt like I was making a difference.
Eventually, I started administrating tournaments on bigger tournaments, which then took me to the Nationals along the way.
Um I worked with.
We created a group.
There called the gulf women of strength, which was a women’s committee that uh then brought to fruition.
An idea I had was was the Texas Women’s Championship, I’m really proud of the gulf LBC they’ve kept it going uh they just had their seventh iteration will be having their eighth uh Texas Women’s championships, this uh September over Labor Day weekend – and I was really proud Of that event, the first year was a two-day show.
We had ages from 9 to 62, we had Masters bouts, we had heavyweight bouts uh, it was even televised uh.
So so I was real proud of that accomplishment and you know really a lot what we were doing on the women’s uh national uh.
The Women’s National event now is built upon that that structure that platform or that uh, that same uh formula, that we did the Texas Women’s Championship so um.
I started working at the Nationals um.
It could be in the tournament director and administrator and then uh once our new acts are now.
Our current executive director was hired um.
I I discussed with them potentially coming on board and he brought me on as the operations and events manager, where I think I’m celebrating about my seventh year now: lots of national tournaments I’ve done about 25 consecutive Nationals in a row and uh.
Just I’m just excited to every single one is excited.
We’Re headed to the Junior Olympics here in uh two weeks and and everyone creates new opportunities and fresh faces and relationships with she’s, a boxers and growth of officials.
I’M really proud of what we’ve accomplished at these National events, so now we’re going to take that to the next stage of this uh this all-female event.
So that’s a little that’s nutshell, my background yeah, I love it it I love it.
I always like to hear the backgrounds, because I I didn’t believe that I from looking you up, I didn’t see any fight experience, so it’s always intriguing to like figure out why people kind of went to boxing like people always ask me that why boxing so that’s A good question always what brought us to it.
You know I was always a sports fan growing up, but boxing was was the one that that Drew me in the most.
You know that’s where um you know it’s just it’s pure competition, once two combatants get in the ring, you know with the support of other trainers and rest periods and uh to me that was uh.
That was the most exciting sport.
I can remember growing up watching Larry Holmes and Jerry Cooney and Hagler Hearns and Sugar, Ray Leonard and durian and uh just uh being captivated, and I was hooked forever, so so once uh.
So it’s natural once I started getting involved in the sport.
I wanted to get more and more into it and um.
You know, and I still continue to to referee and judge today I live in Colorado.
Now I stole on Saturdays, go to the local shows and help out there.
I just uh rj’d at the national Golden Gloves, so you know that’s my way to continue that volunteer capacity while still making uh this my uh my career and my uh um.
My purpose yeah Colorado is nice, though um.
When I was in the Army, I was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, okay, the wcap team.
Is there coach, Levin Chris Downes leading up? I always said I met him in the service.
That’S where we met is in Fort Carson, Colorado um, but I always said, like I didn’t even know there was like that was an option to like box in the middle, like that, like your job in the military would be like boxing.
I never even knew that, or I would have started earlier.
You know, what’s been really impressive is is uh.
Their wcap team is almost 50 50 male female.
Now they’ve really grown um female positions on that team and uh soldiers up as part of that program um.
I used to have a roommate that was uh, that was a w cap athlete in USA, Triathlon and uh, and you know uh part of it is growth and opportunity and they recognize uh the the the Opera, the creating those roles and an opportunity for them to Uh achieve medals and greatness, so so it’s great to have seen witness that and at the same time here in Colorado Springs.
We have the Air Force Academy and uh the work that Blake Blake baldy and Eddie wishers before him and Terry green now are doing there.
I get to go over and referee their sparring and their their uh, their wing open, and there they’ve got a huge female population uh as part of that uh program, 62 active boxers and uh every time, there’s three or when they have a fight night of 11 Bouts there’s three or four female bouts on every show um and they then they had a woman win her fourth consecutive Wing open this year, so so even opportunities there on campus uh are abound.
Yeah, that’s okay! I didn’t start back until after we got out really.
I mean I got interested in it in the service, but didn’t really start until after I got out.
You know, Brooke, that’s one of the great things about the current status of uh female participation in boxing is.
Is it your generation was a lot of crossover athletes? You know you grew up with different opportunities and then found boxing whether it was through Fitness or second career um, but now you’re, seeing even starting with like a the group of Merlin esparza’s group that went through that London Olympic games, uh now you’re seeing uh the Female boxers that was their first sport.
They walked into a gym at seven and eight years old and started competing right away.
Now they still had.
They still had challenges and opportunities in uh sticking with it, but but now it’s a whole different um uh matter.
Now.
