(AUG 19) This past report states the following: On July 14, 1977, I went to Allentown, PA to see a boxing match between Cathy "Cat" Davis and Toni Lear. Unfortunately, Lear was scratched by the Athletic Commission doctor because of an ear infection. Mona Hayes was flown in from Walla Walla, Washington, at the last minute to replace her.

This fight was a very bad mismatch. To put someone of Hayes' experience (5-0-1), in the ring with Davis (14-0-0) was guaranteeing a bad fight.

Mona Hayes had barely a day's notice, had been taking a break from training, and spent the night on a plane to the East Coast. Davis seems a competent, well-trained boxer, but Hayes has much less experience. She was not moving well and did not seem very aggressive. I would be very interested in seeing both of these women under different conditions when they could be matched against opponents at their level.

Cancelling the bout and rescheduling the Davis-Lear match might have hurt the promoter financially, but would have been better for women's boxing in the long run.

The audience that was there knows good boxing matches and what they saw was not an interesting well-balanced match.

In comparison, the men's bouts on the same card were much better because the fighters were well-matched. And that, unfortunately, is the comparison that will be made.

Fighting Woman News spent half a day driving out to Allentown, about a hundred miles, to see the Davis-Hayes non-fight.

The fight itself was a total waste of time. It looked like a rather timid and reluctant white belt sparring with a brown belt who was enjoying her role as sempai (senior) and rather pleased to show her superiority with so little effort.

The beginner had enough of being made a fool of, or at least feeling foolish, and pretended to be injured, i.e., knocked out.

Neither woman landed any blow that could be called powerful by the most ardent supporter of women's boxing.

No one who had seen even the poorest of Marion Bermudez' matches, the one against Evelyn Perez in 1975 (FWN #1), would believe that Davis' weak blows bruised Hayes much less iced her.

(WBAN Comment: WBAN doubts if Hayes actually had a 5-0-1 boxing record--especially at her apparent described  skill level.  She is of course welcome to contact WBAN and provide documentation on her record.  On Cathy "Cat" Davis fighter---she had a tad bit of an orchestrated boxing career - mentions a lot of disturbing information about Davis with her manager/partner Sal Algieri according to the research we found on this boxer.

Related story on Cathy "Cat" Davis

The Great White Hype By Jack Newfield - Published November 1979 Volume. One - Originally printed in the VOICE Vol. XXIII No. 41 "The Weekly Newspaper of New York, October 16, 1978 Link to story