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5'6" Mia Rosales
St. John from Los Angeles, California has parlayed her looks and a long list of wins over
lightly-rated opponents in four-round fights into a successful combination of media coverage and lucrative payouts.
She is a Cal State Northridge graduate in psychology, and has two children,
Julian and Paris.
Mia, who comes from a family of martial arts practitioners, was born on June 24,
1967 in San Francisco. She took up
Tae Kwon Do when she was six years old. Inspired by the original "Rocky"
movie at age 12, and reportedly by a mini-rumble with a fellow high school student at a football
game, she began competitive amateur Tae Kwon Do at age 18.
She entered pro boxing in 1997 with no prior amateur experience.
Her early fights featured an aggressive but head-down, windmilling style that
included enough solid shots to overwhelm novice opponents but which made veteran
boxing fans wince. Her looks and personality out of the ring gathered media and fan attention.
A promotional contract with Bob Arum got her a series of pay-per-view TV appearances on major
fight undercards (she reportedly earned about
$20,000 per fight, over twenty times the usual scale for female boxers fighting four-rounders against unranked opponents). Arum, who had emphatically expressed his
personal dislike for women's boxing, saw that an attractive female fighting
four-rounders could spice up his fight promotions and weigh-ins while consuming minimal
TV time (and minimal purses for her opponents).
Mia St. John's early combination of media appeal,
(un)coverage in a November 1999 Playboy pictorial, with limited boxing skills made her a
controversial figure in women's boxing. While she's been one of best-known
and financially successful fighters after Christy Martin, she's frequently been
accused of padding her record with soft fights and trading in on a fundamentally
sexist view of female boxing.
Her opponents' records are included in some detail in the reports below, so you can draw
your own conclusions about her record.
On February 14, 1997 at Fantasy Springs Casino near Indio, California
Mia won her pro debut over debut fighter Angelica Villian by knockout at 0:54
in the first round. St. John caught Villian with a stiff jab then scored with
rights until a powerful right dropped Villian for ten.
Villian fell to 0-2 with this loss. (Villian was subsequently TKO'd in the first
round by Jayla Ortiz in Santa Fe on January 24, 1998 and in 24 seconds
by the skilful Sonya Emery in Austin, Texas on May 1. 1998. She hasn't fought since.)
On April 19, 1997 at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, Mia
weighed in at 123 lbs and won by a first round TKO over debut fighter Dawn
Graham (116½ lbs), who hasn't fought again. On June 21, 1997 in Tampa, Florida, she won by third-round TKO
over Contina Frederinck, who was making her debut and hasn't fought since.
On August 5, 1997 in Nashville, Tennessee, she won by a
first-round TKO over Dawn Wimer of Ashtabula, Ohio. Wimer
was TKO'd in the second round by Olivia Escobar in Escobar's pro debut on
February 25, 1999 and compiled an 0-7-1 record before quitting boxing.
(The Ashtabula gym was notorious for providing overmatched "opponents" who gave
up early in their fights to avoid getting hurt.)
On November 28, 1997 at the Marriott in Irvine, California,
Mia won a 4-round unanimous decision over Dolores Lira of Boise, Idaho.
Lira fell to 0-3 (and later lost to Brenda
Burnside, and stopped boxing.)
On May 30, 1998 at Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, she won by a second-round KO over Kris Sepulvado of
Shreveport, Louisiana. (Sepulvado's record is hard to keep track of as she
has made a habit of fighting under different names, including "Kris Vado", "Pamela Sepulvado"
and possibly "Christi Carter") but I believe she fell to 0-3 with this loss to
St. John and went on to a 1-12-2 record.) On August 15, 1998 in Los Angeles, California
Mia came in at 125½ lbs and won a four-round unanimous
decision over Brenda Felter (123 lbs) of New Mexico, who fell to 0-2.
Felter had been TKO'd in the third round by Leilana Salazar in Phoenix, Arizona
on May 5, 1998 and went on to a 1-6-0 record.
On September 18, 1998 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas,
Mia advanced to 8-0 with 5 KO's with a four-round split decision in a rematch
with
Brenda Felter, who was a late substitute for Amanda Skelton of Fort Smith,
Arkansas on the card. Felter fell to 0-3.
