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‘Beautiful Brawlers’ Bouts Spotlight Women Boxers

Published

11 years ago

September 24, 2013

By Laura Wong

Boxing, like other high-contact fighting sports, can get ugly. Confined to a ring no larger than 25 square feet, a fighter’s only escape from the stalking blows of an opponent is to keep the gloves up and defend himself. Or herself, as owner of Babyface Boxing Gym, Blanca Gutierrez would have it.

< p>In 2011, Gutierrez and her trainers—some women, some former world champions, some both—held their inaugural event featuring an all-female amateur card.

They called it Beautiful Brawlers: a nod to their participants and a counter-story to historical disinterest and exclusion of women in boxing.

Beautiful Brawlers III brought more than 500 people to SportsHouse in Redwood City on Aug. 28. There were a total of 17 fights and a number of rising and current stars.

Olympian Queen Underwood edged out 2013 Adidas National Champion Stalacia Leggett in the four-round main event.

The 2013 national champion, Jamie Mitchell, defeated Casey Morton in an exciting three-round rematch. At ringside, world champions Ava Knight, Melissa McMorrow, Gina Guidi, Carina Moreno, and Jolene Blackshear provided their support and star power.

This reporter interviewed Gutierrez about the inspiration and mission of Beautiful Brawlers and trends in women’s boxing today.

Of course, many people want to know what attracts a woman athlete to start boxing in the first place.

“My father was a bantamweight boxer and a pioneer for the sport in the early 1950s,” said Gutierrez. “He was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame in June of 2011 and taught me the values of hard work, sacrifice and going after what you want in life.”

She remembers that her dad drank raw eggs in the morning, jumped rope, and shadowboxed all the time.

When he died in 2000, Gutierrez’s husband suggested that she open a gym, and she did: Babyface Boxing, named after her dad, Javier “Babyface” Gutierrez.

The idea of Beautiful Bawlers came about because women find it difficult to fight.

“I was a kickboxer, and I wanted to stay active, but it was impossible because there were not enough male coaches taking [female fighters] seriously and not enough girls competing,” she said.

“After all the frustrations, I decided that I would make an all-female card where girls could shine, be taken seriously, and fight the best of the best to elevate the sport of boxing for other females,” she said.

With the help of Martha Salazar [former WBE Champion] and Eliza Olson [former IBA and WBC Champion], she created sparring camps so that women could get ready, get sound advice and have some place to go where they know they are the focus, Gutierrez said.

“Now we have Olympic hopefuls on the Beautiful Brawlers card and our first Olympian: Queen Underwood, who became a Beautiful Brawler Champion after beating Stalacia Leggett for the title.”

Gutierrez says she is pleased that public perceptions of women in boxing are gradually changing.

“Public attention and attitudes are changing towards women’s boxing in the amateurs but not the pros,” she said. “Since Claressa Shields won the Gold, we got noticed, but that’s not enough.”

“The Beautiful Brawlers all-female boxing card sets the spotlight on more than just one female or three, unlike the Olympics which only lets three weight classes compete,” she said.

“We have some great things planned in the next few years. What we accomplish will not only shock us, but we will shock the boxing community.”

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WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

8 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.

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Bay Area

Vivian Coit, 98

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

Published

8 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Vivian Coit

Celebrating A Life Well Lived

Sept. 15, 1925 ~ March 30, 2024

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

In her 98 years, she had various jobs – San Francisco Naval Shipyard, elevator operator, housekeeping, a salesclerk, and supervisor for the United States Postal Service. After 27 years of service with the United States Postal Service, she retired with numerous commendations. She was a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women. and a devoted member of the Washington/Lincoln Alumni Association of Dallas, Texas.

On April 20 at 10:00 a.m., a life well-lived will be celebrated at Beebe Memorial Cathedral CME Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA under the leadership of Rev. Antoine Shyne.

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Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

8 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!