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Thread: Boxing

  1. #346
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    Hugo Alfredo "Dinamita" Santillan

    woah. wth boxing?

    Santillan, 23, is second boxer to die this week
    7:54 AM PT
    ESPN

    Argentine boxer Hugo Alfredo "Dinamita" Santillan died Thursday in Buenos Aires of injuries suffered in the ring during Saturday's draw against Uruguayan fighter Eduardo Javier Abreu. He was 23.

    Dr. Graciela Olocco from Hospital Agudos San Felipe confirmed the death on Thursday morning to media outlets.

    Santillan underwent surgery for a clot in his brain and twice went into cardiorespiratory failure before he died of cardiac arrest at 12:35 a.m. local time Thursday, Olocco said.


    World Boxing Council

    @WBCBoxing
    RIP Hugo Santillan.

    He passed away from injuries suffered during Saturday’s fight which ended in a draw.

    We join Hugo’s family and friends in grief, support and wish prompt resignation.

    Via @marcosarienti



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    Russian boxer Maxim Dadashev died Tuesday after suffering a similar brain injury during Friday's fight in Maryland against Subriel Matias of Puerto Rico. He was 28.

    Santillan (19-6-2), a super lightweight, made his pro debut in 2015. Eight of his 19 victories came by knockout. He was the son of fighter Hugo Alfredo Santillan and was from the same region, Santa Fe, as Marcos Rene "Chino" Maidana.

    According to ringside reports, Santillan's nose began to bleed in the fourth round and, though he raised his arm in victory after the fight, he passed out as the judges were announcing the draw -- scored 95-95, 93-97 and 96-94 -- against Abreu (10-1-1).

    "Upon admission to the hospital, he had successive kidney failure and he did not come out of his coma," Olocco said. "He had swelling of his brain and he never recovered consciousness. The swelling continued to worsen, and it affected the functioning of the rest of his organs."
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  2. #347
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    Patricio Manuel

    The world's first transgender professional boxer is now the face of Everlast
    By Allen Kim, CNN
    Updated 3:00 PM ET, Fri September 27, 2019

    (CNN)Everlast, the leading brand in boxing, has chosen an unlikely athlete to be the new face of the brand.
    The company picked Patricio Manuel for its "Be First" campaign. Manuel is the first transgender boxer to compete professionally.
    As a woman, Manuel was a USA National Amateur Boxing Champion and was invited to compete in the 2012 Olympics trials.
    However, a shoulder injury during Olympic qualifying changed everything, Everlast said in a news release.
    While Manuel was recovering from the injury he decided to transition from female to male. It proved to be the toughest fight of his life.
    He was shunned and abandoned by his trainers and gym, and he had to fight the boxing commissions until they recognized regulations on transgender people in the sport, the news release said.


    Manuel had an uphill battle to fight to get back in the ring.

    Against all odds, Manuel fought his way back into the sport and became the first person to compete in a professional boxing match as a transgender fighter. On December 8, 2018, Manuel climbed into the ring against Hugo Aguilar at the Fantasy Spring Resort Casino in Indio, California, and came out a winner.
    The six-year journey proved to be worth the wait.
    "I'm incredibly honored to have been selected to tell my story in Everlast's Be First campaign," Manuel tells CNN. "Everlast is such a fixture in the sport and to have such an iconic athletic company recognize me as I am -- as a professional boxer who is transgender -- is a dream come true."
    There may be no other fighter who embodies the campaign's focus on challenging people to carve their own path to success better than Manuel, and he is paving the way for others to follow him.
    "At a time when transgender people are being questioned whether we have a place in the sporting world or even being recognized by the world at large, for Everlast to endorse me is huge," Manuel said. "It's a bold statement and I think it personifies the saying 'Be First.'"
    "I really hope it pushes other companies to think outside the box. This world is so incredibly diverse, we all deserve to have our identities and stories highlighted."
    Would it be inappropriate to say that this is a really ballsy move on the part of Everlast?

    Probably. It's so hard to stay PC nowadays.
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  3. #348
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    Patrick Day

    Boxer Patrick Day Dies From Traumatic Brain Injury Suffered in Super Welterweight Fight
    ALAA ABDELDAIEM 16 HOURS AGO


    © Jon Durr-USA TODAY Sports

    Patrick Day dies after suffering traumatic brain injury in welterweight fight

    Junior middleweight Patrick Day has died from injuries sustained in his 10th-round knockout in Chicago on Saturday night, the boxer’s management company, DiBella Entertainment, announced on Wednesday.

    According to the statement, Day succumbed to the traumatic brain injury he suffered in his title bout loss to defending champion Charles Conwell. He was surrounded by his family, close friends and members of his boxing team at the time of his death.

    "On behalf of Patrick's family, team, and those closest to him, we are grateful for the prayers, expressions of support and outpouring of love for Pat that have been so obvious since his injury," the statement read.

    Day, 27, fell to the canvas on Saturday after falling under a barrage of punches in the 10th and final round. Day was treated by a doctor in the ring and then was rushed off on a stretcher by paramedics and transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he underwent emergency brain surgery and fell into a coma shortly afterward.