On December 12, 1998 at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio,
California, Mia weighed in at 126 lbs and won by second-round knockout over
Brandy Mae Vaughan (123 lbs) of Muskogee, Oklahoma who fell to 0-4. Vaughn had
lost three in a row to Amanda Skelton and hasn't fought since.
 On February 13, 1999 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada,
she weighed in at 127 lbs and won an easy four-round unanimous (40-36) decision
over Amanda Skelton (124 lbs) of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Skelton, who was Mia's
first opponent with a winning record, had defeated Brandy Mae Vaughan three
times in 1998 and TKO'd a debut fighter (who hasn't fought since) in her other
bout for a
4-0 (1 KO) record before facing St. John.
She has not fought since. On May 8, 1999 at the Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mia won by
TKO in a rematch with Kris Sepulvado of Shreveport, Louisiana
at 1:30 of the first round. Sepulvado fell to 0-4 with this loss. Sepulvado subsequently lost
to then-winless Randi Saenz by first-round TKO on July 24, 1999,
to Jenifer Alcorn by first-round TKO on September
4, 1999 and to Melinda Robinson
by first-round KO on November 12, 1999. She never won a fight against anyone
with a winning record.
On June 26, 1999 at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada,
Mia weighed in at 132 lbs and won a four-round unanimous decision over Mary
Ann Haik (133 lbs) of Pearl River, Louisiana. The 27-year-old Haik fell to 5-6 with the
loss. Haik's five wins included two over Kris Sepulvado, a TKO of Atlanta's
Tawayna Broxton and a first-round TKO over debut fighter Sarah Inman. She went
on to a 7-9-0 (3 KO) record and retired in 2001.
On September 18, 1999 at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada,
Mia weighed in at 125 lbs and moved her record to 13-0 (8 KO's) with a TKO at
1:40 of the fourth round over Kelley Downey (126 lbs) of Merriam, Kansas.
St. John was clearly winning this bout when it was stopped but the immediate
reason for the stoppage was unclear. Downey's record fell to
3-2 (3 KO's), including first-round TKO wins
over Lori Domagala and Sherri Thompson and a loss by four-round split decision to Theresa Frye.
On December 11, 1999, Mia won by TKO
at 1:40 in the first round over Sharon Sirls of Lubbock, Texas
at Dixie Junior College in St. George, Utah
at the end of what Marcel Niessen describes as "one of the weirdest,
if not the weirdest,
night in boxing I ever had". The card featured
mixed-style matches between US boxers and Chinese
kickboxers, and confusion about who was fighting
who and in what style! Sirls, who had had just one pro fight (which she lost) had been flown in from
Texas at short notice after confusion had reigned about
whether St. John was to fight in a mixed-style match,
as the Chinese promoters reportedly hoped, or a boxing match
as the Utah commission apparently believed when it sanctioned
the bout. Sirls had dropped a four-round
decision to Linda Robinson,
another debut fighter, three
weeks earlier in Houston.
On January 22, 2000 at the Fairgrounds in Delmar, California,
700 live fans and a Univision TV audience saw
Mia win a four-round unanimous (40-36)
decision over Kelly Whaley (127 lbs) of Cedar City, Utah,
who fell to 1-1. "It was a tough fight for me," St.John told a
local reporter. "She had a good chin. I was hoping she would knock
herself out, but it gave me a good workout anyway." Whaley's
other pro fight was a four-round decision over then 6-0 Crisi
Yaeger of Texas, on November 18 1999 in Houston. (Yaeger is
another fighter who racked up a winning record against
soft opposition, including the always-overmatched
Kris Sepulvado, novice fighter Victoria Lara, and winless
Martha Flores.) Whaley had posted a 3-3 record as an amateur boxer
and had competed in the 1999 National Women's Golden Gloves
tournament. See also the comments on
this fight from Women's Boxing Page visitors and a local
reporter.
She was still competing professionally in February 2004, with a 4-12-0 (1 KO)
record. On February 26, 2000 at Madison Square Garden in New York City,
St. John weighed in at 127 lbs and won a
hard-fought four-round majority (39-39, 39-37, 39-37) decision over
Kristin Allan (124½ lbs) of Jefferson City, Missouri who dropped to 3-1.