Now uh now uh women’s boxing uh is has the same fundamentals in the same uh timeline or training, uh Career Training, a lifespan as as the men and that’s where we’re seeing increased depth and uh in deeper rankings and opportunities and the competition and the level of Athletes is grown tremendously, since even my time um, because the girls are starting out young um, not I mean some of them did back then, but not very many.
We all mostly got a later start or at least teens before we started.
I didn’t start till.
I was in my 20s, but um.
The girls now are starting just like the boys at you know: five, six, seven, eight years old learning the sport um and sticking with it.
So it’s it’s awesome to see the growth and the determination and then being able to start so young and make it a full lifetime career um, because we just didn’t have those opportunities.
Then, ah yeah we’ve got the junior National Junior Olympics coming up in a couple weeks and we’ve got a strong registration of kiwi females and Bantam females intermediate females, so those younger ages, uh those divisions, are packed.
Some of them have six seven eight boxers in them.
So yeah we’re definitely seeing an increase at the younger ages.
You know and as as culture changes and and uh perceptions, change amongst coaches and parents and and demographics are are more accepting uh.
That’S that’s.
Those are the key factors that are increasing those opportunities.
It used to be where a dad would take his son to the gym and his sister had to stand on the side um.
But now it’s you know.
Coaches are given the same opportunities and they’re training alongside each other there’s some gyms I’ve seen they’re almost 50 50 in training and uh.
Even in Mexico, some of the local shows are packed with female bouts um, there’s crazy opportunities and growth in all aspects.
Um, when you first got involved in boxing in the boxing business, and you started working with USA boxing on a higher level, what was your first goals and Visions with USA, boxing team for the female side yeah, so most of it is to create a platform so That the coaches and boxers could Thrive.
Um, I don’t like you said I didn’t box, I don’t.
I don’t teach how to throw a punch, I that that there’s lots of coaches who have that, but I recognized early on that.
I had skills that uh.
Maybe some weren’t were lacking in the sport, that um administrative skills, organizational skills, Innovations and ideas, and – and that’s where I think, if I can bring those to fruition and create that platform, create the opportunities.
Then coaches can come forward and do what they do and boxers can can um can have a platform to thrive and display their talents.
So that’s what I’m most proud of is um.
You know everybody’s been to a show that was disorganized that started late or um.
Maybe something bad happened and you’d left a bad taste in your mouth, so what our goal is at Nationals is to have smooth check-in lots of information.
So that way you know when you’re competing.
You know when you need to be on weight.
So that way you can Thrive.
You can get your rest, get your nutrition and be 100 when the bell rings and give your best performance.
Sure everybody who’s been in a situation that maybe something could have been different in their prep, that that would have – and it probably was out of their control.
So that’s what I’m most proud of is is having that ease.
We start at noon sharp every every single day, I’m proud of that, and then we get the bouts in and then the work.
I’Ve done a lot of work with the refereeing judges committee at USA.
Boxing to help improve the quality of that pool, because without accurate decisions, then it doesn’t matter.
None of us need to be here um.
None of us need to it’s all wasted effort, so we’ve done a lot of work and that’s a kind of a tangent to what we’re talking about.
But the goal is to to eliminate bad decisions, and we can only do that by by recruiting good people giving them empowering them with training.
And then we evaluate them, and then we have the best ones move forward and the the ones who need Improvement are are counseled and retrained and the ones that don’t cut it then there’s other positions for you, um there’s.
You never turn away a good volunteer, but those are key factors in the success of the sport and success of the athletes and coaches and giving them those uh those opportunities um, most part of the the progress and the growth of the National Tournament yeah.
It’S part of what so that you’ve been with USA boxing, so it’s uh philosophical changes, it’s um changing of uh being electrical dinosaurs or Old Guard uh.
This is the way we’ve always done it.
This is this is set.
You know um things things like the common sense rule where, if you’re out of post, you don’t need to travel to step on a scale and waste money, save those funds um, I’m I just put on the unopposed list for the Junior Olympics and said: hey you.
Don’T have to come, let’s keep that money, maybe come to the uh to the women’s event or come to the last chance qualifier Nationals, so so common sense things like that weren’t being done so so those kinds of Innovations on things like the silver gloves didn’t have Female competition, many when I first got involved now now they’re very proud of that and and they Thrive and they they expanded the tournament same thing with the Golden Gloves same thing with uh Olympic opportunities uh.
So so those those kinds of uh progress, Progressive changes.
I would say are by far then things like sanctioning policies and making sure that boxers and coaches aren’t taken advantage of uh and that the money that’s earned from amateur boxing is reinvested back in amateur boxing.
That’S a non-profit sport.
It’S not professional! There’S! No Don Kings! In amateur boxing, um, no and and so those kinds of things that are, that are just common sense initiatives, but we need to ensure the health of the Grassroots.
