Teen girls are fighting in Fort Lauderdale, but it isn't for parking spaces or useless boyfriends (this time). It's for Golden Gloves -- and possibly Olympic -- glory.
Equal opportunity for women to bash each other in the face for medals is on the agenda at August's IOC meeting in Berlin, where lady boxing is expected to be added to the 2012 games in London. For the past two Games, boxing has been the only Olympic sport in which women do not compete alongside men -- and women haven't made an appearance in the ring since a surely hilarious "demonstration" in St. Louis in 1904.
Yeesh! Next they'll want to vote 'n stuff, or wrestle without oil!
With medals upon belts in mind, competition at this week's Women's Golden Gloves National Championship at the Fort Lauderdale Airport Hilton's Grand Ballroom is just a bit heightened.
"I never dreamed I would be fighting in the Golden Gloves, let alone thinking about the Olympics, that's nerve-wracking…I've been a cheerleader for my whole life," said 17-year-old Chrissy Paulauskis.
A freshman at Broward College, Paulauskis will be competing with about 89 other women for a Golden Gloves title -- but she's one of an estimated 500,000 female boxers from 120 countries on five continents, just dreaming of a split eyebrow.
As such, "105 years of training and waiting is enough, don't you?" asks tournament director Bonnie Canino. Canino is helping fight for the sports' inclusion in London and beyond. With six world championships in boxing and kickboxing, it's highly unlikely anyone on the IOC dares tell her no.
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That leaves just one hurdle left for pugilistic ladies: the acceptance of boxers with breast implants.
One shuffle-step at a time, apparently.
Janie Campbell is hoping to see some ring boys soon. Equality! Her work has appeared in irreverent sports sites around the Internet.