    As of Sunday evening, Day was still in a coma and was in “extremely critical condition,” per DiBella Entertainment.

    In an emotional open letter to Day on Monday, Conwell said he had replayed the fight "over and over in my head" and was riddled with feelings of guilt and regret over the outcome.

    "If I could take it all back I would. No one deserves for this to happen to them," Conwell wrote in the post. "I prayed for you so many times and shedded so many tears because I couldn't even imagine how my family and friends would feel."

    DiBella Entertainment added that Day's death made it "very difficult to explain away or justify the dangers of boxing at a time like this."

    "This is not a time where edicts or pronouncements are appropriate, or the answers are readily available. It is, however, a time for a call to action," the team said. "While we don't have the answers, we certainly know many of the questions, have the means to answer them, and have the opportunity to respond responsibly and accordingly and make boxing safer for all who participate. This is a way we can honor the legacy of Pat Day. Many people live much longer than Patrick's 27 years, wondering if they made a difference or positively affected their world. This was not the case for Patrick Day when he left us. Rest in peace and power, Pat, with the angels."
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  4. #349
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    Claressa Shields


    Plant-Based Boxer, GWOAT, Wins Fight for Double Championship, Gender Equality
    Hailey Welch Published: March 5, 2021
    @claressashields
    This story was updated Saturday, March 6th, 2021.

    Last night Claressa Shields won the right to call herself GWOAT, Greatest Woman of All Time, becoming the first fighter, man or woman, to win an undisputed championship in two weight classes, by beating contender Marie-Eve Dicaire, for the title of World Champion, Junior Middleweight Division. Shields was already the reigning titleholder in the Middleweight division, and now she can wear her GWOAT ring with pride.

    An outspoken advocate of equal pay and gender equality in the sport of boxing, and in every arena, Shields is putting her hard work and right cross hook where her mouth is, by drawing an ever-growing number of fans to the still mainstreaming sport of female boxing. She is also taking the gloves off to compete in mixed martial arts, and we can expect to hear more from her in the future. already the only boxer, man or woman to ever win two back-to-back Olympic Gold Medals, Shields' star is on the rise.

    On March 5th Sheilds entered the ring n her hometown of Flint Michigan for her first-ever home-town bout, to show that: 1. Plant-based athletes kick-ass and 2. Equality for women all over the world still has a long way to go. (Perhaps not in that order.) The fight was dedicated to raising awareness for women's equality and pay equity in advance if International Women's Day, which is Monday, March 8th.

    Equality, Pay Equity, and Fighting for What's Right

    Shields is a great ambassador for both causes since she has been fighting and winning since she was 17 when she won her first Olympic Gold Medal in 2012 in London, England. Never count a vegan or plant-based athlete out. Novak Djokovic just won his ninth grand slam, at the Australian Open, on a plant-based diet. Tom Brady just won his seventh Superbowl Ring on a mostly plant-based diet. World Class Champion Surfer Tia Blanco wins her meets on a plant-based diet, and next, Claressa Shields is going to show that she can prevail, be her strongest and perform at the highest levels of her sport, on a plant-based diet of vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

    Most athletes who have ditched meat and dairy said they do it to lower inflammation in the body, which helps their circulation, oxygen uptake, endurance, strength, and injury prevention. All of them say it helps with faster recovery times so they can go crush it again the next day, without a "down day" between sessions.

    Shields took on Marie-Eve Dicaire in one of the most important matches of her career. The event was held at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, on March 5 at 9 pm. The fight was sponsored by Vejii, the new vegan online market where you buy everything you want for a plant-based diet in one place.

    "It just don't feel real to say undisputed twice," Shields told reporters, according to DAZN News, after adding the undisputed Junior Middleweight crown to the undisputed Middleweight title that she already owned. "It's kind of weird. It's like some epic s—t."

    Her one goal that remained unachieved: She wanted the K.O. she told reporters. "I was trying to get the knockout," Shields said. "That's what I really wanted. I'm happy, but I still wanted the KO. I just didn't have enough time."

    DAZN reported the reigning champ ended the press interview with: "Pacquiao who? Canelo who? It's Claressa Shields, yes!" She was referring of course to Manny Pacquiao, the much-decorated Filipino boxer, now a Senator in the Philippines, and "Canelo" Álvarez, the Mexican pro boxer who has won multiple world championships. "Two-time undisputed. When someone else does it, let me know! It ain't been done. It's just me."

    Shields comes from a family of boxers and won her first Olympic Gold at age 17
    Shields was a decorated amateur boxing career, winning her first Olympic gold medal at 17 in 2012. She turned pro after defending her middleweight gold medal in Rio in 2016, she turned professional. In addition to her two Olympic gold medals, she has won nine world championship belts in the sport. Shields, 25, is the defending WBC and WBO light-middleweight champion. In her fight with Dicaire, she’ll put those belts on the line.

    “I think it brings a lot more power, a lot more experience. I really think that I’m not just into only boxing. I’m a lot stronger at places where I really had strength at before. So I’m really excited about March 5th and bringing some of that to the table.”