The two went toe-to-toe in a slugfest that
was decided by St. John's strong finish, which included
two rights that shook Allan. Allan didn't back
down from the more experienced St. John, but lacked
defensive skills. "She was a real tough country girl,"
St. John said. "I outskilled her. She took everything
I gave her, but I felt the last round clinched it for me."
Allan had previously posted wins over debut fighters Kim Raulerson,
Fran Morrow by first-round TKO and Franchesca Alcanter by a third-round TKO; the
eight minutes in Madison Square Garden more than doubled Allan's previous
pro ring time while moving St. John to 16-0.
On May 19, 2000 at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California,
St. John (130 lbs) looked the equal of relative novice Franchesca Alcanter (125 lbs)
of Kansas City as she won a unanimous 40-36 decision that underestimated
Alcanter's showing. Alcanter fell
to 2-3. Alcanter had knocked out Crystal O'Dell of St. Louis at 1:02 of the first
round in both fighters' pro debut (O'Dell has not continued in to box so
far as we know), then was TKO'd at 0:37 of the first by Texan
Linda Tenberg (127¾ lbs). Alcanter had failed to answer the bell for
the third round against Kristin Allan in October 1999 but scored a
third-round TKO over Theresa Gaulden in March 2000. The St.John-Alcanter
bout was seen live on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights but
neither boxer showed boxing skills to justify a prime TV slot.
Earlier the same day, the IBA announced
that it would no longer recognize the "Queen of the Four-Rounders" title
that it had awarded to St.John. This IBA "Women's Four-Round Featherweight title"
was one
of the bevy of minor awards that promoters like to use to
embellish their cards. The appellation, and the matching one that the IBA had
awarded to male boxing sideshow "Butterbean", was officially withdrawn from St.
John with statement that "from the very beginning the IBA always
made it clear that the belts "The Bean" and Mia have were novelties used
by the IBA to promote our organization. No one ever said the Bean and
Mia were "world champions!" Unfortunately, that wasn't quite right, as
Playboy hadn't drawn any such distinction
when it identified St. John on its cover as "the" IBA featherweight titlist.
The IBA later tried to improve its
standing as a sanctioning body for women's boxing by promoting more serious
women's title fights.
On June 17, 2000 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California,
she won a unanimous decision over Linda Robinson
of Woodway, Texas. St.John was the aggressor
throughout this fight, scored 40-36, 40-36, 39-37 by the judges.
Robinson, fighting outside Houston, Texas for the first time, fell to 3-1;
her three wins had come against Sharon Sirls of Lubbock, Texas,
Victoria Lara (0-3) of Texarkana, Texas
and Denette Montgomery (0-6) of Ashtabula, Ohio.
St. John was unable to compete for some months as a result of a jet-ski
accident which required two operations to remove a potentially gangrenous
blood clot from her left leg. She had to wear a protective cast on her leg, which required a skin graft from
her thigh after a mass 2½ inches deep and 4 inches wide
that had been affected by the blood clot was removed.
On December 3, 2000 at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada,
she returned to the ring at 126 lbs after recovering from the jet-ski injury and
TKO'd Amy Yerkes (5'4", 125 lbs) of Springfield, Missouri at 1:33 of the fourth
round. Yerkes lacked the boxing skills to compensate for St. John's height and reach
advantage. Yerkes dropped to 1-3; she had previously lost to Brenda Rouse and
Sherri Thompson by six-round decisions (and had fought just two days previously
in Iowa).
On January 20, 2001 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada
she moved to 20-0 (12 KO's) with a third-round TKO over
Sherri Thompson, who fell to 3-3. Thompson, also from Missouri, had
previously lost a decision to Rolanda Andrews but had defeated Amy Yerkes in a six-rounder
a year earlier.
On March 25, 2001 at an outdoor event at the Park'N'Swap in Phoenix, Arizona under a
scorching sun, a crowd of 5000 saw St. John (129 lbs) advance to 21-0 (13 KO's)
with a TKO of Amy Yerkes of Springfield, Missouri at 1:49 in the third round
of an action-packed fight. Yerkes, who fell to 1-6 as a pro boxer, was a last-moment
substitute for Mexico's Imelda Arias, who failed to show up for
the weigh-in the day before. St. John earned $10,000, Yerkes $2,000, for this match according to
Arizona Republic reporter Norm Frauenheim.
