In Los Angeles this weekend, sitting near the bottom of the boxing card headlined by Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora, there is a woman’s match. Yes, female boxing has moved into the lineup promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. The night includes a full slate of ten bouts for what is expected to be an all day and evening affair at the Staples Center.

Marketed in conjunction the city’s celebration of Mexico’s Bicentennial, this September 18th Mosley-Mora card features a strong selection of Mexican and Mexican-American fighters that are known to the local fan base. Young welterweight, Frankie Gomez takes on Ricardo Calzada, welterweight Victor Ortiz fights Vivian Harris and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, a 20-year-old squares off against veteran Carlos Baldomir.

But it’s the Kaliesha West vs. Angel Gladney bout that made me stop and ask a question of Golden Boy CEO, Richard Schaefer. Whatever possessed him to get a woman’s match on the undercard? His response:

“I believe it is time, here in the U.S. that we all wake up. Women’s boxing has become an Olympic event and it is only right to now take a more pro-active approach to the game”.

Schaefer is a former international banker and is involved at the top of one of the country’s important fight promotion companies. When I asked him how he made the decision to take the plunge into female boxing, he said managers contact him all the time about putting their female fighters on a Golden Boy card. He feels the timing is right but he is needing to take the networks kicking and screaming into the woman’s fight game.

“Many of these young ladies are very talented and there is a pool here in the U.S. who can compete at the highest level. It is up to the promoters to notice and take an interest in them. I can easily see, down the road, an all-female card. Unfortunately the television networks have been very hesitant to put female boxing on. But if one of the leading promoters such as Golden Boy pushes the agenda, maybe the networks will wake up.”

West, who was mentioned earlier, is 22 years old and was a star at the amateur level taking home a National Golden Gloves and Junior Olympics title. With a pro record of 12-1-2 3KOs, she is fighting Angel Gladney for the vacant WBO Bantamweight title in a scheduled 10-rounder.

Who knew that in the most male of environments we’d see a break through like this? One can only hope that these ladies make believers of the fans at a jam packed Staples Center on Saturday night.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

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