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Boxing among few sports to exclude women in 2008 Olympic Games
By Angela Woodall
Oakland Tribune
Jul 04, 2008
When Ana Julaton of Alameda enters the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas, she'll be trying to reach her goal of capturing female boxing's super bantamweight title by year's end.
But it's not the goal she initially envisioned for 2008.
Julaton originally hoped to compete in this year's Summer Olympics, but women are excluded from boxing in the upcoming Beijing Games.
The exclusion has prompted a legion of female fighters to turn professional instead of chasing their dreams of a gold medal, depriving female boxing of the credibility that goes with being an Olympic sport.
The exclusion also deprives the women of the support that top men take for granted: health care, travel money, training, endorsements and other perks.
One after another, female fighters began defecting from the amateur ranks after the International Olympic Committee announced that women's boxing had not "reached the stage where it merits inclusion" in the 2008 Games.
Tom Virgets, a board member for USA Boxing, the governing body of amateur boxing, said he expects women will be included in the 2012 Olympics. The main obstacle was making way for more events, he added, which may be easier in 2012 because women's softball and men's baseball have been excluded from those games, to be held in London.
Still, it's too late for Julaton, who had pledged to stay amateur until the 2008 Olympics in order to promote the sport for women and other aspiring champions.
Making women's boxing an Olympic event would signal the world that female fights are more than sideshows, Julaton said.
Women's boxing was like street brawls in 1993, when USA Boxing recognized female pugilists, said World Boxing Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who is training Julaton and has led Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao to titles.
Today, more than 2,000 female boxers are registered with USA Boxing, compared to 340 in 1996.
Women's boxing "fell apart for a while," Roach said, referring to the unprecedented $1 million purse for a July 2005 fight between two women that collapsed because of an injury. Billed as the "Million Dollar Lady" bout, Lucia Rijker and Christy Martin were the main event with men on the undercard, including Jorge Arce and Kelly Pavlik. Last month, Pavlik commanded a $2.5 million purse for his bout, while women continue to earn a fraction of that.
In 2007, USA Boxing, which operates under the auspices of the U.S. Olympic Committee, settled a lawsuit with amateur welterweight Lisa Kuronya, who claimed that male boxers were given free airline tickets, transportation, shelter and food during the 2006 USA Boxing Championships. She and her coach were provided with nothing.
For his part, legendary promoter Bob Arum, who was behind the Rijker-Martin fight, said the sport "had its chance, but it never could get its legs."
Women are fighting by the same rules and making the same sacrifices as the men but without the compensation, said veteran trainer Virgil Hunter, who took Oakland's Andre Ward to gold in the 2004 Olympics and also trains Heather Hartman — the first woman he ever took on.
"That shows a true love of the sport."
Hartman, a junior middleweight who trains at King's Gym in Oakland, started boxing four years ago after running up against a similar gender wall in soccer. A short-lived women's professional league had folded, and "there was nothing else left," she said.
So she turned to boxing with the expectation that there would be a venue for women pugilists in the 2008 Olympics.
"Considering how far women have come in male-dominated sports, you'd expect to see more promotion of female boxers," Hartman said.
Putting female boxing in the Olympics would open doors for a vast number of women, Hartman said.
Meanwhile, the 25-year-old is waiting for the decision about 2012. Winning the first Olympic women's boxing competition, she said, "would be bigger than a big purse."
Reach Angela Woodall at awoodall@bayareanewsgroup.com at 510-208-6413.
To watch
The Julaton vs. Mendez bout will be the undercard of Saturday's fight between Kendall Holt and Ricardo Torres. The showdown will be broadcast live at 11 p.m. on Showtime. Top Rank will promote the 12-round, 140-pound world championship bout from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
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