    Shields certainly has every right to be "super excited" about this bucket list event, since she grew up not too far from the arena, and learned to love the sport of boxing through her father Bo, a former boxer. “I really started boxing for my dad so that he can live his life through me,” she said. “And I didn't know that boxing was destined for what I would do. I just did it because I wanted to make my dad happy," she also told Team USA.

    Claressa Shields Fights For Equality
    For Sheilds, there's only one perfect time to do what she loves, but since March is Women's History Month and International Women's Day is celebrated on the 8th, this fight, in particular, is destined to be the moment to prove everything she believes: "We're as great as the men."

    In an interview with Fox Business, Shields pointed out that women don't get as much money as men in many sports but specifically in boxing because women are held at a maximum of 10 rounds whereas men can fight for 12 rounds, but she would be willing to compete for the entire round if they let her. Men and women deserve equal pay, and we are here to stay," she said.

    “I have been very vocal about (women’s sports) but after being vocal now you have to take action. And right here is taking action,” Shields said. “Not being given chances by networks that don’t want to pay us what we want or need to be paid. … This is where it all starts. And to me, this is taking a stand for equal pay and equal fight time.”
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  5. #350
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    Heather Hardy

    Interview
    Heather Hardy: ‘I was a world champion and I couldn’t use boxing as my full-time job’

    Tess Crain

    Former WBO featherweight champion Heather Hardy has won 22 of her 23 professional bouts. Photograph: Tim Knox/The Guardian
    The single mom from Brooklyn who became world featherweight champion and one of NYC’s most popular fighters opens up about her feminist roots, the fight for gender equity and life after boxing

    Thu 13 May 2021 04.30 EDT

    Heather Hardy has experienced it all during her time as a professional fighter. A single mom and feminist who didn’t start boxing until well into her twenties, the Brooklyn native came up through the crucible of New York City’s club scene before finally winning the World Boxing Organization featherweight title in 2018.

    Now 39, Hardy is up against a challenge she’s yet to confront in her decade-long career: bouncing back from defeat. Twenty months after suffering her first professional loss and ceding her title to fellow Brooklynite Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden, Hardy will climb into the ring with Montreal’s Jessica Camara in an eight-round lightweight bout at the top of Broadway Boxing’s inaugural Ladies Fight card – a new all-female boxing series streaming on UFC Fight Pass that promoter Lou DiBella has launched to keep veteran contenders busy and elevate up-and-coming prospects.

    It’s just the kind of platform that might have made things easier for Hardy during her early years. But her main preoccupation in the days before Friday’s fight is the jump in weight: a two-division leap from her 126lbs comfort zone to the 135lbs realm. “[Camara] is a natural lightweight,” Hardy told the Guardian this week. “I expect that she’s going to be strong.”

    The move up for Hardy is born of necessity, the reason all too familiar to some: “During Covid and the shutdowns, I was working full-time and not training. So not only did I have to get back in boxing shape, I had to get back in actual shape and I just thought 126 would kill me.”

    Early in 2020, as she strategized her next move after her career-first loss, the world closed down. Then came a phone call from DiBella, the promoter who first spotted Hardy’s potential and signed her only six fights into her pro career as his company’s first female fighter.

    “He said, ‘If you need help financially, call me, but do not expect a boxing paycheck in 2020,” Hardy recalls. “Do what you gotta do to put food on the table and pay your bills.’ So I just got out of the gym. I said, ‘No more training. This is regular Heather and survival mode.’”

    A year later, having been vaccinated, returned to the gym, and spent the spring preparing for Friday’s bout, Hardy’s fitness and readiness belie the difficult road in her rear view: “I hit my fight weight today. I literally stood on the scale and I cried. I gained nearly 30lbs in Covid. I didn’t think I could do it. I was just like, I’m going to frigging do this. And I did. So standing on that scale today and seeing that 137-point-whatever, it was just the most gratifying feeling.”

    If Hardy is not the face of women’s boxing in the United States, she is at least, along with Serrano, its most recognizable face in its biggest city, which remains the sport’s spiritual home. That distinction didn’t come easy. The road to winning the WBO belt in a successful 2018 rematch against Shelly Vincent was paved with years of fights for paltry purses before scattered crowds at BB Kings Blues Club, the Aviator Sports Complex, the since-razed Roseland Ballroom and the many other club venues that pepper the New York City boxing scene.

    But for Hardy, boxing has never been just about belts. Her name has become embedded in the discourse around women’s boxing, particularly regarding gender parity. Independent filmmaker Natasha Verma even made her the centerpiece – and namesake – of her 2013 documentary that examined the male-female wage gap in boxing.

    Growing up, Hardy felt “strangely drawn” to activists like Billie Jean King and Gloria Steinem: “I always felt like I was born in the wrong era. I should have been marching for women’s rights in the seventies.” So when she started boxing in 2010 before turning pro less than two years later, she found it difficult to ignore the flagrant discrepancies in treatment – both quantifiable and existential – between male and female fighters. Hardy recalls earning $7,500 to defend a WBC international title when the male boxer with similar credentials entering the ring directly after her netted a purse in the high six figures. “I was a world champion and I couldn’t use boxing as my full-time job,” she says.