Mia St. John vs. Linda Tenberg
Photo by Sue TL Fox On May 13, 2001 at the State Line Silver Smith Casino, West Wendover, Utah,
Mia weighed in at 129½ lbs and won a hard
fought four-round unanimous (40-37,39-37,39-37) decision over Linda Tenberg (125½ lbs)
of Austin, Texas. According to WBAN reporter JD from ringside:
"Mia clearly won the fight based on
pure aggression and punches thrown effectively. She does 'windmill' on
occasion, but not as badly as I've seen her in the past. Tenberg seemed
unprepared to deal with the level of intensity that Mia brought to the
fight. Although, Tenberg did score some good shots and looks technically
better schooled most of the time ... but at least Mia commits to her
punches. And her conditioning is good as she was non-stop and simply
overwhelmed Tenberg with a whirlwind attack. I couldn't give Tenberg a
single round". Tenberg fell to 5-4 (1 KO). Tenberg was
a legitimate featherweight contender whose previous losses had included going the distance with
tough competition in Ada Velez and Layla McCarter.
(See the
illustrated fight report by Sue TL Fox). On July 28, 2001 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California,
she weighed in at 128½ lbs and was held to a controversial majority draw by
Imelda Arias (139½ lbs) of Ciudad Juárez, México.
According to Andy Rivera's report for Inside Women's Boxing: "Mia won the first round, jabbing and moving out of target from
the smaller, heavier Arias. But Imelda came back in the 2nd through
4th rounds, dominating those rounds by landing heavy rights and left
that kept Mia confused. When the decision was announced ... 38-38, 38-38
and one score that was withheld ... the crowd booed heavily." Arias's record was 8-11-1; three of Arias's wins had come against 0-5 Deanna Wyman, and she had lost her
previous seven fights, including a first-round TKO by California's
Jenifer
Alcorn.
Mia St. John's place in women's boxing continued to be defined by
her choice of opponents and her exclusive focus on four-round fights. There is no shortage of serious competitors at her weight,
yet she continued to fight four-rounders against almost-novices. One reason
advanced for her four-round restriction used to be that promoter Bob Arum didn't want a women's
bout to take up more time on his cards, but this excuse wore thin with most true fans
of competitive women's boxing. A different story began when Mia finally left the Arum
contract that had served her up mostly poorly prepared opponents for lop-sided
contests.
On November 9, 2001 at Sunset Station in San Antonio, Texas,
Atlanta southpaw Rolanda Andrews
(5'3", 126 lbs) TKO'd Mia St.John (131 lbs) at 1:47 in the second round of their
bout on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. Andrews moved to 4-5 (2 KO's) with the win.
St. John looked busier in the first round
but Andrews blocked most of her punches while scoring with her left. Andrews
dropped St. John with a right in the second round and St. John got up hurt.
Andrews then worked St. John over against the ropes until the referee stopped the
bout. This was to have been St. John's first scheduled six-round bout, and her first
outside Arum's contract. St. John had described it as preparation for moving up in weight to
face Christy Martin but she may have seriously underestimated Andrews, who had given Sandra Yard a good
scrap for the IFBA Featherweight title in July, 2000 and had previously
gone the distance with such top
performers as Lena Åkesson, Melissa Salamone and Dee Dufoe.
[analysis
by WBP writer Kevin Cockle]
After this loss, which dropped her record to 22-1-1, Mia began training with Robert Garcia, Fernando Vargas' trainer in Oxnard.
On January 18, 2002 at the Entertainment and Sports Center, Raleigh, North Carolina,
she won a four-round unanimous (40-35 on all three cards) decision over
Gina Greenwald of St. Louis, Missouri in a bout seen on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.
St. John had weighed in a bikini-clad 145 lbs to Greenwald's fully clothed 129½ lbs) the day before
the fight. A second-round "throwdown" by St. John gave her a 10-8 round in a bout in which
St. John's style again seemed to have progressed little, despite her goal of taking
on Christy Martin. ESPN2's commentators questioned why the fight was selected for live TV
coverage. The North Carolina boxing commission had reservations about sanctioning the bout
because of the weight difference, but appears to have let Greenwald's team decide
whether to go ahead with it. Greenwald fell to 2-6 (1 KO) with the loss.