In order for the sport to continue to thrive, I like to say that boxing um doesn’t exist in a classroom or textbook.
You don’t watch all the YouTube videos you want, but boxing is taught in gyms it’s an apprenticeship.
It is a it sits inside of trainers and it was put there by their trainer, probably as a as a as a boxer and and now um.
Those boxes now Harbor that knowledge that sits in all those boxers and trainers of America in the world and so uh, so giving them opportunities to to express that and build that and and into display what they’ve worked on and what they’ve uh show achieve.
What they’ve tried to accomplish uh every night in the gym, those thankless nights of sweat, that nobody notices or or acknowledges? That’S that’s what um my main goals and what I’m really proud of yeah and that’s so true, um and most people.
If you don’t either you know or you you know, or you know or you don’t know, one of the other reasons either you know or you don’t um, but a lot of things happen in the gym.
We’Ll just put it that way.
Um tell us about this.
Historical first ever all-female Women’s Championship, that’s coming up in July, so it’s not too far off in Toledo, Ohio, I’m so excited for it explain to us um the tournament and like how it’s going to work and all the good stuff about it.
Yeah absolutely so! There’S a lot of aspects to that, but let’s start with how it evolved, why it’s happening um in 2017, 2018, USA, boxing uh, redefined its strategic plan and part of that was the growth of female participation in all aspects.
Boxers, coaches and officials and there’s been rarest initiatives to do that, and one of them was to create an all-female event and we’ll talk about the reasons why um and so it then covet happened and that kind of set it back and yeah.
Like I said earlier, the Texas Women’s championships kind of uh provided that that uh that structure um, so I knew how to do it.
I had the the vision for it.
So so it took a little while um the USA boxing Foundation.
Uh gave us a grant to put on this event so thankful to them, but um in my um conversations with different destinations.
I met with uh destination Toledo and uh, and I floated that idea that concept and it was uh.
You know two ships passing in the night that needed each other.
The Stars, aligned and uh came together, um there’s they have a terrific city, council and County, a comptroller awesome mayor there that all saw the value of boxing in their local community, and they saw that this is an event that they wanted to bring there and it.
It’S it takes all those factors to come together to to make an event land uh such as that, so so, of course women boxing every one of our tournaments, but they only they make up about 20 of our national championships, our Theos, which is interesting because it’s Only about female membership is about 12 of our membership, so that shows that they will come to National tournaments because there’s opportunities there, and we all know that uh there’s lack of opportunities, locally uh, some of the bigger cities there are.
There are a good uh, uh matchups, but it’s difficult for a female boxer, especially in the younger ages, find local matches.
The example I I use is: let’s say you have two twins, a male and a female and and they they walk into a gym.
At eight years old, well by the time, they’re 12, the boil will probably have about 40 batches and a bro would be lucky to be seven or eight belts.
You know, and they would both go to every event.
They both hunt every single uh roster and it’s just lack of opportunity.
So and then what we’re I was Finding was at the Western qualifier Eastern qualifier Jos is you got to be economic of where you go and you’re going to pick an event, and so that was diluting our pool even more so I thought hey.
If we create one event and we have the ring available all the time like you said they don’t have to wait three or four days before they can get in the rink uh, then then um, then it was going to create a better platform and then we’ll Put no minimums on it: everybody’s welcome novice boxers.
You can come get your first match.
Uh Masters balanced, um uh, every there’s gon na be opportunities for all and we’re gon na we’re gon na do match-ups we’re gon na do tournament brackets um we’ll do a little bit of everything.
We’Ll do open workouts um and the idea there is is is um to go home better than you can and yeah that’s what happens at National tournaments just being around that higher class of athlete kind of, like you thrive off of the other boxes in your gym And they make you better when you’re in that pool of talent when you’re around that, when you’re witnessing these other boxers you’re picking up little things, even as a referee, you’re watching other referees and you’re picking up things, you get critiques.
So the goal is every single person from their even administrators, even the ring announcer, even the doctors uh, the boxer, the boxes, coaches and officials will go home better than they were when they got there.
So that’s the overall theme and goal of this event sure we’re gon na we’re gon na give some awards and we’re gon na give some rankings points and, and Crown some Champs and that’s important, but that’s just one aspect of it.
The aspect is uh.
The more important part is the camaraderie, the Improvement, the the networking, the um and creating a fun atmosphere for everyone to thrive.
So that’s kind of how we put together the schedule and uh why we brainstorm lots of ideas and again sticking with that theme of why it’s in the Strategic plan.
It isn’t just hey, we want more matches.
We want more members, no it’s about growth in that opportunity and let’s talk about what drives the overall amateur boxing and that’s Olympic greatness right.
It’S Olympic medals, um it when I first.
