NSW opens ring for women's boxing

[Trainer Monkey]

Yeah no shot a woman could compete with a man,just look at this about to turn 38 year old woman,I mean how could she hang

[Sharla]

To be honest I'd never actually advocate a woman competing against a man.
Testing each other out in sparring in the gym perhaps but when you think about it in today's society ther is no way a guy could do anything but loose.

If he won he'd be seen as a woman basher and hated for that.

If he lost he'd be seen as a pussy and dissed and it would probably end his boxing opportunities right there.

Plus I'm not ashamed to admit men do have some physical advantages.

• They have a lower fat percentage and higher muscle percentage per kg bodyweight = more strength for a given weight class.

• They have more haemoglobin.

• They have a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres.

• They have slightly bigger hearts and therefore a larger stroke volume.

• Testosterone will make it easier for them to gain and maintain muscle.

• Women will be afflicted with knee injuries more often than men since they have a higher Q angle and tend to recruit the quadricep muscles more than the hamstrings.

In most cases if you pit a man and a woman against each other with the same weight and experience the guy has to be unfit or lazy either technically or physically to loose really.

In many cases a more experienced woman or harder working woman may show up a guy - no denying that.

I believe women have just as high if not higher pain thresholds - particularly those who have had children and are attracted to a sport like boxing.

However, winning by enduring the most physical pain before you crumble is a dangerous way to win and I think most people prefer to win due to outperforming someone with other attributes.

I'd say having a high pain threshold which is high can help to make may women harder workers in the gym so that they will come into contact with men they can out spar but i can't say it's a rule for all women either.

I think lazy women are less likely to last in boxing than lazy men because it takes so much effort to look like you're serious rather than just trying to loose weight etc and many female show ponies will get frustrated by having to pove themselves more and quit early.

I think there are a few male freaks out there with high pain thresholds beyond the average of their gender (Donny! ).

I don't see any reason why women given the opportunity, time, patience etc can't also be just as good technically - although at the top pro level you'll see more guys who've been boxing for decades than women which will take a few decades to change.

I wouldn't want to argue that time in a sport has some influence on how good you can become technically otherwise its' like saying you don't improve with time which I find depressing!

To me it's more about being able to push yourself - not beat everyone out there. I mean flyweight men would be thrashed by the heavier divisions but they usually pit themselves against guys the same weight and are still respected for it.

They are not only able to compete but they are able to find opponents to match themselves against peers rather than not having the chance to be challenged. ........ Where boxing is good -

There are no flyweight men in SA or bantams and i think only juniors in featherweight which just brings me back to the same problems holding back women in Australian boxing often hold back the men also.

The small guys don't have the matches, don't get the bouts, don't have the support etc etc etc.

[Trainer Monkey]

All I know is,if given two super-middleweights of similar age and experience,Id take Feur.
Of course part of that is that her work ethic is twice as good as most of the boys,usually training her is checking in her skill work,and thats about it. She does her own work and pushes it constantly. Of course she was also an Olympic hopeful at one point,and you dont get there by slacking.
To put it in perspective,its 7:30 AM,Im inside freezing my you know whats off,because the temperature is hovering near single didgets,and wearing a jacket inside
She's outside doing her plio's
The biggest problem you run it with female fighters is behaviour,women are taught that good girls dont hit,if you can get a female fighter thinking that she's a good girl if she hits harder,your half way home.

[sourpuss]

Just for comparison sake how many bouts over what length of time have you had Sourpuss?

If I look within my state there are only a few girls my weight or close to it so travel is essential.

I get the feeling you have similar kind of situation - maybe even fewer locally since you said the next closest boxing gym was an hour away.

Similar weight - except slightly lighter which if anything would mean fewer opponents I think.

I think in Australia bantamweight (my division) was the most popular female division.

So if we did look for matches and had the funding etc to travel more then I'd be in a better situation to compete than women in other weight classes.

Of course i can't rule out the fact that you might have earnt it more than me too.

Thanks for the encouragment too Nonito.

I don't really want to go rave on about it. In a way i think apart from the ban in NSW which is now gone (yay! ) and the occasional wanker the things which hold back womens boxing are exactly the same things that hold back mens boxing in Australia.

I start to hate reading my own posts when everything i write is negative lately so I can't imagine what it's like for the poor mods who have to trawl through all my whinging crap!

Sorry guys!

I've had 22 bouts and I'm heading into my fourth season. And all of that has been travel. From as close as and hour and a half (couple of times) to the other side of the country.
And now it's getting harder and harder to get matches because I've been to nationals twice and I'm ranked. Now no one will put their girl with less experience in with me. So really the only matches I got last year were either against girls who waaaay out weighed me or top level gals on the national team with far more experience than me. And this season is looking even worse.

[Sharla]

Yeah that's hard but 22 in 4 years is doing pretty well really

Do you get some support to help with travel expenses or is it all out of your own pocket?

Was it all arranged by your coach or do you have some other system happening where you are?

Pity travel is so expensive!

[sourpuss]

It's all out of my pocket. I've actually taken on a second job solely to pay for boxing. We've had a couple of fundraisers but that only brings in a $100 or so and when I went to Golden Gloves there were several people from the community that gave money and it paid for part of it.

But all in all I've spent thousands on travel and driven 1000s of miles to tournament, sleeping in the car and/or camper, shadey hotels, driving all night. It's a miracle that I actually can do well by the time I get in the ring.

I have a lot of bouts considering where I live. (pretty remote) but only because my coach is willing to pretty much drive any distance to get me there. I would have more if I didn't get eliminated at tournaments the first day, haha.
But when I do show up at these tournaments, it's me against gals that have close to 100 bouts and tons of international experience so it's not surprising.

My coach does all the matching, of course other coaches we know in the region are always on the lookout and networking for us as well but as it is now, I've matched everyone within a 5 state area. lol

...so it goes....

[Sharla]

Sounds very difficult.

I guess that's why so may people end up moving for boxing - perhaps after a certain point if you have the flexibility to do so it's easier to move!