On April 7, 2002 at Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, California,
she weighed in at 133 lbs and advanced to 24-1-1 (12 KO's with a four-round unanimous (40-36) decision over Janae Romero (132 lbs) of Denver, Colorado, who fell to
2-2-1 (1 KO). Romero tried to pressure St. John but Mia was able to control this fight
from the outside and shook off the shots that Romero did manage to land on her.
On May 18, 2002 at the Silver Star Casino in Choctaw, Mississippi,
a near-capacity crowd was unhappy with a majority (39-37,39-37,38-38)
decision for St. John (136 lbs) over Kristina (Kristy) Follmar (5'8", 133 lbs) of Cedar Lake, Indiana.
Former Indiana Golden Gloves champion Folmar came out aggressively and
appeared to control the bout despite swinging her punches too much. Follmar
moved well and kept a clearly rattled St. John backing up with right-left combinations
to her face, and the decision was loudly booed. St. John tried to tie Follmar up in the
fourth and Follmar wasn't able to press her attack steadily but she was taking the
fight to St. John just before the bell. St. John progressed to
25-1-1 (12 KO) while Follmar fell to 2-1 (2 KO).
St. John grinned knowingly when she heard the decision. She was also greeted by a
steady chant of "Kristy! Kristy! Kristy!" from the fans while she was being interviewed
for FOX Sports, whose own commentators had scored the bout 39-37 for Follmar. It
was
hard to see how any impartial judge could have scored this bout in St. John's favor.
(Also see Sue TL Fox's
commentary on this result) On August 10, 2002 at Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, California,
St. John (back down to 127 lbs from her peak of 145) advanced to
26-1-1 (13 KO) when she stopped
Elisha Olivas (122 lbs) of Denver, Colorado in the third round of a scheduled four-rounder.
Olivas, who hadn't fought in three years, fell to
0-3-1 (0 KO).
The world of competitive women's boxing continued to wait
for Mia St. John also to step up to a higher level
that befitted her publicity and her 26-1-1 paper record. This finally happened when she signed to fight Christy Martin at welterweight.
 On December 6, 2002 at Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, #1 ranked welterweight Christy Martin
(5'4", 144 lbs) of Orlando, Florida won a ten-round unanimous (97-93,97-93,99-91) decision over Mia (5'7"
and bulked up to
140½ lbs for this fight). Mia withstood a constant stream of body shots from Martin,
who was the icon of women's boxing in the 1990's, to go the full ten-round
distance. St. John spent the early part of the fight in retreat, but made it
more competitive as the bout progressed. At the end of the fourth round, they
traded fast-paced combinations and St. John appeared gain confidence that she
could stand up to Martin's power. St. John landed her own best shot ... a hard
right .. midway through the bout in the fifth round, but Martin laughed it off.
St. John endured the barrage from Martin better than expected, and fought back
effectively at times, but Martin's constant aggression and superior punching
power made the decision an easy one for the judges. Martin improved her record
to 45-2-2 (31 KO) with the win. Although
it's hard to win a fight by running, and St. John was never
any threat to Martin, the bout added respectability to Mia St. John's boxing career,
as she exceeded the low expectations
created by her history of short bouts with mostly inexperienced opponents. She used
defensive movement to give Christy Martin angles that made it hard for Martin to use the power that had been the key to her earlier victories.
"She worked hard every day," said Mia's trainer Robert Garcia, a former world champion who also trains Fernando Vargas.
"Everything I told her to do, she did."
St. John had mused about retirement before the fight, saying: “I can’t wait until I retire but I want to make sure I
have done everything I can in boxing before I leave. After boxing, I have an offer to host a TV sports show and my
endorsements will keep me busy". But the positive
press that she gained simply by staying on her feet against Martin for ten
rounds encouraged Mia to hang in for some more fights that would include other
serious contenders.