I never knew that until I got here to USA boxing and I sat in on the uslpc speech and he said that it’s our job to inspire Americans through Olympic success and greatness.
I was like wow, that’s actually what the law says: that’s how you create the usopc and that drove it home and that’s what happens when a young girl sees um the first Olympics, uh Marlena sparza, win a medal, Clarissa Shields and then Michaela Mayer uh, Queen Underwood, Was in that first group as well, they feel inspired and they get they said well, there’s opportunities.
Well, that’s the whole idea, seeing more opportunities on television now, Clarissa’s headlining, Main Events and Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano that inspires so so that’s! That’S the that’s! The idea of this is to uh to inspire each other there at the event to uh, send everyone home better and, along with that, you know most tournament.
The reason this tournament can be a lot different is you know most most uh events you go to.
You lose okay, thank you for coming um, you know, um, you can watch here’s your ticket to sit in the audience.
No, this one’s going to be everybody comes back the next day and because, when we have this, we’ve created this platform, and that’s why this is the first, because this will create a pool for us to be able to do multiple matchups from um.
We’Ve already got close to 90 boxers registered and we’re sicked out.
I wasn’t expecting to have 20 or 10 by now uh and that’s that’s.
We have an additional 20 foreign boxers that I’ve already started the process of getting registered.
So my original goal was 400.
Was I thought it was way too ambitious, but it looks like we might be able to get close to 400 boxers.
That’S phenomenal yeah yeah yeah! So that’s going to afford us a lot of things that we couldn’t do in Texas, foreign for local events.
Those are matched bouts, typically uh.
You find the most appropriate matchup for everyone and we’re going to do match bouts for sure we’re gon na find every boxer will take to have the most appropriate matchup for them on day one um, so everybody will get that match.
Then we’ll create brackets and I’ll put everybody in a bracket.
Just like you would a normal tournament and uh.
The winners will advance and eventually get to the championship night, but the ones who lose in the bracket more match.
Bouts.
We’Ll put you back in another list.
You might have to box the same one depending on what what the most appropriate matchup is.
But the idea is everybody, I can’t say everybody’s gon na box every day.
That’S that’s ambitious, but my goal and my original goal was: everybody gets at least two batches, which is already a great Improvement, but I think it’s feasible that everybody will get three or four bouts to go before they go home, uh and maybe potentially more when you Include some of the other opportunities, and so that’s aligned with this the same theme: that’s more opportunities for coaches, to coach, first officials to officiate and for boxers to keep improving every day.
Most of our events, we have, we have a practice ring.
We have a sparring ring because the schedule is packed, everybody’s got a train to stay tuned and and when you have a thousand boxers at a tournament, that’s a great pool to spar with right.
You can do that, no sparring and ring at this event.
No no sparring at this ring because there won’t be any sparring, because everybody’s boxing every day, that’s awesome and I can tell you from experience for me personally never had that opportunity in the amateurs, obviously um.
But I did have the opportunity to fight on an all-female card in California at one time um and I can’t remember there was probably maybe eight or maybe eight or nine bouts, but they were all females.
It was all females and I it was just so exciting because one there were several females on the card that I had always wanted to meet because you know there was.
I met Chevelle Hall back there we came became really good friends.
Terry Blair, we became really good friends.
Melissa Hernandez was on the cart, Melissa.
Mcmorrow I mean the list goes on and on.
How am I there Legends? Those are all legends, yeah Legends, but, and it was at the beginning of my career.
It was probably like my third or fourth fight, maybe so it was early on in my career and these girls have been fighting for a long time.
But it was just so exciting to be a part of an all-female card because they very rarely happened and then to have all these great females there that I always like, looked up to and watched to be able to meet them and then sit there and watch Their fights um because we, as you know and everybody knows we didn’t make money back then um a lot of times.
We had we lost money by the time.
You went there and missed work and everything else um, but it was just so exciting to be so.
I couldn’t like I didn’t, have the money to go fly out to cards that they were fighting on in other states or countries um and you it was very rarely aired on TV, so you didn’t even usually just know who won.
You really didn’t get to see.
The bites so it was just so exciting and you learned so much because they’re females, not that you don’t learn from the guys.
But it’s just more intriguing to sit and watch females and be able to learn off of things that other females are doing and seeing the stuff and and then even having other females.
That came that were local, that you know wanted to meet us.
So it was just an all-around great experience, um and I did get to spar with with um Chevelle and some of the other girls, because we were out there early enough on um.
So I mean – and it’s great just to get that experience and to see all of that and just be around other female athletes.
So that’s just super exciting.
Those events are essential and important and uh events like beautiful Brawlers and the work that Bianca does are so important because, because think about how many lives you touched even ones that weren’t there that maybe saw saw some information about it and realized that there’s opportunities uh.
