Ali-Martin: A Different View

Bernie McCoy

07.08 - There's a great final scene in an under-appreciated 1972 movie called "The Candidate". Robert Redford, as the title character, turns to his campaign manager following a successful, albeit disreputable senatorial campaign, and asks, with a great deal of naivete, "Now what?". I thought of that scene when I saw a picture of Tonya Harding, on the canvas, in the first round, last Saturday, in a ring outside a strip club in Dallas, a dazed, questioning expression on her face. For Harding, the answer to "Now what?" is fairly clear-cut: get on with your life, only do it outside the boxing ring.

The same question can, legitimately, be directed to the sport that Tonya Harding had a brief, but doomed, flirtation with. "Now what, Womens boxing?" Many "experts" believe that the August 23 PPV bout between two of the best known female boxers will represent a turning point for the sport. There's no question that Laila Ali and Christy Martin are well known throughout the sports world and their notoriety is not limited to those who follow the sport of Womens boxing. However, last December, similar predictions were being made about the "Battle of the Covergirls", a PPV bout between two equally well known female fighters, Martin and Mia St. John. An Al Gore speech probably would have generated more interest, and, to many, might have been significantly more exciting.

Will Ali/Martin be a better fight? Lets put it this way, it can't be any worse. The two fighters have already engaged in the requisite press conference confrontation and, for once in her career, Christy Martin has been a veritable "fountain of information" for the press. In two separate stories, Martin has gone out of her way to position herself as "the fighting underdog", a role she said she gladly accepts. Martin also manages to work into each interview the fact that she feels she deserves respect as the "best pound for pound" fighter. If she ever was accorded that sobriquet, it was so long ago that Christy may be the only one in the sport who remembers it. Certainly the St John bout will not go a long way towards putting Martin at the top of any list of female fighters. As good as she once was, or thought she was, Martin, in a bit of revisionist history, seems to erase the name Lucia Rijker from her past. Rijker, of course, was the fighter that Martin studiously avoided for a number of years in the nineties. Additionally, Martin seems to have forgotten a night in Ft Lauderdale in December, 1998, when Sumya Anani, then a fairly unknown fighter stood toe-to-toe with Christy around for ten rounds and came way with a ten round decision. Following that bout, Martin added Anani, to the list of fighters to be "Avoided at all cost" for the next several years. So, "the best pound for pound"? I think if Martin is anywhere on that list, today, she's, at the very least, looking up at Anani.

As for Laila Ali, she is undefeated in 15 bouts, the first seven or eight against opposition that one would expect for a fighter just beginning a career. A much publicized bout with Jacqui Frazier was notable only because it exceeded the somewhat low expectations many fans had for two "famous daughters" stepping into the ring. In the initial press release for the Martin bout, it was noted that Ali had "captured her first title in a second round TKO from Suzy Taylor last summer." What was omitted from that particular hosanna was the fact that Taylor, never known as a demon when it came to training, entered the Ali fight with four straight losses. Thus Laila's "first title" was "wrenched" from a fighter who went down to her fifth straight loss. Also, as Martin has had Rijker and Anani on the "don't go near" list, Ali also seems to have a particular aversion to one Ann Wolfe. Wolfe, a 14-1 fighter, is really the only suitable opponent in Ali's weight class. For many months, the Ali "camp" had treated Wolfe as if she was invisible. Then, in a startling development, the promoter and Ali manager, Johnny "Yayah" McClain added Ann Wolfe to the undercard of the Ali/Martin card. Wolfe will be in against Valerie Mahfood, who Ali has beaten twice in the past year, both on TKOs. Mahfood is, also, the only fighter to have beaten Wolfe, with a startling third round KO in November, 2000. Thus, Wolfe/Mahfood makes for a very compelling undercard bout. However, at this time, there is no indication that this bout will make the PPV lineup. It seems unconscionable that, on a night when the sport of Women's boxing is the focal point of a national telecast, a bout featuring two terrific fighters, Ann Wolfe and Valerie Mahfood, would be kept from the television audience. Ann Wolfe has been invisible long enough. She's in against a formidable opponent and the bout will provide a great lead-in to Ali/Martin. The question is simple: "Now What?"