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Jolene Blackshear, a hard-hitting 4'11" flyweight/junior flyweight from
San Diego, California, began boxing professionally in 1996 and rose quickly to the IFBA Flyweight world title.
In 2009, after a nine-year
layoff, she returned to competition for the love of the sport and
unfinished business. Her “new” team (of the past 9 years) has been Kalina
Fernandez as trainer and manager, with Tony Contreras as the assist.
Under this team, Blackshear has retained the drive and passion that
previously put her atop
the women's boxing world. In her first comeback fight in May 2009, Blackshear
defeated Melissa McMorrow in San Jose by UD4 after dropping her three times in the
2nd round.
Jolene graduated with Honors from Sonoma State University with a
Bachelor's Degree in Biology. She also excelled in collegiate sports, earning
all-Conference Honors in fast pitch softball as well as track and field. She
originally began boxing as a challenge and a continuation of her competitive nature
while in school. Her fast, aggressive and exciting
ring style would give Yvonne Trevino,
Anissa Zamarron. Delia
Gonzalez and Margaret Sidoroff all they could handle!
Jolene was stopped by a cut from
the elbow of Yvonne Trevino
Jolene began her
pro boxing career on June 10, 1996 at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz,
California when she knocked down Rebecca Cesena of Sacramento, CA three times
en route to a KO in the fourth round. Cosena fell to 0-2 with the loss and
from that point on Blackshear sought
tougher competition.
On May 17, 1997 Jolene (113 lbs) fought Yvonne Trevino
(112 lbs) of Arizona
in the first IFBA all-women's card at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio,
California. Jolene knocked
the heavily-favored Arizonan down twice early in the first round of the contest
but both
knockdowns were ruled slips by the referee. Later in the same round, Jolene was deeply cut under her right eye
by a strike from Yvonne's elbow. The doctor rules that Jolene could not
conintue and the fight was ruled a TKO win for Trevino
... to a storm of protests - from Yvonne, from both corners, and from many
in the crowd!
A ringside correspondent for my Women's Boxing Page web site described the scene to me: "Yvonne looked a
tad awkward and did hit the canvas (it was ruled a slip) and she appeared
to be smiling or laughing at various times. She did eventually get to
Jolene who soon had a deep gash in the left cheekbone area although the
blood did not appear to be flowing ... the ringside physician asked to
examine it ... as soon as he started shaking his head, the crowd began to
boo. Oddly enough, Yvonne was the one who seemed to protest the most
vociferously. I could read her lips saying, "No! I want to fight. I want
to fight..." The crowd started to chant 'Let them fight! Let them fight!'
with the obvious encouragement of Yvonne and Jolene's cornermen. Yvonne
did not even acknowledge the announcement declaring her the winner by TKO
... Jolene raised her fist to the crowd which aroused a big cheer. The
crowd further expressed its dissatisfaction with the physician's decision
by chanting 'Bullshit! Bullshit!' From my vantage point, however,
the wound did seem rather severe and I believe the doctor probably made
the right decision."
Unfortunately, as much as both fighters were not pleased with the outcome
of this fight, the rematch that seemed
inevitable at the time never took place.
Mixing it up with Anissa Zamarron
in October 1997
On October 4, 1997 at the Lady Luck Casino in Lula, Mississippi, Jolene
(108 lbs) won the IFBA flyweight championship with a ten-round (99-93, 97-93, 96-94) decision over
Anissa Zamarron (110 lbs) of Austin, Texas
in a war that was easily the best fight
on the pay-per-view card. Zamarron's nose was broken but she still gave the aggressive
Blackshear a tremendous battle. Both fighters received a standing ovation
at the end of the bout (see the full
fight report from Erik Anderson,
who said this battle was "Hands down, the fight of the night and easily the most exciting IFBA fight
yet. These two women poured everything into this fight and went at each other
the whole way.")
The fight was named IFBA Fight of the Year for 1997. On June 30, 1998 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
Jolene (110 lbs) retained the IFBA Flyweight title with a brutal fifth-round TKO
over Sara Hall (109 lbs) of Chesterfield, England, a 5-0 kickboxer who was making
her pro boxing debut. Jolene went right at Hall from the opening
bell and ate some hard right hands but got the better of most of the
toe-to-toe exchanges with the English fighter. Late in the fourth round,
as she pounded Hall against the ropes, Blackshear emitted a loud
grunt remisiscent of Monica Seles. "It comes from the bottom of my
heart, the bottom of my toes," Blackshear said after the fight, adding
"that's my spirit coming out." Hall suffered a broken nose
and broken jaw and could not answer the bell for the sixth round.
On September 17, 1998 at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi:
Jolene (111 lbs) successfully defended the IFBA Flyweight title against the veteran
Delia Gonzalez (109 lbs) of Chamberino, New Mexico
with a unanimous ten-round decision before an estimated crowd of 1,200.
Judge Paul Cita had Blackshear ahead 96-95, Freddie Steinwinder III had the bout 98-93
and C.B.Jenkins scored the bout in favor of Blackshear by 97-93.