You know when they’re thinking about what sports that they want to, they want to participate in and realizing hey.
I can go to a boxing gym and train in in how many uh boxers then ended up uh following that path.
So that’s that’s.
What’S important, it’s going to take a generation or multiple generations to continue that that growth, but um.
You know now like when they first introduced boxing and Olympics, and it’s amazing that it took until uh London Olympics before women uh were allowed to compete yeah with only three divisions the first year.
I know you know, and now it’s seven and six, it’s it’s Equitable.
Um, and so it’s those things that are gon na um, then create federations to invest in those programs and to create more opportunities and and that’s based on the work that you guys.
The Pioneers uh did early on amazing amazing, um uh lineage in in creation yeah um.
That was actually, and that was televised.
That was my first televised fight too.
It was on the best damn Sports show period.
Do you remember that that was yeah? I do remember the show yeah um, so that was exciting to be a part of that whole thing um, but speaking of the Olympics, um from my understanding and I’m pretty sure this is accurate, but this will be the 2024 Olympics will be the first time that We have all female weight classes, correct um, so they so the way classes are in flux.
I think there’s 13 men’s and 12 women’s uh because of the medal count.
They reduce it to the Olympic game.
So that’s what would compete in a world championships uh? So in the Olympic Games they do seven men and six women’s weight classes and then they picked them according to you know, uh um kind of where the boxers were in the most box, but that’s where it is we’re going.
2028 is in Los Angeles, so we’re pushing for eight and eight in 28.
yeah.
Well, I mean we’re getting there.
I mean it’s better than three.
I could say it’s better than everyone, because I know people that waited for waiting for the Olympics, but then were nowhere near any of the weight classes.
So it wasn’t even feasible to try to squeeze into one because they were just too small or too big um and right right now, the largest uh competed in the Olympics, so female weight division is 165 pounds and uh.
So here’s my give a little campaign um.
We have a shortage of women’s boxers above about 146, especially in the younger divisions and that’s where it coaches and and female boxers out there you’re watching um, that’s where we need to recruit, that’s where we need more participation, um build your athletes um right now, Naomi, Graham is our top 165 and there’s a big gap after her there’s, hardly any girls in that weight in the youth and even the junior divisions um.
Maybe that’s where some of those crossover athletes come from, but you know um, that’s where we really need to recruit and bro.
There’S a huge growth opportunity there yeah absolutely well, I suppose it’s probably, but for the younger girls, because they’re naturally not like fully developed yet to to get to that weight.
So it’s harder in other sports, a lot of them.
You know um, you know other opportunities, but but now, but it comes from that eight Nate once those await classes are contested and they see that they’re on TV for sure um.
So I’ve from just like different things that I’ve heard and stuff talk to us a little bit about how much U.
S of the USA and the world is leaving, because I’ve heard that they’re leaving the IBA and that, as of now, the 2028 Olympic games are off The agenda due to the corruption USA joining a new sanction with the world.
Can you tell us a little bit about that and if is it pretty accurate, or do you think the 2028 Olympics will still we’ll we’ll make a comeback? You know boxing is one of the original Sports and I think boxing will be contested in Tokyo in 24 and in Los Angeles in 28.
uh.
The key factor to consider for 2028 is the organizing Committee, in Los Angeles boxing, is huge in the in the in the culture in California and in Los Angeles and the organizers want it so they’re going to definitely push for it.
But how do we get there? So that’s that’s your question.
Um, you know things are very fluid and they’re changing daily.
I have headlines every day, there’s something new.
Some countries were suspended by IBA yesterday, so the the United States USA, boxing has left the International Federation IBA and the reasons for that are varied.
Back in 2019, ioc suspended IBA because of repeated problems in finance and Leadership and many other factors that they outlined that they um they didn’t act to improve.
So this didn’t just start.
This has gone back for a long time.
In fact, there’s something called the lolavik report, which finally kind of uncovered the corruption in decision making and decisions and the way up.
Rj management was being handled, uh signaling and it wasn’t so much bribery but wrong decisions.
Uh, the Michael conlon thing in Reno really brought this up to fruition, but I like to say what about The Lost Generation? The lalavik report Illustrated that there was corruption, that there was institutionalized, cheating that was going on and continued to go on and it didn’t just start in Rio.
So so he confirms many many bad decisions happen.
So what about all the boxers that went through that time? Everybody remembers Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather’s bad decisions, but those were metal matches, so they were very prominent what about then they got good at it and they started knocking our Americans out in the preliminary rounds.
You know everybody says no, we haven’t won a gold medal since Andre Ward and Shakur Stevenson got a silver horse claressa.
But what about all those boxers, Errol Spence went through that and was eliminated in The preliminaries he’s one of the best boxers in the world.
