Fighting to Make History

For the first time in history, women’s boxing will join the elite cadre of competitive sports in the 2012 Olympic games.

It seems hardly plausible to have taken this long for the Olympics to welcome women into the sporting event, particularly since men have boxed in the Olympics from the time the ancient Greeks first adopted the sport more than 2,000 years ago. 

But finally, this year, 24 American women boxers will compete for spots on the 2012 Olympic team. In honor of this momentous occasion, WNYC will present WOMEN BOX: Fighting to Make History on Friday, February 10, at 7:00 p.m. at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in Manhattan.

Some of the country’s most celebrated female boxers, including Bed-Stuy’s own , a 4-time pro boxing world champion, will join host Rosie Perez, along with Heather Hardy and other accomplished women boxers to tell their stories.

Ashley says, although women are excited to finally get a chance to compete in the Olympic trials, there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome before the sport is given its proper due. She pointed to the fact that, although there are 16 weight classes total in boxing, only three weight classes will compete in the women’s division in the Olympics, versus eight for men.

Friday’s live webcast is a part of a larger series that kicked off on January 29 with photojournalist Sue Jaye Johnson who debuted photo and video profiles in New York Times Magazine of Ashley and other women boxers sharing their stories about their love for boxing, what got them started and what keeps them going.

Ashley was one of the first to enter the sport professionally in 1999, just as they started letting women into the Golden Gloves. And she was among the inaugural group to compete nationally for the first time, winning the first-ever title in her weight class (featherweight; 125 lbs).

According to Ashley, who trains everyday beginning at 6:00 am at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, the landscape for U.S. amateur female boxers reveals an uphill climb still, particularly because the sport has not been embraced in the United States in the same way it has overseas.

“I’m known in Argentina, North Korea, Germany because the women are headlining the fights and it’s televised,” said Ashley who, since she turned professional, is not eligible to compete in the Olympics.

“But you don’t really see female fights televised here. For this to be such a progressive nation, I think they’re still a little sexist. You’ll still hear a couple of big promoters in the U.S. say women shouldn’t be fighting. They still have that type of attitude.

Ashley added, women boxers in the United States struggle with getting audiences and the sports community at large to take them seriously, and they earn only a fraction of what male boxers earn.

“In Russia, Cuba and China, they train in camps for years beginning at an early age. In the U.S., only after you’ve won the nationals do you get a chance to go to a professional training facility.

“So a lot of the USA girls haven’t been able to fight on the international level the way a lot the girls from Europe and other countries have,” said Ashley. “Every country really develops its own style, and in other countries they travel internationally to compete, so they get to know other styles.

“For example, the Russian style is when the arms are out and they bounce around and hit you with a power hand. In China, they do what we call ‘blitzing.’ It’s like I’m here, then they’ll step in with ten quick punches, and then they’re out. And the second you move back, they’re stepping in, and every punch can mean a point. 

“And the Mexicans have a typical style; they’re very active in their fights. They want to be right in the center, right on top of you punching. So when our girls fight internationally, they’re like, ‘Oh My God, this is a totally different style.’ And you know, it can sometimes be a challenge to overcome.”

Ashley adds that the one good thing about American fighting is that it has its own style as well-- a traditional boxing and brawling style that encourages strength and flexibility with a focus on a sparring during training that teaches stamina and control.

Still, Ashley says although her greatest desire is to see the USA women’s team perform well, she’s just happy to see the Olympics finally putting female boxers on the big stage.

“So that’s the hope of the Olympics. Everyone’s hoping that by seeing us compete, the world will begin seeing how talented we are as competitors… finally seeing that we work as hard as the men do. And finally start paying us."

You can catch Alicia “Slick” Ashley in WOMEN BOX: Fighting to Make History as a part of a live video webcast tomorrow, February 9, 7:00 p.m. at www.wnyc.org/womenbox. The show will be archived for ongoing view, along with other multimedia features in the WNYC series, including podcasts, radio stories and online features, at the same address.