(APR 1)  The sixth edition of the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame was the largest class, to date, numbering twelve inductees. As in past years, the majority of honorees (in 2019 the number was seven), were retired boxers. This is hardly surprising since athletes are the centerpiece of any sport.  This is especially true in an individual sport like boxing.

Equally unsurprising is that the earliest IWBHF classes featured the “bold faced type” names in the sport, those boxers whom even the casual fans of Women’s boxing probably recognized.

As the IWBHF inductee list naturally expands, the names and resumes of the honored fighters may lack the instant “l remember” recognition of the earlier “face of the sport” inductees. But, in point of fact, these latter inductees deserve their IWBHF honor in equal measure, since, in truth, it was often these athletes who provided the backbone to a sport that overcame the almost insurmountable hurdles placed on female boxing in it’s formative years during the final decade of the last century. That these fighters do not immediately trigger universal name recognition is, on the one hand, somewhat understandable.

But, in a far larger sense, their place in the sport and the honor bestowed upon them are equally well deserved. While well known luminaries such as Christy Martin, Laila Ali and Lucia Rijker brought “big name” visibility to the sport, it was fighters such as Lisa Holewyne who made the case to the boxing public that there existed a formidable cast of female fighters, endowed with substantial ring skills. And it was those fighters and those skills that sustained the sport throughout it’s nascent modern era early years.

Lisa Holewyne is prominent on any listing of those boxers in those years and she, when we spoke last week, reflected on what she perceives as the different tenor in the sport, then and now. “It seems to me, thinking back, there was a lot less talking and posturing outside the ropes in those days than there is now in the sport. Then, it was train, train, train then, finally, fight; then back to the gym and ‘who’s next?’” “And the answer to that was not ‘who can we get an easy win against’, but ‘who can we fight and move up towards a title’”. Holewyne won the WIBF World Super Lightweight title with a ten round decision over Marischa Sjauw in April, 2001.

“Sure, I thought about it (HOF induction), but I had put it out of my mind,” Holewyne replies when asked about her induction into the 2019 IWBHF class. “And, honestly, when I heard about it, I had to pull over to the side of the road I was crying so hard, and, believe me, I’m not a crier. Surreal may be the word that best describes my feeling.  I first got into the sport because I was an athlete (a pentathlete at Texas University) and I thought ‘l can do this’. And what this honor really means to me is respect; the most important kind of respect, from your peers. Induction into the IWBHF is, to me, the ultimate compliment for a female boxer.”

That respect was hard earned. Turning professional when she was 32, Holewyne compiled a ring career of 44 bouts (25-17-2) over eight years (1998-06) encompassing 267 rounds. These were, indeed, the formative days of the sport, a time when records were earned as a result of competitive matchups among quality fighters and Holewyne’s career is a roadmap of bouts against the top names in the sport: Christy Martin (to whom Holewyne is currently married), Mary Jo Sanders, Marischa Sjuaw, Sunshine Fettkether and Layla McCarter. And probably most notably, Sumya Anani who, at the time, was, pointedly, being avoided by most of the top boxers in the sport. Holewyne fought Anani twice.

It was that “fight anyone/anywhere” mentality that identifies Lisa Holewyne as a deserving recipient of IWBHF induction and puts her on the list of building blocks for the success her sport has achieved through the present time and seems destined for in the future.

   #     #     #     #      #

About the August 30th IWBHF Induction Ceremony/Dinner:

The prestigious event will take place on Friday, August 30, 2019, at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, located at 5000 Sierra Point Parkway, Brisbane, CA 94005, Phone/415-467-4400.

The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Francisco Airport North is ideally located between downtown San Francisco and San Francisco Airport - just 2.5 miles away their complimentary airport shuttle service - this modern San Francisco Airport hotel boasts stunning views of the San Francisco Bay. 

The IWBHF will be in conjunction with the Beautiful Brawlers where after the IWBHF Hall of Fame takes place on Friday---the following day, on Saturday, August 31, 2019, the Beautiful Brawlers will have their huge and fantastic amateur female boxing event that have takem place annually.  Online ticket purchase will also be included for this event.