Uh.
Charles Cromwell um uh Gary Antoine Russell, all these guys had were screwed in bad decisions and and that happened during that period.
So, finally enough is enough: you’re not going to fix your debt, your your leadership problems, um, USA, boxing along with um some other countries.
So it’s called the common cause coalition, decided that hey it’s very important that we place Olympics at the Forefront of amateur boxing.
So a new organization has been created called World Boxing which hopefully will grow and membership will grow in it and eventually put us in a position to to ensure boxing is solid in the Olympic Games, so um.
Of course my career depends on it.
So I’m very faithful, but I believe that uh that we’re on the right path, we’re in the right direction and eventually all parties will come together and and uh, we’ll we’ll make sure boxing is done for the right reasons that it’s that there’s accuracy in decisions that There isn’t um corruption and national federal National Federation um coercion and that that that uh, that it can ensure the confidence and uh that that we can continue to inspire the next Generations and that will feed into the pros and and uh ensure the longevity of our Sport yeah absolutely I mean at some point in time somebody had to take a stand, especially at such a young age, even male or female, at this point, working so hard for the Olympic Games, waiting to turn pro to have an opportunity in the Olympic Games to Just put all that work and effort into training in preparing for that one moment that you’ve been waiting for your whole life to have it stripped and robbed of you, even though you know you, you won the fight or that it was total BS, and you just Got ripped of your dream um and then you I mean you go you’re.
You go pro at that point, but still that was like a huge goal and accomplishment that you could achieve, for it just be stripped away for nothing over just some controversy and some corruption.
That’S going on, I mean, and it’s sad it happens in Pros all the time we talk about bad decisions and stuff all the time.
It is what it is and that’s what I always tell people um.
I had lots of fights that I everybody felt like.
I won and I lost decisions over, you know their hometowns or other overseas or whatever the case may be um and I’m just like.
You know what I’ve learned to come to terms with it.
Boxing is boxing and at the end of the day I think um.
We all signed up for a subjective sport.
We signed up to be evaluated by humans uh, it’s not a it’s, not an analytic sport.
Sorry! Today, it’s not yeah.
So it’s not like basketball, where the ball goes past the rim and you register points.
This is your convincing human being that you’re better, that your talent is better more into a performance or a talent, show or a concert.
Then it is a sport.
So so we have to remember that that it is, it is entertaining we need to entertain and we need to display our talents uh to convince the judges, so but human beings have opinions and we’re trying to convince them of it.
So that’s what makes the controversy of the sport and it also kind of, makes the the buzz – and you know everybody’s still talking about all the fights that happened last weekend.
You know, isn’t a bad thing in my opinion.
You know it’s good, it keeps it keeps it going keeps the spark keeps it in the conversation and in the now um yeah.
We were just talking about it before um, but yeah I mean I’m still getting messages on.
What do I think about the fights so yeah? Hey, it’s good.
It’S good for boxing good for boxing uh, explain to us the information on USA, pulling fight limits on females in the National tournaments to grow females in the sport, I’m sorry pulling fight limits.
What do you mean um? Well, because there is on females in the National tournaments tournaments, the things that you’re doing to grow females in the sport matchups are typically made by age, weight and experience, but that’s a little more difficult on the female side.
You know um because because there’s disparities, so that’s why the structure of this tournament is going to be such where we do match bouts the first day.
So everybody gets that appropriate matchup and then we’ll create experience and inexperienced brackets, depending on the quantity of athletes registered.
In that particular age, weight division, but yeah um.
What we’ve done for Nationals the last um in the last year is instead of having qualifiers that lead to a progressive tournament that qualify you for the national championships.
We’Ve put a minimum bout standard.
So we we say that you must have so much experience before you can compete in a national uh Division, and the reason is is because you expect a boxer to train at a local gym to get with an experienced coach and then to find local bouts.
Then go out of their state and get Regional bats before they come to Nationals, no one’s.
We always say we shouldn’t.
I want you to fight for a belt in their first bout right that no one, no one should go to Nationals and have the first spout.
This tournament will be a little bit different because creation of opportunities but um, but so that’s, that’s a little bit about what that’s about is what we do is we put a minimum bout, um uh minimum about experience and a minimum about winning percentage, um a minimum Winning percentage uh to qualify for Nationals yeah, absolutely talk to us um a little bit about the development of the female panel nationally.
You were talking about the female panels all across female boxing nationally to grow respect Integrity for women and to continue to grow the sport.
Yeah so there’s like we talked about the Strategic plan.
We want to grow it in all aspects.
Of course, the obvious one is is boxing opportunities in the ring, but uh there’s always a push for female inclusion on all of our committees and on our board of directors, I’m very proud of Danielle Perkins she’s, one of my favorite people in the whole world.