Blackshear got off to a fast start as usual but Gonzalez began a
comeback in the fifth, using her jab to keep Blackshear off balance.
Jolene had to come on stronger in the ninth and tenth to secure
the win.
Blackshear praised Gonzalez after the bout, saying "This was the classiest fight of my career. Gonzalez fights clean and is
a good technician." Gonzalez fell to 10-3-2 with the loss.
Battling Canada's Margaret Sidoroff for the IFBA Flyweight title
© Copyrighted photo by Sue TL Fox
On February 11, 2000 in Kenner, Louisiana,
Jolene (104 lbs) lost the IFBA Flyweight title to Canada's Margaret Sidoroff
(108 lbs)
by a hard-fought ten-round unanimous decision that was televised live on ESPN2's
Friday Night Fights.
Although Blackshear had been out of the
ring for over a year, she showed no ring rust as she won the
first two rounds and tagged Sidoroff repeatedly with her hard-charging aggressive
style. However, Sidoroff improved the timing of her counter lefts in the
third and the fight turned around in the middle rounds. Sidoroff
showed great head movement and superb reflexes to slip Blackshear's
punches while landing her own busy and effective combinations.
As Blackshear fell behind on points, she escalated the
pressure and the final round was a war with both fighters taking
and dishing out significant punishment. Sidoroff rose to the
challenge and was backing Blackshear up as they went toe to toe
to end an exciting, skilled and heart-filled bout.
The
scorecards recorded a unanimous (98-92,98-92,97-93) decision for Sidoroff
... but the real winner may have been women's boxing in the USA as
the live bout drew non-stop
praise from the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights commentators.
Sidoroff advanced to 7-0 with 3 KO's while Jolene fell to 4-2 (2 KO's).
 Jolene took the loss of her IFBA title like a true champion,
telling me: "I had more fun before, during and after this fight than any before.
Margaret was the perfect opponent and a delight to work with.
I felt we both stepped up, did our jobs, and truly enjoyed ourselves."
See also Margaret Sidoroff's
comments on this superb fight, in
which she said Jolene "is awesome! I
admire Jolene's work ethic and pre-fight focus. She was the
lightest opponent I've ever faced as a pro, however she was still
the strongest! I knew I was in for an incredible test when I was
on the wrong end of a butt-kicking for those first couple rounds!"
Unfortunately for fans of the best in women's boxing, this classic
battle with Sidoroff, who won three world titles, would be Jolene's last
pro fight for more than nine years.
Jolene (R) vs Melissa McMorrow in May 2009
© Copyrighted photo by Jesus Sanchez On
May 7, 2009 at "Fight Night at
the Tank" at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, Jolene (105½
lbs) came back to the sport in "fighting fit" style when she took on
the talented
undefeated Melissa McMorrow of San Francisco, California The two boxers did
not disappoint the fans, and went toe to toe with each other. Blackshear dropped McMorrow three times in the second
round and kept up the pace with her devastating straight right hand.
McMorroew displayed great resilience by fighting back well after the three-nockdown
round, however, and the rest of the fight was almost even. Blackshear had
been deducted a point for hitting McMorrow after the younger fighter was
down in the second but a
shocker came at the end when the four-rounder was declared a
majority draw but. It was later realized that a scoring tabulation
error had been made and the correct tabulation was a majority decision (37-36,
37-36,36-36) win for Blackshear.
McMorrow, who had been the junior flyweight silver medalist at the USA
Boxing Nationals in 2007 and a two-time regional Golden Gloves champion, fell to
2-1 with her first pro loss. Jolene
improved her own pro record to 5-2-0 (2 KO's). (For more photos of this fight see Photo Gallery #501
on the WBAN Records Member Site).
On October 15, 2009 at Songdo Convensia
in Incheon City in South Korea, Dan-Bi Kim (4'11", 103 lbs)
of Anseong, South Korea won a 10-round unanimous (97-94,96-94,96-94)
decision over Jolene Blackshear (104¼ lbs) for the
vacant IFBA Mini-Flyweight belt. In a statement sent to WBAN on October 17,
Judy Kulis of the IFBA wrote that “The
IFBA will file a formal protest on behalf of Jolene Blackshear and Lisa
Brown over the questionable outcomes delivered by judges after their
respective bouts on Oct. 15 in South Korea." On October 27, 2009,
Kalina Fernandez of Team Blackshear sent WBAN a copy of an official
protest of the decision detailing numerous infractions by Dan-Bi Kim and
challenging the scoring of the fight.
Boxing takes athletic prowess, skill coordination, hard
training and profound dedication," said Blackshear,
who trains four hours a day to keep in shape for her fights. "It's not
street fighting or mud wrestling or Jerry Springer, and it's not something
you just step into the ring and do. You have to be really dedicated to
succeed."
Jolene is a complete fighter now with passion, drive, and a great team behind
her as she aims to make her "second time around" even better than the first.
Other Jolene Blackshear Links
To check out fight reports, complete up-to-date boxing records, with huge digital photos you can go to
the WBAN Records Member Site
Page last updated:
Friday, 06 November 2009 |
