It’s OK, you can ask.
No fight for Kelsey Jeffries again?
Yes, again.
For the second time in three months, Hollister boxer Jeffries had to cancel a fight because she couldn’t find an opponent.
Or rather, the promoter wouldn’t fork over enough money to get a fighter in the ring with the 33-9 Jeffries.
In case you missed it, Jeffries pulled out of the Fight Night at the Tank 2006 season opener last Monday after the fight’s promoter, Goossen Tutor, failed to find a suitable opponent for the Ali’i Warrior of the South Bay six weeks after the promoter and Jeffries’ manager Bruce Anderson had verbally agreed on the fight’s purse and terms.
It’s funny. The Fight Night promoters had no problem using Kelsey – who is a San Jose favorite and usually draws quite a crowd at the Tank – to advertise and sell tickets for the event. Jeffries’ picture was plastered all over the Fight Night Web site and used in the promotional poster for the March 23 fight for weeks until practically the day of the event.
But when it came down to actually offering enough money to secure Jeffries’ spot on the card, the Tank dropped the ball.
Losing Jeffries on the card didn’t hurt the event’s backers. In the end, using Jeffries’ face on its advertisements right up until the event went off sold them just as many tickets as actually having her in the ring for the fight.
Having to fight for less money and generally getting less respect from event organizers because she is a female boxer is nothing new to Jeffries.
“When the [Goossen-Tutor promoter] said to me ‘We have very little budget,’ and that’s the same old song and dance, I said ‘That’s fine,'” Anderson said Wednesday night. “We’re coming off a tough fight. We’re not looking for anything big.”
Anderson said he and Goossen Tutor agreed on $2,500 – about a third of what a male boxer of Jeffries’ caliber would receive – for each fighter, but that Jeffries would make it a done-deal only if a reasonable opponent was found. To help the process along, Anderson gave matchmaker Tom Brown a list of 12 fighters within Jeffries’ weight-class range, some of whom were undefeated.
After six weeks of Anderson’s constant prodding and three days before the night of the fight, Goossen Tutor came up with Valanna McGee, a boxer three weight classes heavier than Jeffries. A boxer who had canceled last-minute the last time the two had been set up to do battle at a Fight Night event.
Unfortunately, the smaller fighters are starting to shy away from Jeffries, who has become a feared fighter. Others won’t get in the ring with her unless its for a title or for more money than $2,500.
In men’s boxing, there’s a larger pool of fighters. If one guy doesn’t take a chance, someone else will. This doesn’t happen in women’s boxing – unless it’s for the right price.
“There’s always somebody who will fight if the money’s right,” Anderson said.
But getting that money is the constant battle women’s boxing still faces.
It’s too bad. Jeffries is a great fighter – and not just for a woman. But it seems marketing her just as that isn’t enough. If she had “Ali” or “Frazier” attached to her name, she would get more fights just for those connotations, not her ability.
“They’ll put [money] into a novelty like Macho Camacho Jr. or Butterbean,” Anderson said. “But won’t give it to bona-fide fighter.”
And Kelsey Jeffries is a bona-fide fighter. Women’s boxing has long been criticized for being sloppy and not as technically sound as men’s boxing. But this isn’t Jeffries’ style. She’s one of the fittest athletes I’ve ever seen – quick, clean, efficient and sharp. Her technical skills could match any man’s. Well-respected figures in the boxing world have told her as much.
If Fight Night’s promoters want to use Jeffries as their poster child, they need to balance the budget better.
That’s the kind of respect she deserves.