Of course, I lived in Houston, so she’s, I’m a little biased but she’s a world champion World amateur Champion uh had an amazing performance to do that.
Uh blew out her knee the previous year and came back and and uh beat the the girl who won the World Championship because of her injury, so um so and she was a crossover athlete Festival.
But anyway, she serves on our board uh she’s there with franchon Cruz, um and uh.
There’S a few other female athletes on there as well that that have been there over time.
So it’s important to have their voice on the board of directors to influence the direction and the decisions and um uh, and then we have, of course, the women’s committee.
The great work that Christy Halbert did.
She was a pioneer of women’s boxing and team coach in London, yeah uh.
Now Jackie Atkins is the chair of that committee.
I served on that committee for for a while before I came to the national office um, so so these are all very important.
Christy Albert’s.
Also been on the international federations um women’s committee uh, these are important to whenever there’s a rule, change or a um uh a opportunity for a tournament or uh competition change, uh to get their input and to to make sure that we’re we’re considering all aspects of A matter and of an issue so so these roles are vital and then every LBC you know in around the country has athlete representation and they usually have that requirement of one male one female again to represent that that group and to bring their voice into decision Making in those capacities, so so not not just uh in the ring, but also um um on committees and influence policy, see we also have really pushed for this all-female event to get as many get all of our female officials there and we’re welcoming all levels of Officials, there’s there’s a seat for everyone, we’ll put the best officials and best referees in the toughest bounce, of course, but there’s going to be opportunities for growth for all levels, pathway, officials, level, one officials and uh.
I’M proud that our first invite and came up with 30 uh women level, twos and level three officials, so these are ones that work National tournaments already.
That want to be a part of this event so that that shows that there’s even more opportunity after you retire to them not just also coach, but not everybody can be a coach or has that time commitment, but also to be um involved in technical uh roles.
Um uh administrative roles and then getting the ring and referee uh.
We need to have more more women referees around the world, both uh at the upper levels of amateur boxing and uh and locally, as well.
As you know, the top levels International so yeah opportunities all over there is um.
I only had one fight my whole entire career, amateur or Pro that I had a female referee.
It was in New York and it was sparkly, I’m sure, you’re familiar with sparkly um did one of my fights that was in New York, but she’s also the only one you really see today that does like the female big cards she does, like you know all The big fight cards um on the female side for the pros, but yeah she’s, like the only one I think I’ve ever seen, televised and that’s you know for the female fights um so yeah.
It’S really that’s awesome to hear that there’s so many because I didn’t even realize there were that many female referees and judges, and even when you hear the judges, there’s sometimes there’s female judges, but not a lot of times.
So that’s awesome that you guys are pushing for that.
That’S that’s a huge step to get more women involved, especially for the women it just makes.
You feel a little bit.
I don’t know maybe more comfortable, knowing there’s so many females that got your back well, the guy’s got your back too.
What’S different, coming from a girl, I guess um Michael Orr chimed in and wants to know um what has been the biggest obstacle you faced getting this tournament together, so the obvious ones is.
I wish this would have happened three years ago.
You know but covet it kind of changed.
Budgeting and membership was down, so we weren’t really able to expand.
We had to contract our national tournaments, so the timing uh has just come to the alignment to effort to happen now.
So that was the the fundamental delay in that um.
The biggest obstacle has been um, creating something that hasn’t been done before and then conveying that information.
Why are we doing it this way, um, you know why? Why why? Why isn’t it a bracket? Why isn’t it a normal tournament, because we’ve always done it that way so conveying then this platform is really helping me do that, but the idea of this event is um is to improve and always but to create a opportunities for that so um I I’ve.
We’Ve expanded our coaches education program at USA boxing.
We now have a bronze and silver certifications in addition to the intro green level, and so now we have a lot of female coaches of those levels.
I want to bring them all together and create an open workout for all the boxers who are there and their coaches so learn from what those those teachings were in the the coaches.
Education is is based on the work of Billy Walsh in the high performance.
Uh teams.
So really we want to teach that, because now, if we can take the success of Billy Walsh at the national International level and then emanate that to our national coaches and then put it into the Grassroots and that’s going to take that knowledge and emanate.
It all the way down, so things like that.
Conveying what are we going to do it anyway? That’S just an open workout has been a challenge, and then you know the obvious ones is finding the right amount of funding to do this activity or that activity um.
The city of Toledo is very proud of their baseball team, a lot of history there, the Toledo Mud ends, and it so happens that on our check-in day, they got a home series that Saturday and Sunday, though, the stadium is right.