    Heather Hardy, right, suffered the first and only defeat of her professional career to fellow Brooklyn native Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden in September 2019. Photograph: Frank Franklin II/AP
    Recounting the early days of her career, Hardy describes a disempowering, extortionate landscape. “There’s only room for one at a time. For one Ronda Rousey. One female in each important seat. So no matter how bad that female gets treated, she never wants to speak up because there’s a line of girls waiting for that spot who would gladly take it for less pay or less acknowledgement.”

    Not Hardy, however: “As a feminist, as a girl mom, not only did I want to win world titles, but I wanted to make noise.”

    Amidst the upward sweep of her career, she realized the implied authority of drawing crowds and filling seats. “People want to see me?” she says. “Hey, maybe I’m not lucky I’m here. Maybe I deserve to be here. And I deserve a little bit more. That kind of gave more power to the things I had to say about what was going on.”

    Asked whether she thinks paid a price for her salience and integrity, she hesitates for a beat.

    “When you speak out against inequity in any sense, whether it’s gender, race, religion, you’re seen as a whining, complaining female,” Hardy says. “It’s just a stigma that gets attached to you. I’m sure there are tons of people out there who don’t want to deal with me or don’t want to do business with me. But I just don’t care.”

    In recent years, boxing has made demonstrable strides toward equity, for which Hardy credits two core factors. First, the introduction of women’s boxing to the Olympics, in 2012, which offered the chance for acclaim on a world stage: “I came from Gleason’s Gym, which has a long line of female champions, female road warriors who traveled around to fight because there was nothing here.”

    Second, Hardy cites changes in how we consume content: “Ten years ago, we didn’t have UFC Fight Pass. There were no streaming services. There was no Dazn. If you weren’t at my fight, you couldn’t watch it.”

    As in other sports, visibility matters: if fans haven’t seen women fight, they’re less likely to believe women can fight.

    Still, while she sees progress, to Hardy, boxing remains “a boys’ game” – particularly in contrast with mixed martial arts, which offers female fighters “more publicity, more money, more recognition, more media attention.” As one of the early female boxers to seek greener pastures (and purses) in the MMA world, Hardy knows firsthand that, between the two combat sports, the industry support for women is “apples and oranges, night and day”.

    As she approaches her 40th birthday in January, Hardy knows the obvious question. “People ask me, would you be OK to retire?” Even a fighter who’s headlined cards, performed before sold-out crowds, and won a world title at Madison Square Garden is not impervious to life’s punishing vicissitudes. “If you survived 2020, and you’re not in a mile of debt, you figured it out. I’m convinced there’s nothing I can’t figure out.”

    She views Friday’s bout against Camara in the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro as a kind of litmus test for her career.

    “My goal is to hit weight, that’s number one,” Hardy says. “Number two, win that fight. Number three, I’m going to Jamaica for a week. I’m going to sit on the beach, I’m going to sip a martini. And I’m going to see if these last three months of my life were worth it. Because the fans, everybody only sees those eight rounds. They don’t see the jogs in the plastic suit. They don’t see shuffling clients. They don’t see homeschooling your 11th-grader, they don’t see SAT scores. That’s the kind of thing that I have to decide. Am I willing to sacrifice my body, my mental health, my everything for what comes next.”

    Still, Hardy feels prepared and excited: “I can tell you that my fight camp went unbelievably smooth.” As for Camara, “She could be bigger than me, but I feel really good.”

    It’s tough to imagine a fighter with Hardy’s spirit walking away after a comeback. But there’s also the chance we’ll simply see a different side of her. Despite an earned skepticism for the business of boxing, Hardy loves two things about the sport itself.

    “I love my role in boxing, which is fighting,” she says. “I don’t know that I’d ever want to really take on any other position outside of fighter – except for maybe commentator because, you know, I do love to talk.”

    Given the urgency of her message and passion of her convictions, one can believe that even when she finally hangs up her gloves, Heather Hardy won’t stop speaking up any time soon.
    Becoming a pro athlete is incredibly hard, even harder for less spotlighted sports.
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  6. #351
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    Streaming schedules on NBC

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    Aidan Walsh

    Yahoo Sports
    Irish boxer Aidan Walsh out of Olympics after he injured ankle celebrating win
    Ryan Young·Writer
    Sat, July 31, 2021, 8:44 PM·1 min read
    Irish boxer Aidan Walsh has withdrawn from his semifinal bout in Tokyo after he injured his ankle celebrating.

    Walsh didn’t attend the medical check and weigh-in for his fight against Great Britain’s Pat McCormack on Sunday, according to The Associated Press. His absence means that McCormack will advance to the gold medal welterweight fight.

    Walsh will still win a bronze medal. McCormack will now take on either Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias or Russia’s Andrei Zamkovoy in the gold medal fight.

    “What Aidan did this week is an incredible achievement,” Ireland boxing team leader Bernard Dunne said, via The Associated Press. “His performance throughout the tournament has been outstanding, and it is great to see him write his name in the annals of Irish sport.”

    Walsh hurt his ankle celebrating QF win

    Walsh reached the semifinal match after beating Mauritius’ Merven Clair in the quarterfinals. After he was given the win, though, Walsh started a wild celebration.

    He jumped up and down multiple times and then landed awkwardly on his ankle.

