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.
Leave a Reply