BERNSTEIN ON BOXING to boxing. Holm, who has made history as a champion in both boxing and mixed martial arts, surprised many when, at age 43, she decided to return to the sport. Her decision win over Yolanda Vega on June 28 was a very solid performance, especially considering her time away from boxing as she pursued her MMA career. The dovetailing of these two occurrences within a month made me and others think back to the two-fight rivalry between Sanders and Holm. It one of the first major multi-fight rivalries in women’s boxing. I had the pleasure of announcing the first fight between the two. It happened on June 13, 2008, in Albuquerque, Holm’s hometown. While it was considered the biggest match that could be made in women’s boxing, it is noteworthy to see the differences between it and the Taylor-Serrano rivalry. Unlike the Madison Square Garden venue for Taylor-Serrano 1, this one was in a small showroom at the Isleta Casino and the broadcast exposure was minor in comparison. Holm-Sanders was on a more mid- level pay-per-view content provider, and while mainstream sports media couldn’t get enough of Taylor-Serrano coverage in advance of the event, the Holm-Sanders fight was a tougher sell. I was actually brought onto the telecast in part because they felt my presence might garner more radio and print interviews. I did my best to help them generate media for it and did many interviews, but I distinctly remember my manager at the time talking to a couple of the radio shows about me being on, and the producers indicated they were happy to have me – as long as we talked more about the Manny Pacquiao-David Diaz fight than Holm- Sanders. Such were the challenges in 2008 for women’s boxing. In the fight itself, these two multiple-
four months later in Sanders’ hometown, again in a close and even more exciting fight. This time, the judges lived in reality and actually ruled it a draw. I did not do the telecast of the second fight, and to illustrate how things have changed in the reporting of women’s boxing, I offer this note: At one point after an exciting exchange between the two fighters, one of the commentators said, “This is not your typical girl fight.” Yes, he really said that. The 35-year-old Sanders, seven years older than Holm, retired after that second match. Holm would continue in boxing until 2013, when she switched to MMA and fashioned a successful career there. Her return to boxing now is especially satisfying, as demonstrated by two things: First, she performed well in her return fight, and second, at the post- fight press conference, she talked about what she could improve on as she familiarized herself with being in the ring again. Talk of self-improvement from a 43-year-old multiple-time champ in two sports was impressive to me in portending her future. Can she again win a championship in women’s boxing? I don’t know, but in my mind she has a chance. Wouldn’t it just be nice for one of the women who helped push women’s boxing ahead to reap benefits from this new golden age of the sport? Holm is a part of Most Valuable Promotions, the group that put on the remarkable Taylor-Serrano event. That struck me as I watched, and it took me back to that night in 2008 when the second wave of pioneers in women’s boxing built on what the Christy Martins and Laila Alis had previously done. Since then, the sport has kept growing and is flourishing right now, with even better days ahead. These days, I guest on plenty of radio shows and podcasts where nobody minds if I talk as much as I want about women’s boxing.
Holly Holm ended her long hiatus from boxing with a shutout victory.
slick-boxing Holm and naturally bigger and harder-punching Sanders both performed well. Holm controlled some early and middle portions of the fight with her quickness of both hand and foot, but Sanders started to figure out the mystery in the middle rounds and closed very fast. It was a very close fight that I and my broadcast partner Arnie Rosenthal suggested could be a draw or narrow decision either way. Whether it was the hometown atmosphere for Holm, incompetence or bias, the three judges had by it an absurdly wide margin for Holm. Two cards read 98-92 and the other was 97- 93, all for Holm. At the time, I was struck by how gracious Sanders was after the one- sided nature of the verdict. The same could be said of her famous dad, Detroit Lions legend Charlie Sanders, who sat ringside. Certainly it was quite possible Holm won a close decision, but this margin was clearly not accurate. They would fight again
time world champions were, not surprisingly, evenly matched. The
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