    He was later seen leaving the arena in a wheelchair.

    The Irish team said that Walsh injured his ankle, but only said that he did so during the fight. His ankle wasn’t an issue until after his win.

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    ****. Boxing & Pentathlon are out

    Three sports gone, three sports added to LA28 Summer Olympics
    The IOC adds skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing to permanent spots on the Olympic program.

    By
    Ed Hula
    December 9, 2021
    ehula@aroundtherings.com

    International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach attends the Executive Board meeting in the lead-up to Beijing 2022 at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, December 9, 2021. Greg Martin/IOC/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
    Three of the oldest sports on the Olympic program have been replaced with three of the youngest.

    Beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, sport stalwarts boxing, modern pentathlon and weightlifting are no longer on the program for the Games.

    Taking those places on the roster are skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. The trio of newcomers debuted at Tokyo 2020 and have since been added to the program for Paris 2024.

    The youth appeal and growth of these three “S” sports is driving the changes by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said IOC President Thomas Bach in announcing the changes.

    “The proposed inclusion of these youth-focused sports is based on their significant contribution to the success of Tokyo 2020, the commitment to innovation and the partnership expressed by LA28, recognizing the deep roots each of these sports have in California,” he said.


    FILE PHOTO: Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Modern Pentathlon - Women's Riding - Tokyo Stadium - Tokyo, Japan - August 6, 2021. Annika Schleu of Germany in action REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado//File Photo
    All three of the sports on the outs with the IOC have struggled for a few years to remain on the summer program. Modern pentathlon, which debuted in 1912 and was supposedly the favorite of Olympics founder Pierre deCoubertin, has radically adjusted its format in recent years. Live weapons fire has been replaced with a laser pistol. This year the federation voted to drop the equestrian jumping event but has yet to decide what other discipline will take the place of the equestrian competition. With some of the lowest Olympic TV ratings, modern pentathlon brings little commercial value beyond its historic past.

    A statement from the sport’s federation Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) says the sport will look to the future.

    “UIPM’s global community is ready to embrace the new opportunity presented by the IOC to futureproof modern pentathlon as an enduring highlight of the Olympic Games,” they said.

    “The main constituents of the sport will include a compelling, inclusive and fair format, a sustainable and affordable infrastructure and a combination of sports that engages new audiences while continuing to embrace the ultimate challenge of body and mind – as envisaged by Baron Pierre de Coubertin,” says the UIPM reaction to today’s decision.

    The cuts were approved at a virtual meeting of the IOC Executive Board, chaired by Bach during the past three days.

    The IOC EB is quite familiar with the travails of boxing and weightlifting, both troubled sports over issues such as governance, ethics, finance and doping. Both are under IOC scrutiny as each work to heal self-inflicted wounds suffered through decades of mismanagement.


    Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Weightlifting - Men's 96kg - Group A - Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan - July 31, 2021. Bekdoolot Rasulbekov of Kyrgyzstan reacts as he fails a lift. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File photo SEARCH "BEST OF THE TOKYO OLYMPICS" FOR ALL PICTURES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY.
    Weightlifting, one of the 12 sports on the program of the 1896 Games, was facing being cut from Paris 2024. The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) still has some key tests to pass with the IOC if it is to remain on the program in Paris.

    So far, the only reaction from weightlifting comes from Ursula Papandrea of the United States, a candidate for the IWF presidency. The IWF was scheduled to hold their elections in a few weeks in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but they were recently postponed with no due time or date selected. Papandrea blames the IWF’s predicament on the failure of the current federation’s leadership.

    “The IWF Executive Board could have quite easily secured weightlifting’s long-term status by cooperating with the IOC request to improve its governance and heed its call for new leadership,” says Papandrea, who served as an interim IWF president for a few months in 2020 until she was voted out by the IWF executive board.


    Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Boxing - Men's Heavyweight - Medal Ceremony - Kokugikan Arena - Tokyo, Japan - August 6, 2021. Silver medallist Muslim Gadzhimagomedov of the Russian Olympic Committee congratulates Gold medallist Julio Cesar La Cruz of Cuba during the medal ceremony. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
    Boxing, contested in the Olympics since 1912, is ****her along with its reforms and new leadership than the IWF but the International Boxing Association (AIBA) is still under watch by the IOC. Distrusting of AIBA, the IOC took over the administration and staging of boxing for Tokyo from qualifications to the medal rounds.

    “We are grateful for the opportunity being given to boxing and its athletes. And we are also grateful to the IOC for its acknowledgement of our progress. The establishment of a clear roadmap is very helpful,” AIBA President Umar Kremlev said after Bach’s announcement.

    “There will certainly be more to do in terms of sporting integrity, financial integrity and governance. We remain fully committed to meeting all the objective criteria for reform established by the IOC. AIBA is determined to put itself in a position to be able to organize Olympic qualification and the Paris 2024 boxing tournament,” said Kremlev.


