First man vs. woman boxing match set to happen in August

[Chauga]

Ann Wolfe did not set out to make history, to become the first woman to box a man. She set out to get warm. This is how it is when you're homeless, when you have two small daughters, when your only dream is to get through another day, or another hour in the lethal cold.

"It's about survival," she said. "You learn the tricks."

You ride city buses, two hours one way, then two hours back. You go to $1 movie theaters and stay for two shows. You linger in hospital emergency rooms. That's where Wolfe was when she looked at the television banked against the wall, and saw something that would reshape her life.

"I was cold," she said. "I wasn't doing anything but trying to get warm. I was sitting there, warming up, when something on TV caught my eye."

A woman boxing. Two women boxing.

"I said to myself, 'I bet I can do that.' "

On Aug. 20, in Biloxi, Miss., Wolfe will fight James Johnson in a bout that will make some stomachs turn. A man hitting a woman. A woman hitting a man. Is this sport or circus? Is this really what we need next? Yes, Danica Patrick drove in the Indianapolis 500. Yes, Annika Sorenstam played on the PGA tour. But Wolfe herself notes one small distinction.

"The men weren't punching them," she said.

Wolfe, 34, is in Memphis as part of Saturday's undercard. She'll fight Marsha Valley in her last bout before she becomes boxing's Billie Jean King. By fighting a Gentleman. Which happens to be James Johnson's nickname. Can a Gentleman really hit a woman?

"I have to," Johnson said, by phone from Louisiana. "I have to prove this shouldn't be done."



http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/sports_columnists/article/0,1426,MCA_468_3861925,00.html

[johnnie]

1. That's interesting

Hopefully it is a good fight.

[undeterred]

2. I'll bet it ends with them having sex.

Maybe not in the ring, though.

[matcom]

3. makeup sex is the BEST!

:rofl:

[flvegan]

4. Stupid. I hope she kicks his ass, though.

[nytemare]

5. If he loses, he will catch hell for the rest of his life.

That would be worse for him than Scott Norwood shanking that field goal in the superbowl.

I hope she kicks his ass.

[TlalocW]

6. Andy Kaufmann is smiling down from Heaven

eom

TlalocW

[Kingshakabobo]

7. They should hire this lady:

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/beatdown.html

[kostya]

8. I love it how the cop just keeps on driving by...

What a great neighborhood in which to bring up your kids, too. - K
:)

[KG]

10. fortunately, his cornerman throws in the towel!

[Zenlitened]

9. Powerful quote from her...

"Nobody cared what I was doing when they stepped over me and my children on the street," she said. "Why should they care now?"

There'll be plenty of people fuming about this as some sort of "moral issue" now, I'll bet. The "morality" of American citizens huddling homeless on the street? That doesn't seem to bother them at all.

I hope she does her best. She's a fighter, in every sense of the word. What a world.