26.06.04 – Tonya Harding was knocked out by Amy Johnson in three rounds on Friday night in Edmonton, Alberta. Johnson, 22, was simply too strong for Harding, as she cornered her against the ropes in the 3rd round and unleashed an avalanche of punches against the battered and bruised Harding. The fight was stopped at 1:04 of the third round.
Harding was hoping to use this bout as a spring board for a potential big money bout with Canadian boxer Jelana Mrdjenovich in a pay-per-view event that could have brought in half a million for Harding. With this loss, that appears to have been washed down the drain.
At 33, Harding no longer looks like the young and trim figure skater she was in 1994, at the height of her popularity. She looks to be at least 25 pounds heavier now, with much of it being fat that hides her once attractive frame.
“You name it, she threw it,” a weary Harding said. “She threw a lot more than I anticipated and, you know, it was her night.”
“She got the one opportunity to fight Tonya Harding and, of course, that gives you that extra energy and everything else. Let her have that 15 minutes of fame.”
“This is my first knockout,” said Johnson. “I felt so much stronger than she was. I just felt like going in, like it’s my town, my time to shine.”
“It’s been almost a complete year since I fought and I went out and I’ve shown that I do have some skills,” said Harding. “I just need some more bouts to get under my belt.” Most of the ringside fans appeared to differ with Harding’s self-assessment.
An outcast from figure skating because of her role in the 1994 attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, Harding has survived on the periphery of the sports spotlight ever since. The 1991 national skating champion, she made most of her headlines for run-ins with boyfriends until she beat Paula Jones in a celebrity fight last year.
After Harding’s skating career ended, she suddenly decided to become a professional boxer, even though she has shown little ability at the sport.