BY RON SIMPSON



LOVELY AND LETHAL?
I remember a year or two ago seeing pictures of a female boxing match (not Muay Thai) on some website or other. One of the boxers had the words, ‘Lovely but Lethal’, across the back of her shorts. Sadly for her, only the first was true as she crumpled before a stronger opponent, clearly on her way to early defeat.
 
But the phrase stuck with me. Do we judge female boxers (and now I’m switching to Muay Thai) on a different scale from men? Do we expect them to be lovely as well as lethal? Do we even expect them to be lethal at all? Seeing a couple of all-women promotions recently set me thinking about the improvements in the standard of women’s Muay Thai and our increasingly demanding expectations of female boxers.
 
A few months ago someone wrote (probably on http://www.axkickboxing.com/) that he enjoyed watching female Muay Thai more than male because the women lacked the power of the men and so went onto full-on attack knowing they wouldn’t be hurt. There may be an element of truth in this, but some female boxers I’ve seen recently seem pretty powerful to me!
 
On May 9^th this year the third Lady Killers promotion was held at Wythenshawe Forum, 12 fights featuring women boxers, mostly from the North of England and Scotland, but with a strong international element from Holland, Spain and New Zealand. A couple of days before I went to Wythenshawe, I decided to play (for the first time in a couple of years) my DVD of the All-Female Muay Thai Show at Plymouth’s Guildhall in 2006. I should mention that, in each case, I failed to see the final two or three bouts. The DVD broke up in the later stages (careless storage, not a manufacturing fault from Fightvid!) and, in the case of Lady Killers, I left early as a flight the next morning cut me down to four hours sleep anyway.
 
Not that this affects these comments which relate more to the overall standard, best illustrated by the undercard – and, anyway, the last fight I saw in each case, with third or fourth billing, was good enough to make up for any number of missed bouts!

Kat Gallagher (Caledonian Gym)      v        Jade Lee (Prodigy, Leeds)

The Guildhall bill was impressive, with all the fighters fit and competitive, but, in truth, nobody looked very lethal. All the contests went the distance, good match-making, determined fighters, but also a lack of power. The two best fights on the undercard illustrate this.
Tracey Richards (WAKT) and Ann Niven (London Thai Fighters) fitted

Lauren Humphreys (Phoenix Gym, Co. Durham) v Amy Pirnie (Phoenix Gym, Scotland)

the rather patronising comment about full-out attack in a well-paced fight that built to an exciting last round. As for Lauren Colonval (Sukhothai Paignton), everything was all about grace from the moment she entered the ring like an Eastern princess glittering with gold and purple. With height and reach advantages she dominated a bewildered Ann Larson (SMTC) with her punching in the 1^st round, her opponent always on the brink of turning her back in confusion, yet Ann lasted the three rounds with no difficulty. I don’t want to be critical of either boxer – I loved watching Lauren and was impressed by Ann’s courage – but this was recognisably a good women’s Muay Thai contest.

Then came the first of the title fights on the bill for the Junior Southern Area flyweight title, and this proved a fascinating confrontation. In 2006 Sally McCarthy (Sukhothai Bournemouth) was a brilliant junior champion, Christi Campbell (Saints) (of whom I’ve written before) was younger, less experienced, with a fairly close points defeat to Sally behind her. Sally, very much the favourite, pretty in pink, had style in bucketloads and enough aggression to have the odd inside-the-distance win on her record. She led through the close opening rounds, but in the 4^th the difference showed: when Sally landed a good head punch, Christi took it; when Christi landed one, Sally’s head went back. In the 5^th round, Christi got her opponent in a clinch and drove in knee after knee to the older girl’s body. Sally, brave as well as talented, was still there at the end, but she was desperately gasping for breath.

 
Christi’s reaction to the verdict told a lot: she was clearly amazed at the decision of a draw. It was, in fact, quite correct for a junior title (Sally had certainly shaded the early rounds), but, if this had been a senior professional contest, the domination Christi established at the end would have won it. There’s a hard-nosed professionalism, a ruthlessness, about Christi that is increasingly to be found among female Muay Thai fighters.

Bonnie Porter (ETK, New Zealand) v Kim Shannon (K Star, Birmingham)

And so we come to Lady Killers 3. The first point that struck me is that the entire undercard at Plymouth was 3x2 minute rounds. At Wythenshawe Pele and Trish of Beastmasters came under fire for having half their bouts over the shorter distance rather than 5 rounds – clearly, the Muay Thai fraternity is all in favour of testing women (girl?) boxers over the longer trip from an early stage. (I should mention that this was the only criticism of an excellent show.)

Suzie Whylie (Way of Life, York) v Ana Goncalves (K Star, Birmingham)

With one exception, as at Plymouth, fights went the distance, but the feel was more aggressive, more dynamic. The one inside-the-distance win was remarkable, with K Star’s Ana Goncalves destroying the experienced and resilient Suzie Whylie (Way of Life), who had a points defeat by Sam Mitchell as her last fight. After two rounds of constant eight counts, Suzie’s cornerman had the sense to do the referee’s job for him and pull her out. Following the Christi Campbell line of tackling adults at an early age, 16-year-old Amy Pirnie (Phoenix, Scotland) had too much power in her high kicks for the excellent Lauren Humphreys (Phoenix, Co. Durham) and won comfortably on points.


Karen Lynch (KO Gym, London)          v     Sam Mitchell (Phoenix Gym, Co. Durham)