Ana Julaton and Women?s Boxing
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 28 Jun 2010
Women?s boxing will be on the spotlight this June 30 when Ana ?The Hurricane? Julaton (6 W (KO 1) - L 2 (KO 0) - D 1) fights Maria Elena Villalobos of Mexico (6 W (KO 3) - L 3 ) in ten round bout for the WBO female superbantamweight title at the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada.
Julaton has always emphasized that her fights are not just about winning titles but an opportunity to help women?s boxing take its place in the international sporting scene. Her being physically attractive helps. To the predominantly male fans, she is a woman first and a fighter second. But she showed rare fortitude in her blood tinged losing effort against Lisa Brown.?
?I?m sorry that I lost, but I?m happy that women?s boxing is getting the exposure it deserves,? Julaton was quoted in a post-fight press conference.
Julaton, who is the first female Filipino-American boxer to win world titles, gained a lot of respect in defeat. But to continue her lofty goals of bringing female boxing to the mainstream, she needs to go back on the winning track.
Women?s boxing has had its ups and downs through the years in terms of acceptance. During the 1970?s and 80?s and even earlier, female boxers were treated like a freak show and there was not a lot of prize money available.
Things started to change during the mid-1990?s when Christy Martin became the face of women?s boxing. She was on the cover of the April 15, 1996 issue of Sports Illustrated, fought in the undercards of Don King promoted pay-per-view bouts and was a guest on various U.S. Talk shows.
The Women?s International Boxing Federation was formed in 1993 by female boxing legend Barbara Buttrick. Other sanctioning bodies followed with their own female title fights.
In 2001, Laila Ali, the daughter of ?The Greatest? Muhammad Ali, fought Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, the daughter of ?Smoking? Joe Frazier, in a continuation of an old feud billed as Ali-Frazier IV. In a spirited showdown that drew a lot of media coverage, Ali won a majority decision.
Laila?s good looks and her genetic programming to win world titles made her the obvious choice to be the next female boxing star. The torch was officially passed in 2003 when Ali stopped a much smaller and older Martin in the 4th round. Laila would go on to win multiple titles at supermiddleweight and light heavyweight in an eight year career.
In a sport with a predominantly male fan base, it became a no brainer to flaunt the female form. In the November 1999 issue of Playboy magazine, boxer Mia St.John appeared on the cover along with an eleven page celebrity pictorial. St. John could also fight and won titles at lightweight and welterweight.
In 2004, the critically acclaimed movie ?Million Dollar Baby? brought attention to women?s boxing but was criticized by purists for the lack of realism in their fight sequences. It did feature real-life boxer Lucia Rijker in the championship fight scene and won four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress for Hilary Swank who played the lead character Maggie Fitzgerald.
Rijker is a Dutch fighter who was once tagged as ?The Most Dangerous Woman in the World?.
Ann Wolfe held titles in four different weight divisions and is regarded to be the hardest puncher in the history of women's boxing. She retired in 2006 and is now training training boxers, including rising middleweight prospect James Kirkland.
Women?s boxing still has a shallow talent pool in the Philippines. It was on February 9, 2006 that the Games and Amusements Board unanimously voted to conduct women?s professional boxing in the Philippines. There are still very few Filipina boxers listed in boxrec.com.
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Gretchen ?Chen-Chen? Abaniel (9W-1L, 2 KO?s) of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan is the current WIBA Women's International Boxing Association minimumweight champion. She successfully defended her title last March against Fahpratan Looksaikongdin of Thailand by 10 round unanimous decision.
Mitchel Martinez was the first world class female boxer produced by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP). She won golds at the Southeast Asian and Asian level and two bronze medals in the World Championships. She retired recently and joined the ABAP coaching staff.
The name Annie Albania became synonymous with Philippine women?s amateur boxing since that day when Freddie Roach singled out Albania as the amateur boxer that really impressed him. It was during the time when Roach was in Baguio training Manny Pacquiao for Miguel Cotto that he saw the amateur fighters in action. Roach told the Philippine sports press corps that the female boxers were ?better than the boys.?
Albania lived up to the hype when she won another SEA games gold and a gold medal at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games.
The London Olympic Games in 2012 will allow female boxers to compete for the first time. Last August 2009 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decreed that 36 places would be available in London to the world?s elite female fighters, who would compete across three weight classes: flyweight (48-51kg), lightweight (56-60kg) and middleweight (69-75kg).
Based on past performances in international competitions, the Philippines has a good chance of getting slots for our female boxers. But there are still very few Filipinas taking up the sport at the grassroots level.
The Philippines already has two female Presidents. But traditional machismo still endures. The idea of a woman bleeding and battered inside a ring is still disquieting and disturbing to most Filipinos. It is one thing to encourage women to leave the kitchen and have careers, quite another to have them do the fighting for us. Most Filipino fathers are overly protective of their daughters and do not want to see them tape their hands and put on gloves. Knocking down stereotypes is more difficult than knocking down an opponent.
By fate or by design, Roach is back in Julaton?s corner. If ?The Hurricane? goes back to her winning ways, this could spark further interest in women?s boxing in the Philippines, the same way that Manny Pacquiao?s unprecedented success lifted the sport from its doldrums.
A female pugilist could very well end our Olympic gold medal drought
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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