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Reactions: Women’s boxing Users throw their opinions into the ring
Posted: Tuesday March 07, 2000 10:29 AM
With Margaret MacGregor fighting a man, and now the daughters of Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Muhammad Ali entering the ring, the sport of women's boxing is receiving a lot of attention. CNNSI.com asked users if they thought the sport had a legitimate future. Most thought women's boxing would be popular after some years to get started. Others thought there was no need for the sport so it was doomed to fail. A collection of some of the most interesting responses follows.
Women's boxing has a strong future. But not in the form of women boxing men. Only as women boxing other women. The constant need of the media to pit men and women against each other for ratings is banal, outdated and insulting. It plays on, caters to and enforces the idea that men set the athletic standard. In order to gain respect, women athletes need to prove themselves against men. That is no way to promote women's sports! Women are, more and more, creating their own standards, images and ways to approach and perform in the world of athletics. Let's enforce that positive, progressive movement that speaks to and honestly reflects the mind-set of the post Title IX girls who see themselves, rightly, as athletes in their own right. Women bouts have already proven to be successful. Their viewership on cable television is often greater than that of men's boxing of the same caliber and fights in Las Vegas and other popular boxing venues are very well attended. Let's finally move away from the side-show antics of men vs. women boxing and work toward a sport with a respectable, interesting, modern, and bright future -- the sport of Women's Boxing.
I'm all for women's sports, but I think women boxing is a little too much. Women act like women in other sports but look vulgar to me in a boxing ring. Especially against a man.
Women's boxing has a successful future ahead. American society is curious about this new sport of women's boxing. These women are tough and exciting to watch. The impact of having the daughters of former champion boxers come into the ring will have a tremendous effect on the popularity of the sport. I am a former dual sport athlete from USC and I just finished my last season of basketball. I am very aware of emergence of women's sports and I believe this one is going to be a knockout.
I think that women's boxing is a very good thing. It is nice to see a little equality for women.
Many athletic women of today are finding boxing is a sport that is definitely on the rise. Why? It may be because all of the daughters of the big timers have come forward to say, "HEY we have watched our fathers do it our entire lives, NOW we'd like them to take the seats and be a spectator outside of the ring!" Women WILL get used, bruised and abused. Yet through the twists and turns, our determination and extreme focus we will allow us to push stronger toward the future of boxing and all sports!
Anyone who disagrees with women's boxing needs to look at other women's sports. Should we discontinue women's basketball, soccer, etc., just because they were once looked upon as a man's sport? And the argument that a top-class male boxer would always beat a top-class female boxer is not valid reason to banish women's boxing. Do we stop women's tennis, basketball, and other sports just because their male counterparts would beat them? Of course not. We should evaluate how they perform, whether it be at boxing or any other sport, against their peers. A good boxing match between two well-trained female fighters can be, and many times is, as entertaining as the male bouts. Cut the gals some slack.
Women will not get paid what they're worth until they are fighting toe-to-toe against men.
Why should women's boxing NOT make it other than not having any TV coverage? It was thought, once upon a time, that women couldn't play full court basketball or hockey. Women can box with the proper training. Lack of sponsorship and lack of TV coverage will course it to die just as the ABL of women's basketball died.
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