As I was surfing the girl wide web this morning, I came across a video series put together by The New York Times, “About Time” on three female boxers as they prepared to compete for a spot on the first ever (that’s right, the FIRST) U.S. Women’s Boxing Team competing in the Olympics this year.
Men have been competing in Olympic boxing since 1904 but women’s professional boxing wasn’t recognized until 1993 after 16-year-old Dallas Malloy filed a lawsuit which removed a ban on women’s professional boxing. A month later Malloy competed (and won) in the first women’s boxing match. And now, 19 years later, women are heading to London.
“About Time” centered around Claressa Shields, 16, Alex Love, 22, and Tiara Brown, 23, in the month before they would compete in trials outside of Spokane, Wash. After watching these three young, powerful women’s stories I must say I am very impressed. One of these Olympic hopefuls, Claressa, is only 16 and shows such determination and focus. I could not imagine waking up at 6am and getting through a day of high school with enough energy to do an intense workout for several hours when I was a teenager. At 16, I spent most of my time hanging out with my friends, lounging at their houses, munching on snacks and listening to music. Claressa won the middleweight division last month, finding her a spot on the U.S. Women’s Olympic Boxing Team along with Marlen Esparza (flyweight) and Queen Underwood (lightweight). They are now heading to prepare to compete in China for a spot in the summer Olympics in London.
These are women you don’t want to mess with! Can’t wait to see them duke it out this summer.
Photo Credit: USABoxing.org
