Women’s boxing is big business in the United States, and Michelle Carson is looking for a piece of the action
Gavin Foster Former South African kick-boxing champion Michelle Carson is the first South African woman to hold a professional boxing licence, and once the sport’s been legalised – probably at the end of this month – she intends to be the first in the ring.
Her features unblemished by 32 kick- boxing bouts, the 19-year-old is the antithesis of what most people would expect in a professional boxer. Her 54kg frame doesn’t look capable of taking much punishment, and it’s hard to imagine the young woman delivering a knockout punch, but Carson has already proven that she has the necessary aggression and strength to finish off her opponents. Of the 12 full-contact kick- boxing bouts she’s fought, she won 11, eight of them inside the distance. Ironically, the fight that proved just how tough Carson is was the one she didn’t win – in October last year she fought a 10- round slugfest with 29-year-old Spanish national champion Esher Paez for the vacant ISKA world super-flyweight title, and lost narrowly on points. I attended that fight in Durban and expected to see a powder-puff affair, but from the opening bell the two women whaled the living bejesus out of each other, and by the time it was over both looked decidedly the worse for wear. Carson spent a month in Las Vegas earlier this year, learning more about boxing and sizing up the opposition. Although she was offered a match over there her father and trainer Paddy Carson declined. “I want her first fight to be against an American opponent,” he says, “but here in Durban. The fight she was offered was against a big name, but Michelle wasn’t fit and I’d never put her in the ring if she wasn’t 100% ready. I want to build her up for a world title fight in a year or two, and we have to go carefully along the way.” Women’s boxing in the United States is split into two camps, one for genuine fighters with guts and talent, and the other for big names and egos who treat the sport like the World Wrestling Federation, with more hype than substance. The second camp is made up mainly of big names with little worthwhile experience but very marketable names. Laila Ali, Jaqueline Frazier-Lyde, Irichelle Duran, Freeda Foreman and J’Marie Moore are all daughters of former boxing greats, and all are paid huge amounts of money to appear in the ring whether or not they display any talent. With absolutely no boxing or kick-boxing experience behind her Muhammad Ali’s daughter Laila received $25 000 for her first fight, against an overweight waitress called April Fowler who’d lost both of her two previous bouts. “I just want to get it over with,” said Fowler before the fight, and she proved as good as her word, collapsing after 31 seconds without even bothering to throw a punch. For her trouble she took home $2E000. Since then Ali’s fought and beaten another six carefully selected no-hopers, and is being touted by promoters as a star. Jacquie Frazier-Lyde, an 82kg, 38-year-old lawyer and mother of three – but, more importantly, daughter of Joe Frazier – was christened by the media as “Sister Smoke” even before her first bout, and has shown perspicacity equal to Laila’s in her choice of opponents. Not only that, she’s got them cheaper. Her first antagonist walked away with $800, while Frazier-Lyde, like Ali, pocketed $25 000. Now, after having chomped up and spat out five dutiful losers, Frazier-Lyde is baying for Ali’s blood. “I’ll whip her, pick her up and take her to dinner, and if she wants a rematch I’ll dust her off and do it again,” she brags. Great stuff for WWF fans but not for those who take their boxing seriously. Frazier-Lyde’s reported to be hoping for a $2,5-million purse for her watered down remake of the Thrilla in Manilla. Perhaps it should be staged in Hanoi and plugged as the Scam in Vietnam. But back to Carson. At 54kg she’s unlikely to come across the heavyweight clowns mentioned above, but with her beauty, talent and fighting spirit she’s sure to prove popular with the fans, and she knows it.
“Looks are important,” she says. “People want to see if feminine boxers can fight – it’s entertainment, but they also want a good match because it’s still sport.” She knows that there are some pretty serious boxers out there, and that winning isn’t going to always be easy, but she’s not afraid that she’ll be seriously hurt or disfigured.
“If I didn’t lose my looks in that world title [kick-boxing] fight I’m not going to lose them anywhere,” says the Microsoft- certified computer systems engineer. “If I get bruised in the ring, so what? I’ll never die boxing, according to the law of averages, and I’m not going to be knocked out.”
How does her father feel about his daughter slugging it out in the professional boxing ring? He’s not too fazed. “Michelle proved herself to me in the world title fight,” he says. “She was a little baby, only 18, and she went against a 29-year-old who was also a professional boxer at the time. She proved that she’s got the guts to make it. We just have to be careful in selecting her opponents while we work her up to a shot at the title. As she improves we’ll get better and better opponents. If she starts taking a battering we’ll stop. She’s bright enough to work it out for herself if she starts getting hurt and not winning, and she’ll chuck it in.” Although the name of her American opponent is still to be announced, Michelle Carson will be the first South African woman to step into the ring as a professional boxer, on December 10, at The Arena in Durban.