    Mexico's pitcher Dallas Escobedo instructs the catcher to catch the fly ball in the foul territory during the seventh inning of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games softball opening round game between Italy and Mexico at Yokohama Baseball Stadium in Yokohama, Japan, on July 25, 2021. (Photo by KAZUHIRO FUJIHARA / AFP)
    All three of the sports lopped from the program have the chance to return to Los Angeles as a one-time sport, subject to their good standing with the IOC and what other sports might also be seeking to enter the LA28 program. The competition will be tough. Baseball and softball, added for Tokyo after being dropped in 2008, are important sports in Southern California and the U.S. Breaking, a style of dance added as a one-time sport in Paris, seems destined for Los Angeles depending on how this newcomer is received in 2024. Karate, squash, lacrosse, cricket and polo are among other possible sports with an eye on LA28. A decision on those additions is expected in 2023.

    “As we look at additional sport recommendations, we will continue to focus on sports relevant to Los Angeles, provide an incredible fan experience and contribute to the success of the Games. We want to build on tradition, while progressing the Olympic Games forward,” said LA28 chair Casey Wasserman in a statement.

    The proposal to add and cut sports for LA28 is subject to ratification in February at the IOC Session to be held in Beijing on the eve of the 2022 Winter Games.
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  9. #354
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    Ebanie Bridges the “Blonde Bomber,”

    Boxer Ebanie Bridges at war with Instagram over topless photo
    By Jenna Lemoncelli
    January 3, 2022 12:32pm Updated
    Australian boxer Ebanie Bridges, who goes by the “Blonde Bomber,” is upset about online “trolls” after a sultry photo of hers was recently removed by Instagram.

    Bridges, according to The Sun, received a warning from Instagram over a snapshot on her account that showed her posing topless from behind, wearing nothing but boxing gloves and thong underwear.



    The 35-year-old shared a screengrab of the notice from Instagram that read, “Your post goes against our guidelines on adult sexual solicitation.”

    “OK the trolls / haters are winning TBH. Eh keep reporting my pic. I can’t re-post my pic. Last thing I wanna do is lose my account,” Bridges responded.

    According to The Sun, Instagram also warned the boxer that she “could lose access to [her] account in the future” for sharing similar posts.

    “Hope y’all screenshotted it for your backgrounds before it got removed. Happy New Year.”

    Bridges shared the same photo in a tweet on Dec. 31, which is still posted to her account.

    In a separate post on Twitter and Instagram over the weekend, Bridges defended her brand, and said she wants to inspire others.

    “I stayed strong and true to myself. Through all the hate, all the people judging me, stereotyping me and praying for me to fail,” she wrote. “Mainly cos of how I look & how I promote myself, people couldn’t handle change.

    “I came into the women’s boxing world showing something different, and promoting myself using social media (no one was / is going to do it for me) I AM different. I’ll never be like anyone else. I’ve walked my own path and now paved it for others. I like to think I have done a lot for women’s boxing this year and brought many more eyes on the sport by just being myself.


    Ebanie Bridges weighing in for a 2021 fight
    Getty Images
    “I took the hits and the bullets and I survived the attacks to now make it easier for other women who also choose to be feminine and show their beauty whilst still being a beast, and hopefully they don’t get slayed as much as I did. I built my own brand that will continue to grow and hopefully inspired many others, not only women but EVERYONE.”

    Bridges last fought in September when she beat Mailys Gangloff, pushing her record to 7-1. Her only defeat came in April 2021, when she lost to Shannon Courtenay by unanimous decision in a bantamweight world title fight.

    The Aussie boxer, who is also a math school teacher, turned professional in February 2019.
    Wow. Boxing has changed...
    Gene Ching
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  10. #355
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    Ramla Ali

    Olympic Boxer And Dior Muse Ramla Ali On Resilience And Bouncing Back
    'Setbacks are part of life… you just have to own them'

    BY SHANNON MAHANTY | POSTED ON28 12 2021
    Get your bum down!’ In a slick east London gym, I’m one-and-a-half minutes into a two-minute plank, surrounded by 20 women in the same position. Ramla Ali is shouting at me to ‘plank properly’, though she quickly loses her authoritative tone and starts laughing. It’s a fitting end to a session that is tough and sweaty but, above all, fun.

    For Ramla, planking comes easy. She’s a professional boxer, Dior muse and UNICEF humanitarian but, today, she’s in full fighter mode. I’m at Sisters Club, the initiative she launched in 2018 to provide a safe space for women to learn boxing and reap the mental and physical health benefits. Initially, she designed the free classes for Muslim women and minorities. Ramla, who is Muslim, understood the lack of women-only spaces where, regardless of their background, women could work out free from the male gaze and not worry about taking their hijabs off – or keeping them on.

    ‘We get so many messages from women saying how amazing the classes are, especially for their mental health,’ Ramla tells me after the session. ‘That’s one of the main reasons for starting Sisters Club. Yes, it was about creating a safe space for women who don’t necessarily get access to sport. But it’s also about making them feel good through the power of exercise.’

    Following the high-profile killings of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, among many others (at least 81 women have been murdered in the UK since last March), there has been a rising appetite for self-defence classes. ‘It’s empowering to know that you can defend yourself and I want women to feel confident, knowing they can box,’ says Ramla. ‘But there is this huge conversation happening about how women should be more vigilant, and be this and that, but why does responsibility always fall to women? Men need to stop attacking us.’

