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Halloween in London: View from Jane Couch's Corner
WIBF Welterweight world champion Jane Couch, Britain's "Fleetwood Assassin", wrote to
Dee about her scrap with Australia's
Sharon "Wild Thing" Anyos for the WBF Women's Lightweight title in London on
October 31, 1999. Jane won a ten-round unanimous decision to take the vacant
title, but the Australian team wasn't happy about the events surrounding the
fight. Sharon's trainer/father Les wrote a
scathing report
about how the
arrangements for the bout were handled, and this is Jane and Tex's response,
originally posted on the Women's Boxing Page on 11 November 1999. Jane's own view
Hi Dee, my coach wanted to write his version of the fight so I've
sent it to you. I think he sums it up quite well.
My feelings are pretty much the same as his. Sharon's camp were very
unprofessional. It was a good fight but she just lacked top level
experience and it showed. I blocked most of her shots and
the referee had to warn her a few times for slapping. As it said in
Boxing News, "Jane Couch blocked and slipped most of Sharon's right
hand slaps."
I'm sure she can learn a lot from the fight. I think the one thing they will
learn is ... top class fighters deal with situations.
The things Les mentioned
about the gloves, the protectors, the drugs test ... the same applied to me.
We just dealt with it. Also the anthems. I've boxed four times in the USA
and no anthems were played either, so its not just England. I was also drugs
tested twice. Inconvenient, yes, but it was your rules and I abided by them.
As for the canvas being slippy, it was later on in the fight as Sharon's corner were
pouring water all over her. So when she was coming out the water was dripping
all over the canvas making it slippy for me as well as her because her
inexperienced corner decided to throw water all over her.
But anyway we could carry on forever. The result is what matters, Jane Couch won.
Hopefully now the Anyos camp can learn from this. But I think they would be in for a big
shock if they ever go to the States to box, as there rules are as strict as
ours in some states.
Trainer Tex's take!
Oh dear ... whinging Aussies ... there's a turn up for the books!! It's supposed to
be us poms.
Sure, you're going to get bad decisions in boxing. But Jane Couch's
victory over Australian trier Sharon Anyos wasn't.
Jane's superior experience and boxing skills always kept her in front
on the scorecards and in my mind, which is much more important to me.
I never had any doubts she was controlling the fight and, unusually,
I didn't even ask my corner assistant to verify my opinion.
As for Les going in to overdrive whinging about preparation and BBBC
stipulations ... so what? Jane and I had to go through the same routine.
The difference is, we have a calm professional attitude in our camp and
don't get fazed by local regulations. Try a few trips to the USA and deal with Larry
Hazzard and his merry crew!!
So Aussies, get your act together and preparations organised and
remember ... "failing to prepare is preparing to fail".
P.S. Hope you like the tie.
Many thanks to Jane and Tex for sharing their post-fight take on this event
with us all! Jane welcomes hearing from fans
by email ... Dee
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Page last updated: Saturday, April 24, 2004 |