Next to the um, the the convention center, where the Glass City Center, where we we’re going to be so they’ve offered us the opportunity to showcase our event during their uh baseball game, so kind of like we do in the Junior Olympics with an opening ceremonies and A parade of athletes we’re going to do that where all the boxers and their coaches can come uh muster at the convention center and then we’re going to do a parade around the block.
It’S going to come in the left field.
Defense come on to the baseball diamond.
While we play a hype, video on the scoreboard and then have a dignitary or somebody throw out the first pitch.
So so that’s gon na again, you know kind of raise the status of the awareness in the community and so getting the community involved has been key and that’s always a big challenge everywhere we would go uh, but but that’s what’s been great about this relationship with Lolita and then we got a few other surprises planned along the way, and I want to do a kind of a mixer at the end where we can of all let loose and and uh and celebrate the week that we had so we’re going to have a Like a Gala or a ball a little a dance at the end with a DJ super fun, um yeah, the kids are gon na love that for sure, especially the younger ones, explain to us um.
I know that there’s been a little a lot of difference with the extended times on the matches for females, so talk to us a little bit about extended times, um finally happening for the female side, so all 17 and over boxers do three three minute rounds.
Male or female, it’s the same now it may change a little bit for the Lesser experienced ones, especially at a local show, depending on constraints there, but at the national level, three three minute rounds across the board um you, you have the timer set at three minutes In the gym right, yeah everybody’s training, the same three minutes they shouldn’t go with it, go to the competition in their body.
Clock says: hey.
Why is that round done so so Youth and Elite divisions all box three three minute rounds.
The juniors are still boxing.
Two minutes, but what I’m really happy about is this year we increased for the peewees, we’re only boxing one minute rounds, they’re now boxing a minute and a half through age, 12 and then 13 through 16 they’re boxing two minutes, whereas they were only about the intermediates.
Were bucks in a minute and a half previously and to be honest with you as a judge, this is I wanted that, because a one minute round, especially in uh between the Peewee boxers, where they’re wearing the same size, gloves same weight, gloves um, there’s no backing Up, there’s no um impact, so it was it’s difficult to score the us.
So it’s we’re not we’re not putting the judges in a good position and then the boxers come for three minutes all the work that they’ve done.
It’S taken them six, eight 12 weeks to find a match, uh and – and they get in there for three minutes.
So so we’ve even increased the time links for our peewees, our inner, our bantams, our intermediates and our in our youth um to full round links.
But yeah, let’s face it.
A a two minute round is more of a Sprint and uh 10 two minute rounds.
It doesn’t display the the strategies that happen in a 12-3 minute round fight and and that’s not fair.
What it’s doing is it’s.
It’S causing uh coaches to change their alter, their training, alter their game plans and that’s not the sport, that’s not as creating two sports uh.
This needs to be a singular Sport and so um.
We need to push for more of that um before I join USA.
Boxing I managed a few female Fighters and we always pushed the first three minute rounds even in a four-round fight and we got it a few times.
But that’s you know.
I talked earlier about dinosaur Source right, um and a lot of State commissions are dinosaurs.
We’Ll say it right: there are a bunch of old white uh white-haired men and they don’t belit.
They don’t they’re, not on board with this.
They.
They can’t see this and then a lot of doctors are on the commissions which decide this and uh.
You know uh.
They think it’s a safety concern, but it’s actually the opposite.
It’S um exactly exactly so.
This needs to be talked about.
If the top um boxers would talk about this constantly uh then change what will happen but yeah on the amateur side.
It’S already been three three minute rounds for uh, quite a few years now yeah, which is nice.
I know a lot of people.
Ask me a three minute rounds.
Yes, but here is why me personally and I’ve said this before, I would never sign a contract for a three minute round unless the pay was equal to okay, so take a mailboxer, that’s the same level.
Experience record ranking is me and then I’m gon na fight a three minute round, whatever that guy is getting paid, I’m not signing the contract unless I get paid the same because, especially back in my time, we already didn’t make money, so there was absolutely no way.
I was gon na fight longer when I was already getting screwed over with how much I was making as it was.
I wasn’t even coming close to what the men were making.
I mean my WBC Title in Mexico against Mia St John one of the biggest names in the sport four thousand dollars, and I was there over a week.
Men make 40 million dollars for the same freaking belt, so MIA probably made more than that.
Oh I’m sure she was.
I would love to know what she made so Brooke.
I think um that we’re we’re combining two issues there.
You know the economics of the sport isn’t dictated by the round length.
You know that’s dictated by the opportunities in the talent pool and, and things like that.
So when we and I agree with you – women need to be get paid more, certainly yeah, but um.
But when we say that, then we’re holding up the two minute 30 minute round transition yeah, you know and we’re putting an obstacle there and anchor on it.
Uh the economics need to be determined by the pool and the opportunities and how many and what they bring.
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