By Chip Mitchell: It’s been said if a team has two quarterbacks who get equal playing time, that team really has no quarterback. Just as one quarterback develops a little consistency and begins to gain confidence, the other quarterback is called in to satisfy his quota of playing time. There is no consistency in leadership. There is no foundation. The team becomes divided in its loyalties to each guy. Neither quarterback has a place to call home.
Tyrieshia Douglas, a boxer set to make her professional debut this Saturday, probably understand this as well as anyone. One can argue that her situation is the equivalent to a team having two quarterbacks. If a young lady is passed around from house to house, does she really, truly have a home?
Washington, DC boxing has given us the story of the Peterson brothers, Anthony and Lamont. The brothers rose up from homelessness to become world-class professional fighters. Most in the boxing community are aware of the story and how they were noticed by Barry Hunter who developed them as boxers.
Well there is another pair of siblings in Tyrieshia and Antoine Douglas who have an equally fascinating story of redemption. They were recently the first brother and sister to compete in the United States Olympic Boxing Trials. History in the making. A great story, no doubt. However, the account begins well before the national spotlight was cast upon the duo. It begins in much more gloomy fashion.
Tyrieshia and her brother were passed around from house to house. Her parents were in and out of jail and they were raised at different points by aunts, uncles, and others. Eventually Tyrieshia wound up in (and out of) foster homes. Life still comparable to those quarterbacks. Still searching for a home. Times were tough for Tyrieshia to say the least. She admits that the lack of stability at such a young age was grounds for reckless behavior. “If you said anything to me I would break your face and that was the end of that.”
Tyrieshia seemed to be headed down a path of destruction until she realized something that it takes most of us a lifetime to do. Moreover, once we do, most of us still don’t capitalize on it. She took something she was good at and is going to embark on making a career out of it. For Tyrieshia, the story is a little different. In her case, it also involves turning a negative into a positive.
Tyrieshia is good at fighting. She’s a natural. Fighting in the Olympic box-offs and fighting professionally is one thing. However, being expelled from school for breaking the jaw and nose of a couple of teenage girls is entirely different. She was sent to juvenile detention for a while but before going there, the judge commented that she should look for another way to physically handle her anger. It may not have totally set in her mind until Petrick Washington, a distant cousin adopted Tyrieshia, Antoine, and another brother.
One morning Washington took the kids to a gym. Ironically, he did it for the two brothers. He figured Tyrieshia would be into other things, well you know, girlie things like cheerleading. Little did he know…
Eventually Tyrieshia showed up at the gym where her brothers were training and began to lace them up. In the streets, fighting had always been the disease. However, inside the ring it has consistently been the cure. Once she found her vaccine, she parlayed it into a #2 ranking in the United States. No small achievement for a young lady that many had given up on.
Tyrieshia has found a home! It’s in the boxing ring. As she makes her professional debut on Cassandra “Babie Girl” White’s card this weekend, she seems to be focused on the future. “I want to be the first female boxer on HBO,” she said. After overcoming a past filled with such instability as hers, redemption is but a ten-lettered word. Based on what she’s accomplished in a short period, don’t be surprised if one Saturday evening the team of Kellerman, Steward, and Lampley are calling the action on a Tyrieshia Douglas fight.
Fans, please come out to see Tyrieshia Douglas this Saturday August 4, 2012. Also scheduled to appear are Henry “Sugar Poo” Buchanan, Dhafir “No Fear” Smith, and Tony “Mo Better” Jeter. The event is promoted by Cassandra “Babie Girl” White and Babie Girl Productions. Tickets are moving fast on this one fans so please go to www.babiegirlproductions.net or call (202) 365-5021. You can also find Cassandra on Facebook at facebook.com/babiegirlpro. Tickets are $35, $50, and $100 ringside.