Women getting hooked on the new boxing craze




NO RING GIRL—Above, Newbury Park resident and Ventura County native Alexis Bessa goes through a boxing workout at KnockOut inWestlake Village. The latest fitness craze, boxing-orientated training has become popular among the general public, especially amongwomen, who perfer the high-intensity, high-endurance workout to more traditional methods of getting in shape. Below, trainer Tony Mendozakeeps a watchful eye on his students, Kathleen Loretto of Newbury Park (left) and Madallen De Bois of Westlake Village.

NO RING GIRL—Above, Newbury Park resident and Ventura County native Alexis Bessa goes through a boxing workout at KnockOut inWestlake Village. The latest fitness craze, boxing-orientated training has become popular among the general public, especially amongwomen, who perfer the high-intensity, high-endurance workout to more traditional methods of getting in shape. Below, trainer Tony Mendozakeeps a watchful eye on his students, Kathleen Loretto of Newbury Park (left) and Madallen De Bois of Westlake Village.


By Kyle Jorreyjorrey@theacorn.com

Note of caution to all husbands and boyfriends: Next time

you leave that seat up in the

middle of the night, you might

be in bigger trouble than you

think.

Thanks in part to the success

of the Oscar Award-winning film

“Million Dollar Baby” and

NBC’s “The Contender” (which

had a predominately female audience), boxing and boxing-orientated training has become the

next big thing for women in

search of a more high-intensity

method of getting in shape.

Think “Rocky” minus the ugly

gray jumpsuit and frozen beef

punching bags—and replace the

Italian Stallion with Adrian.

Women of all ages and body

types are finding out for themselves why boxers have such phenomenal physiques and why

they’re able to survive 12-rounds

of grueling fisticuffs in the ring.

Boxing’s feminine side has

come to the Conejo Valley where

facilities such as KnockOut in

Westlake Village and Big Fish

Boxing in Agoura Hills are brimming with female clients, who

now make up about 50 percent of

the gym clientele.

“Since we’ve been open

there’s a group of at least 20

women who were there on day

one and are still coming at least

twice a week. They’re addicted,”

said Alexis Bessa, the 23-year-old

general manager at KnockOut.

“And these women are not in their

20s, they’re in their 40s and 50s,

and they are devoted. Everyday

they leave here they leave dripping wet and they can’t get

enough of it.”

Many of the women found

working the speed bags say they

turned to boxing after a number

of failed attempts at more tradi

tional weight loss methods.

Bessa, a resident of Newbury

Park and also a new boxer-in-train

ing, said there are other reasons

why girls are stepping into the

ring.

“I think there is something

very cool about boxing for

women. It’s sort of a woman

power thing,” Bessa said. “It

makes you feel more powerful.

It gives you more confidence.

Plus, I know if I get approached

I know how to throw a good left

hook.”

Changed perceptions

Adam Fish, owner of Big Fish

Boxing and a former professional

fighter, remembers a day when

seeing a woman in a boxing gym

was like seeing Evander

Holyfield at the Pottery Barn.

“In those days, a lot of trainers wouldn’t train a woman period. No questions asked,” Fish

said. “Now those are the people

we market to, those are our forte.

. . .The philosophy is we don’t

train a championship fighter over

the soccer mom that wants to get

in the best shape of her life because after three kids she’s gained

30 pounds.”

The success of boxing poster

girls Christy Martin and Leila

Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali,

connected women to the sport in

the 1990s. Now it’s fighters such

as Lucia Rijker, the villainous

Billie “The Blue Bear” in “Million Dollar Baby,” who hope to

bring the sport to wider audiences.

Rijker, who currently trains at

KnockOut under trainer George

Sylva and wellness coach Robert

Ferguson, will fight Martin at

Mandalay Bay July 30 for the first

ever $1 million prize in any female

sport. Rijker said she hopes her

success will open doors for women

in a sport previously thought to be

“for men only.”

