Fighting to the top, Female boxers gain ground
Fighting to the top, Female boxers gain ground
By MATT WELLENS
MARQUETTE — When Micaela Arce of Reno, Nev., first started boxing, she faced some tough opposition — but not from an opponent in the ring.
“When I started boxing, they didn’t want girls,” she said. “They would say, ‘No, this is a guy’s fight. What are you going to be doing in this?’
“Now it’s coming along very good and is popular with the girls. A lot of girls are getting into boxing.”
Arce is one of almost 2,000 female boxers registered with USA Boxing and one of the few remaining girls left competing at the Junior Olympic National Championships at the Superior Dome.
She will meet the 2005 defending featherweight champion Crystal Delgado of Resharon, Texas, in the female lightweight championship today at the Superior Dome. The final round featuring the championship bouts in all the weight classes for the men and women begin at 11 a.m.
This is the second straight year that the men and women boxers are competing on the same stage in the Junior Olympics but unlike their male counterparts, the females won’t have a shot at Olympic gold in 2008.
The International Olympic Committee rejected a proposal last year to add women’s boxing for the 2008 Summer Games in Bejing, China.
“If they have ballroom dancing, I can’t see why they don’t have women’s boxing,” United States Olympic Education Center boxing coach Al Mitchell said.
Mitchell anticipates that the IOC will introduce women’s boxing to the card for the 2012 games in London and if that happens, he would welcome a women’s program to the USOEC gym, he said.
“If they make it an Olympic sport, then we will definitely bring the women in.” Mitchell said. “It won’t be a problem getting women at the Olympic program here. I’ve already gotten over 50 different e-mails from women who want to come to the program.”
Arce and Deirdre Rhodes of St. Louis said they would jump at the chance to train at the USOEC because the Olympics are a dream for them.
Rhodes said she got into boxing after fighting a girl on the streets using gloves. She enjoyed it so much that she joined a gym close to home. On Friday she earned a bronze medal in bantamweight division after falling in the semifinals.
“I spar with boys to make me stronger and to try and get to the highest level that I can,” she said. “I always have a positive attitude and I know I can put myself up where the tough girls are.”
Even though there is enough interest for a women’s boxing program, the USOEC is unable to start up a resident program because the center is only meant for athletes who have the potential to compete in the Olympic games, USOEC director Jeff Kleinschmidt said.
Kleinschmidt said there are other factors to address. First, USA Boxing would have to approve a residency program. Second, the USOEC would have to look into additional trainers, coaches and housing space.
“Right now we do not have the housing space on campus available to add more athletes to the program,” Kleinschmidt said. “In fact, we’ve had to cut athletes in just about every sport.”
The most recent addition to the USOEC was the women’s freestyle-wrestling program in the fall of 2004.
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