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My Two Cents
by Sumya 'the Island Girl' Anani
August 29, 2003
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That was very interesting reading by Christy Martin
talking
about how accessible she was in
promoting this fight. What she "conveniently" failed to mention was that
she walked out of the pre-fight press conference on Wednesday, August 20,
because she saw me there. I guess she was afraid that the press would ask
her why she's fighting Laila Ali when she hasn't settled the score with me
yet.
Walking out of that last, probably most important press conference, is not
what I would call being accessible to the media, as she claims. Christy
claims that Yahya was preventing Christy from doing publicity. I was
there. Yahya called out to Christy NOT to leave the press conference
because it wasn't over. Every press person imaginable was at that press
conference. Christy could have said whatever she wanted, to whomever she
wanted, about anything she wanted, but Christy chose to leave. That
damaging behavior was the result of Christy's decision, and in NO WAY a
result of Yahya. So, like I said in my article
I Definitely Hit Christy Martin Too Hard,
Christy needs to turn that pointed finger at herself.
Christy also "conveniently" forgets to mention all the demands she made
when they were discussing the contract, most notably the fact that she
INSISTED, according to Johnny "Yahya" McClain, that I not be allowed
to fight on the under card. She not only insisted, but she put my name
specifically in the contract, that if I fought on the under card, she
wouldn't fight Laila.
But the BEST part was at the end of her comments when she said "I can do a
rematch with Sumya Anani, Mia St. John or fight Lucia Rijker." Christy,
thank you for that wonderful abdominal workout from laughing hysterically
when I read that. She (Martin) knows that having a rematch with me has
NEVER crossed her mind. She's been avoiding a rematch for five years now.
Who does she think she's fooling? It's OK if she doesn't want to rematch
me, but at least don't lie..........again. Then she says she can fight
Rijker. She's been avoiding Lucia for seven years. I think the next fight
that needs to happen is a bout with Lucia and myself. We can bill it as
"The girl that beat Christy Martin vs. the girl that Christy Martin was
afraid to fight."
Indeed, the Ali/Martin fight was the biggest women's boxing match in
history. But it was a mismatch...Christy a natural junior welterweight
versus a natural super middle weight. BUT, the irony is this. So many
times throughout Christy's own career she (Martin) had the advantage
of being MUCH heavier than her opponent. One that comes to mind is her
bout with Deirdre Gogarty, who I had the honor of meeting at this fight.
Christy outweighed Deirdre by 18 pounds on the scales, and probably 23+
pounds on fight night, so it was only appropriate that Christy be in the
ring with a girl that outweighed her by the same amount. We all witnessed
the Law of Karma Saturday night when Christy fought Laila.......what comes
around truly goes around.
Despite being the main event, the best fight of the night goes to the
under card fight between Anne Wolfe and Valerie Mahfood. Not only was that
the best fight of the night, it was THE best fight I have witnessed in
awhile. The crowd was on their feet, ooooing and ahhhing with every shot.
I hope the Ali/Martin fight did help the sport, since Christy and Laila
are the most recognizable faces in the sport. I truly hope it was a
victory not only for Laila, but for women's boxing, as well. Only time
will tell.
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