    Ali won’t be at the next Sisters Club as she’s about to fly out to the Cayman Islands for a training camp. In the run-up to a fight, she trains six days a week and has regular sessions with a nutritionist and psychologist. She hands over the reins of her social media accounts to her husband Rich, who also happens to be her coach. Everything that’s not connected to the fight goes out of the window.

    The next match will take place in the US, and will be her first since the Olympics, where Ramla represented her native Somalia. Her family fled the civil war when she was a baby and arrived in the UK as refugees. Although she has not yet been back to Somalia, in 2018, Ramla set up the country’s boxing federation and switched allegiances to fight for Somalia instead of England. Ramla wanted to put the country on the map in a positive light and share an alternative narrative that wasn’t about war and corruption.

    Making it to Olympic level was a huge moment for her and the Somali community all over the world but, sadly, she lost her first fight. ‘I was devastated,’ she says. ‘It’s taken a while to get over it.’ To accept the loss, Ramla had to change her mindset.

    ‘The way I see it now is that I got to the Olympics, all on my own, with no funding. I’m pretty sure a lot of people couldn’t have done that, and it’s something to be proud of. I was the first boxer from Somalia to make it to the Olympics, male or female.’

    While she would have loved a medal, Ramla’s main goal has always been to pay it forward. She knows her boxing career won’t last forever but, through her success and her Sisters Club initiative, she hopes to inspire the next generation. ‘The next Ramla in Africa who wants to be good at something or take up a career in sport: I’ve shown her that we’re from the same background. If I can do it, you can do it too.’

    Ramla has mastered the art of using her failures to fuel her future performance. ‘Setbacks are part of life, nobody is a winner 24/7. Losses happen, you just have to own them.’ She knows the importance of self-care and, after fights, gives herself time to celebrate or commiserate. If she’s feeling down, she avoids social media. ‘People only post their wins and never their losses, and that’s really fake.’

    Wellness has become an important part of her life. Ramla battled long Covid last year and recently discovered the power of breathwork. She’s become a regular at The Wellness Lab, where she gets Hyperbaric Oxygen sessions; a purified oxygen treatment that enhances the body’s natural healing ability. Then there’s apnea breathing, or ‘holding your breath underwater for a really long time’. She believes this has had a transformative effect on her mental health. ‘[After the Olympics] I was feeling bad for a long time,’ she says. ‘Learning these breathing techniques has been life changing; it’s calming and energising and it has helped me so much.

    ‘The last two years have been tough for everyone,’ she continues. ‘People have been furloughed or lost their jobs. I’ve seen so many couples break up. A lot of people feel like they want their year back, but we shouldn’t dwell on the past. Now is the time to look forward to the future and create better habits for ourselves. That way, you’re moving in the right direction.’ She acknowledges there is no shortcut to fitness, but the benefits are worth it. ‘Put yourself in uncomfortable situations,’ she says. ‘Say you’ve fallen out of love with exercise or being healthy, you need to force yourself into that situation: go to a class or to the gym, and that love will come back when you see how much better you feel.’

    Four years ago, Ramla put herself out of her comfort zone when she did her first photoshoot, for Nike. ‘I was so nervous,’ she remembers, ‘but modelling has allowed me to discover a different side of myself. I learned to enjoy it and now I feel as relaxed in front of the camera as I am in the ring.’ Using modelling to fund her boxing, Ramla has a career straddling two worlds. She starred in campaigns for Coach and Cartier and featured on the cover of Vogue as one of Meghan Markle’s ‘forces for change’.

    Recently, she caught the eye of Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, who invited Ramla to the Dior S/S ’22 show. ‘It was amazing because some of the clothes were boxing-inspired,’ she enthuses. ‘I wore this incredible silver look – proper Missy Elliott vibes!’ Ramla met Maria backstage and the two discussed the intersection of boxing and fashion. ‘She’s going to design my next fight kit,’ says Ramla. ‘We talked about what colours and styles I liked; I can’t wait!’ From the runway to the ring, Ramla is spearheading a world where the strength and empowerment of boxing blends with the creativity and beauty of fashion. ‘Why shouldn’t the worlds of boxing and fashion mix? I’m living proof that they can.’

    Photographs: Lara Angelil. Styling: Molly Haylor. Dress, £2,560, leggings, £610 and boots, £1,050, all Dior. HAIR: NAO KAWAKAMI AT THE WALL GROUP USING BALMAIN HAIR UK. MAKE-UP: AMY WRIGHT AT CAREN AGENCY USING DIOR. NAILS: RAYHANA OSMAN USING DIOR BEAUTY. PRODUCTION: JESSICA HARRISON. PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT: CAMERON WILLIAMSON.
    Wow. Boxing has changed part 2...
    Gene Ching
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  11. #356
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    Weed Boxing Championship



    Koh Samui to host Weed Boxing Championship
    By: News | August 22, 2023 1:53 pm

    Koh Samui is set to host the Weed Boxing Championship. The event takes place on August 27th and participants will be required to ‘smoke a bong or a joint’ before participating.

    Former heavyweight world champion Mike Tyson is the sport’s most high profile stoner. He admits to smoking every single day and has built his own cannabis empire selling a variety of different cannabis and cannabis related products.

