After winning championship belt, Kelsey Jeffries looks toward
other titles
Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Christy Martin, Mia St. John
and Laila Ali, female boxing continues to improve at a steady
pace.
In a sport that used to be open only to males athletes, women’s
boxing has seen its fan base grow everywhere from pay-per-view
cable television orders to gate receipts at rings throughout the
country.
At first, the sport was written off as a side show to the
main-event male bouts, but interest continues to grow.
After winning championship belt, Kelsey Jeffries looks toward other titles
Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Christy Martin, Mia St. John and Laila Ali, female boxing continues to improve at a steady pace.
In a sport that used to be open only to males athletes, women’s boxing has seen its fan base grow everywhere from pay-per-view cable television orders to gate receipts at rings throughout the country.
At first, the sport was written off as a side show to the main-event male bouts, but interest continues to grow.
Recently that interest was peaked locally when Hollister’s Kelsey “Road Warrior” Jeffries claimed the International Female Boxing Association’s championship belt. To do so she won a 10-round unanimous decision over Layla McCarter in Bakersfield.
“She had a great fight and handled the girl real good,” said her trainer Rick Mello, who said in a Pinnacle interview last May that his 27-year-old prizefighter would hold several belts and world titles before she was through. “A train left Gilroy and had a wreck in Bakersfield. Layla (McCarter) just so happened to be the emphasis of that wreck and must have felt like a house fell on her.”
Jeffries, a 5-foot-5 126-pounder who trains in Gilroy, is now 17-7.
“It feels good; it’s been a long road,” said Jeffries. “That is one of the best belts in the world to hold-the most known.”
Jeffries is scheduled to defend her title for the first time in Portland, Ore., at the Rose Garden on Jan. 30.
Jeffries does not yet know whom she will be fighting in the ring.
“I think it’s a girl from England,” she said. “But it’s up to the promoter. As champion, they tell you who you will fight.”
By the end of the bout with Jeffries, McCarter must have wished she had been told by her promoters to fight someone else.
Prior to her bout with Jeffries, it was smooth sailing for McCarter. She had successfully defended her title three times in a two-year span.
“I was aggressive and kept hitting her and working her,” said Jeffries of the title bout. “I just took it to her. She landed maybe one power punch in the last round, but I landed two or three a round; that was the difference.”
As champion, Kelsey must have a minimum of two title fights a year or risk getting stripped of her title.
Mello first noticed Jeffries in 1999 at the Women’s National Boxing Tournament in Anaheim. After the event, which is a launching pad for Olympic qualification, Jeffries decided to turn professional. Shortly afterward, she was approached by Mello and the two have been a team ever since.
“I saw on the card that she was from Gilroy and asked her if she had a manager or trainer and she didn’t,” said Mello, who had a 30-2-1 record as a U.S. Navy boxer in the 1950s. “I’ve been with her ever since.”
Although Mello was impressed with her skills from the get go, he went on to say that she’s improved 200 to 300 percent in the last few years.
“Nobody wants to fight her anymore,” said Mello. “She’s the best fighter on the planet right now.”
Mello said that eventually Jeffries will go up one or two classes to fight other opponents. But right now she would like to hold her title as long as possible and also eventually claim the Women’s International Boxing Association title in her weight class too.
That belt is held by Australia’s Sharon Anyos. If Anyos successfully defends her title on Dec. 18 in Japan, it would clear the way for a showdown with Jeffries on Valentine’s Day in Guam next year.
When not throwing upper cuts and left hooks, Jeffries can be found working at Apple Computer in Cupertino.
“I like my job. It keeps me occupied,” she said.
It also pays her more.
Despite holding a championship belt, Jeffries seldom earns more than $200 or $300 a round for a non-title bout, which can equate anywhere from $800 to $3,000 per fight. Even championship bouts pocket her no more than $500 a round. Title fights must be six rounds or more. Non-title bouts can have as few as four rounds.
Although Jeffries knows that if she were a male champion holding the same belt she would earn millions, it doesn’t seem to discourage her.
“That’s why females have to box for the love of the sport only,” said Jeffries. “You can’t get into this for glamour or money.”
Interestingly, female boxes are paid higher at the early stages of their career.
A female earns roughly $200 a round when they start out while a male is paid about $100 per round. The fight’s promoter pays her travel expenses.
When not punching people for money or working behind her desk at Apple Computer, Kelsey spends a great deal of time training at the Gilroy Youth Center on Railroad Avenue near Sixth Street.
During a typical day she runs up to four miles in the morning then does various calisthenics afterwards.
At the gym she tries to spar for at least six or seven two-minute rounds then follows that up with 12 minutes on both the heavy and speed bags.
So if anyone says she fights like a girl, it’s a compliment.