“Every time I fight I want to

send a message to women that they

can do things even when people

around them say they can’t, because that has been the case with

me all along,” said Rijker, who has

a professional boxing record of 170 and is a heavy favorite in the

match against Martin. “People

would tell me I couldn’t do something so I would go out and do it. I

never let them change the dream I

had for myself.”

When Westlake Village resident Alison Deeth-Mula first

shared her thoughts about boxing

with her elderly father back home

in England, his reaction was less

than enthusiastic.

“He was absolutely horrified,”

Deeth-Mula said. “He just

thought it wasn’t right for a

woman to be boxing. Nobody in

my family could imagine me with

boxing gloves on. They thought

it was ludicrous.”

Nevertheless, the mother of

two stuck to her guns. Today, she

attends boxing classes three times

a week.

“Once I got over being intimidated, I found it really worked for

me,” said Deeth-Mula, who works

at a dental office. “It’s very fun and

high energy, not like just running

on a treadmill. . . . Plus, you can

just kind of forget everything else

and concentrate on that one thing.

“I never thought I’d do it but

now I really hit that bag hard,”

she said.

Pulling no punches

It’s important to remember

that even though places such as

Knockout and Big Fish offer box

ing as a way to get in shape, the

gyms also provide a venue for real

fighters to work out.

“First and foremost, we are a

traditional boxing gym,” said

Fish, who employs a handful of

pro fighters (past and present) as

his gym’s trainers. “We don’t do

Pilates, we don’t do kickboxing,

we don’t do weight training. We

strictly teach traditional boxing.

. . .We train everybody like

they’re getting ready for a championship fight, whether they’re

going to box someone or not.”

And that might be part of the

appeal. After all, training just a

few feet away from professional

pugilists who have put their life

and blood into the sport serves as

added motivation.

“You’re hitting that bag and

right in front of you in the ring is

Fernando Vargas or Lucia Rijker,”

Robert Ferguson said. “That just

makes you want to work harder.”

In addition to traditional boxing, KnockOut offers instruction

in kick boxing, ultimate fighting

and even martial arts.

Business philosophy tells the

owners to keep the traditional

methods, but be willing to adapt

boxing to a new audience.

“When I first told people I was

going to put a boxing gym in the

middle of Agoura, they said I was

crazy,” Fish said. “But really, the

community has just taken us in. It

shows that you’ve got to be willing to adapt to your surroundings.”

Just ask Sylva, who runs

Sylva’s Boxing Gym in Ventura.

With over 30 percent of his business coming from women, he

knew the traditional dark and drab

look of the Brooklyn gym wasn’t

going to cut it.

“If we want new people to

come into the world of boxing,

especially women, then we have

tomake it comfortable, we have to

make it friendly,” Sylva said. “If

you look at our place, it doesn’t

even look like a boxing gym. We

don’t want people to be intimidated from trying the sport that we

love so much.”

Dropping weight

Besides the fun and the thrill

of the sport, women are realizing

that boxing works wonders on the

body as well.

“The women that are doing it

and are committed to it, look

amazing,” Bessa said, “because in

boxing, you are always pushing

yourself to the extreme and burn

ing massive calories. You end up

working muscles you never

thought you had.”

And as more women begin to

lace up the gloves, the stigma

surrounding their place in the

ring will slowly disappear, Bessa

says. According to her, women

are ready and willing to change

from low-impact to high-impact

exercises.

“Pilates have always been the

woman thing to do because it’s

about a graceful kind of workout,

but not anymore,” Bessa said.

“Women are finding out if you

really want to look good in that

bathing suit, then you need to

work and you need to sweat.

Pilates won’t cut it by itself.”

Marissa Sepe, who walked

through the doors of Big Fish earlier this week for a look-see and

an application, is the latest to decide she’s ready to learn an effective combination or two.

“A friend and I are thinking

about doing it together, we

thought it’d be fun,” said Sepe,

a 2000 graduate of Agoura High

School. “We’re just bored of the

regular workout and want to get

something a little more high impact.”

There’s no question if Sepe

gives boxing a try, that’s exactly

what she’ll get.


 

 

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