Her paycheck was going downhill, practically by the minute, but Kelsey Jeffries was still happy to nearly be back in the ring. With negotiations in their final stages to publicly name the Road Warrior’s opponent, Jeffries’ return to Fight Night at the Tank next week was a done deal. Almost.
But then, in another last-minute twist, she suddenly had no opponent.
With the scheduled bout less than a week away, Jeffries was awaiting confirmation Friday evening that she would return to HP Pavilion on Sep. 14 for her 10th appearance at Fight Night. After a whirlwind national search, Goossen Tutor Promotions appeared to identify an opponent suitable to Jeffries and her manager, Bruce Anderson. All this after the Hollister-based boxer endured preparing for a fight without knowing her opponent while also surrendering some of her imminent payday to ensure the fight.
“This was a tough road for me to take the fight,” Jeffries said at 5pm Friday. “I’ve got to pay for my opponent. It’s coming out of my side.”
“(Not knowing my opponent) is very hard for me as an athlete getting ready for a big event,” she said earlier in the week. “I’ve got to focus and train. What if somebody doesn’t show up? What if I get the toughest fight of the year or of my career? What about all the what ifs?”
Well, those what ifs re-appeared at a most inopportune time, just as Jeffries was finally getting comfortable with the fact that a deal was imminent. Goossen Tutor Promotions and Anderson finally appeared to come to an agreement on a suitable match for Jeffries – itself not an easy thing after a debacle in March resulted in the boxer stepping away from that Fight Night appearance. But just as quickly as her return to The Tank seemed to come together, the ‘Road Warrior’s potential opponent this time backed away, citing a scheduling conflict.
“The whole thing fell apart,” Anderson said at 7pm Friday. “I got word just now. (Goossen Tutor matchmaker) Tom Brown told my guy that he got a message from the girl’s manager … that she took the fight thinking it was Saturday. But she can’t get off Thursday from her job.”
Jeffries had allowed earlier in the week that such a pitfall might present itself – “I have to prepare for the worst possible scenario” – but also said “if (the fight) doesn’t happen, I’m going to be crushed.”
The ‘Road Warrior’ repeatedly said her motivation to accept the fight in the first place in mid-August and to agree to the lesser take in the last few days centered around her desire to take the ring in front of her local fans. “I’m very excited to be back at The Tank,” she said. “It’s my home. I love it. I can’t wait to be there for the fans.”
As her followers know all to well, Jeffries (34-9-1) is a very difficult match. Difficult for her opponents, yes – the ‘Road Warrior’ is the International Female Boxers Association (IFBA) featherweight champion, after all – but also difficult to match with an opponent. And that can get very frustrating for Jeffries and Anderson.
Jeffries agreed to join Fight Night’s March 23 card under similar circumstances – without knowing her opponent – but pulled out two days prior to the weigh-in after Goossen Tutor matched her with an opponent two weight classes heavier. Brown said there wouldn’t be a repeat performance this time around.
“She’s definitely fighting,” Brown said mid-afternoon Friday from the Goossen Tutor offices in Sherman Oaks, Calif. “We’re down to a couple of girls. … I pretty much have a match. I’m waiting for one call back and it’s done.”
Around 5pm Friday, Anderson said he had signed off on an opponent. “(Goossen Tutor has) a firm acceptance,” Jeffries’ manager said. “The terms have been established; all the parties agree to it. Now, we just need to get a contract ironed out.
“At the end of the day here, I’ll take a deep sigh when I get a contract.”
Though struggling to find matches is staple of the boxing world – “It’s never easy matching a fight for (Jeffries), but I go through the same thing with the men,” Brown said – the Road Warrior feels that she gets the brunt end of the stick more than most.
“The issue is nobody wants to fight me,” she said Wednesday. “I should be the equivalent of (Gilroy’s new International Boxing Federation featherweight champion) Robert Guerrero, but I’m not because I’m female.”
Two days later, with her yet-to-be-named opponent set to command an even larger share of the take – “it’s going to be more than me, I know that,” – Jeffries pushed her frustration aside in favor of focusing on her return to HP Pavilion for the first time since July of 2005.
“If it was not for San Jose and not at The Tank, I would not take it. I would say no way,” she said. “My motivation for this fight is not for me, not the money, not the fight. It’s the fans.”
But then in another twist with Fight Night fast approaching, Jeffries and her fans were again left wondering how the event will shake out.
“Kelsey was all pumped up,” Anderson relayed in the 7pm conversation. “I told her not to get her hopes up, but now she’s crushed again. And it’s brutal. Brutal.
I don’t know what to say at this point. All I know is what the bottom line is. And that’s that we have no fight.”