    Tyson’s heyday was several decades ago so he doesn’t have to worry too much about a visit from the drug testers. Plus the convicted rapist probably isn’t too worried that being associated with a drug that is still illegal in many countries will taint his reputation.

    Reigning WBO and WBA super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka tested positive for marijuana ahead of a title fight last year. But he was able to get off on a technicality because the sample was mishandled.

    Open secret

    There must be more boxers out there smoking cannabis because it is an open secret that several mixed martial artists like to get stoned. Among them are Nate Diaz and his brother Nick Diaz who served several bans during his UFC career and even had a submission win overturned after testing positive.

    Newly crowned UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has made no secret of the fact that he likes getting stoned. The American frequently posts videos of him smoking before, after and even during training.

    No fear

    Participants in the inaugural Weed Boxing Championships need have no fear of an unwanted visit from WADA or USADA. They are obliged to get stoned before the fights which will consist of three rounds of three minutes apiece.

    Spectators will also be encouraged to smoke the same weed as the fighters and there will be live music and food. The event is set for the Samui International Muay Thai Stadium so a big audience is probably expected.

    In June, 2022 marijuana was decriminalized in Thailand. Almost overnight shops and stalls popped up everywhere selling high quality product to customers who would previously have been required to break the law in order to get their hands on it.

    Muay Thai tourism is well established but marijuana tourism is a relatively new phenomenon in Thailand. This event looks to fuse the two and while it will be the first of its kind in the country it is unlikely to be the last.
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  12. #357
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    Trans policies

    USA Boxing puts forth new trans policy and everybody is ****ed off
    Advocates both for and against trans women in women’s sports are unhappy with USA Boxing’s policy.

    By Cyd Zeigler@CydZeigler Updated Jan 2, 2024, 5:15pm PST 0 Comments / 0 New


    Mikaela Mayer is one of the boxers speaking out against USA Boxing’s trans-inclusion policy. Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images

    USA Boxing reportedly has a “new” policy regarding transgender athletes, and it’s already infuriating people across the spectrum.

    Advocates for trans women’s participation in the female category are pointing to some of the harshest restrictions in sport. People who oppose trans women in the female category are upset there is any path to participation for them.

    The World Boxing Council has, on the international stage, barred trans women from the female category, saying they will build a transgender category. Other countries’ governing bodies, like Boxing New Zealand, have followed suit.

    The policy, as widely reported, has a number of key elements to it.

    First, every athlete under 18 must compete in the category corresponding to their sex assigned at birth. This flies in the face of many of the more-strict trans-inclusion policies in sports, which allow for athletes to compete in their gender category as long as they haven’t experienced puberty.

    Yet in boxing, a 15-year-old trans girl who has been on puberty blockers since they were 10 still has to compete in the male category.

    Second, adult boxers must have had gender reassignment surgery. For years, sports governing bodies have moved away from this requirement, so the return of this requirement for USA Boxing is putting the push toward broader trans inclusion in reverse.

    Third, adult boxers have to show they have have testosterone levels under 5 nmol/L for four years prior to competing. That four years is the longest wait period for any sport that allows trans women to compete in the female category.

    Now USA Boxing is facing widespread criticism for the policy — at this point the strictest in sports (other than outright bans).

    On one side, people are critical that the ban has any path to participation for trans women in boxing’s female category. Whether the policy mandated four years or 10 years of HRT,

    “I will never agree to this,” said former world champion Ebanie Bridges. “It’s bad enough having trans women breaking records in other sports like track and field, swimming and power lifting but it’s a bit different to them breaking our skulls in combat sports where the aim is to HURT YOU not just break a record.”

    The “skulls” line has been used to target trans athletes in combat sports ever since Fallon Fox, competing in professional mixed martial arts six years after her transition, broke the eye orbital of an opponent. Critics say she broke her “skull” simply because it sounds worse.

    “Hormone therapy is banned,” professional boxer Mikaela Mayer said on X. “By default, this should make trans athletes ineligible for competition. Doesn’t matter how you feel about the situation, fact is, it’s illegal and completely disrupts the even playing field that sport works so hard to create.”

    Riley Gaines, the former college swimmer who came to prominence arguing publicly against trans women in female sports after competing against Lia Thomas, said a trans woman will end up killing a female boxer.

    “Mark my words, it will take a woman getting killed before these misogynistic fools wake up.”

    Dozens of boxers have been killed by cisgender boxers during matches, including a number of women. Major injuries are already a consistent aspect of the sport, before any trans woman steps into the female pro-boxing ring.

    For trans advocates, this will be viewed as a setback. While there is a path to participation for trans women in the female category, the mandated surgery and four years of mandated HRT will be considered overly restrictive.

    As mentioned, Fox did have surgery and six years of HRT before competing in professional MMA. So it is possible. Yet it’s a far cry from the one- or two-year mandates and no surgery that have been the most common guidelines over the last few years.

    USA Boxing seems to be trying to thread the needle here, create a way for trans women to compete, but also raise the barrier to entry high enough to stave off some critics.

    In the end, their policy will simply **** off everyone involved in this debate.
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