On March 15, 2003 at Club Life in Dallas, Texas, Mia (137 lbs) returned to the ring and won an easy
six-round unanimous (59-55,60-54,60-54) decision over Jessica Mohs (133
lbs) of Phoenix, Arizona. Mohs, who had previously fought as a featherweight, slipped to 5-7-0 (1 KO) with
the loss. [St. John post-fight interview]
On April 19, 2003 at Selland Arena, Fresno, California, she weighed in at 135½ lbs and
lost an eight-round unanimous (78-74,77-75,77-75) decision to WIBF/IWBF lightweight champion Jenifer Alcorn (135 lbs) of Fresno. After a
feeling-out round, the fight turned into a slugfest with Alcorn scoring repeatedly to St. John's face to the cheers of her
home crowd. St. John hung tough and did not run from Alcorn but she reverted to the windmill style of her early fights. This
left her open for punishment by the hard-hitting Alcorn, who St. John later described as the strongest fighter she'd ever
faced. "She was throwing wild," Alcorn said. "I was finding the openings and sticking. I liked that she didn't run." Alcorn
added that "If you fight out of emotion and anger you get in trouble," an apparent reference to the bad blood that had
existed between the two in the pre-fight period, with St.John saying that she would steal Alcorn's regional fan base with a
win and a war of words over who was more "Mexican". Mia told WBAN after the
fight; "Out of my 31 fights
this was probably my favorite fight aside from Christy. Fighting Jenifer was
such a challenge and truly a wonderful experience. The crowd was on their feet
the whole time and found it as exciting as I did. The fight was an
overall success! I went into Fresno, sparked a little controversy, we sold a lot
of tickets and fought our hearts out. My job is complete. I couldn't be
happier." Alcorn advanced to 16-0-0 (10 KO) with the win. (Photo
Gallery #51 on the WBAN Records Member Site
has photos and some MPEG video clips from this fight, and
Photo Gallery #52 has weigh-in photos). On July 11, 2003 at Silver Legacy Casino, Reno, Nevada, she advanced to 28-3-1 (13 KO) by going back to
a four-rounder and winning a unanimous 40-36 decision over Jessica Mohs of Phoenix, Arizona who fell to 5-10-0 (1 KO).
On September 18, 2003 at Four Bears Casino, Newtown, North Dakota,
she fought unranked Olivia Gerula of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to a six-round majority draw. Gerula, fighting for the first time in just over a year, moved her record
to 5-6-2 (1 KO).
Mia takes a left to the face from Jessica Mohs
© Copyrighted Photo taken by Dale Hausner On October 10, 2003 at Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson, Arizona, an estimated crowd of 1200 saw Mia win
a unanimous (40-36,40-36,39-37) four round decision over Jessica Mohs of Phoenix, Arizona. This was the third
time that St. John has fought and defeated Mohs. Mohs fell to 5-11-0 (1 KO).
(See Photo
Gallery #106 on the WBAN Records Member Site.)
vs. Franchesca Alcanter in January 2004
© Copyrighted photo taken by Mike Blair On January 24, 2004 at Bank of America Center, Boise, Idaho, in a rematch of their May 19 2000 bout at
the Playboy Mansion, St. John (137½ lbs) won another four-round
unanimous (40-36,40-36,40-36) decision over Franchesca Alcanter (139 lbs) of Kansas City, who
fell to 10-5-1 (5 KO). (For more fight photos, see
Photo Gallery #139 on the WBAN Member Site).
St. John told local press that she was nervous to be fighting in Boise for the
first time, but was pleasantly surprised by the urging-on that she got from the fans.
“I was surprised to
see so many Latinos in the audience,” St. John said. "It helped that the crowd was cheering me on, they
pumped me up and got me going.” She also stated that she is looking for a rematch with Christy Martin.
vs. Ragan Pudwill in February 2004
© Copyrighter photo by Patricia Butaud/Janis
Guidry
On February 7, 2004 at Grand Casino Coushatta Pavilion in Kinder, Louisiana,
Mia (136 lbs) easily moved her record to 31-3-2 (13 KO) with a four-round unanimous
40-36 decision over Ragan Pudwill (138 lbs) of Mandan, North Dakota. St. John thoroughly outclassed Pudwill and
rocked her repeatedly with combinations to the head, prompting the referee to ask Pudwill if she wanted to continue
midway through the third round. Pudwill showed heart by continuing and staying on her feet, but this was a
mismatch by any standard. Pudwill fell to 3-9-0. (For more fight photos, see
Photo Gallery #141 on the WBAN Records Member Site).
Jessica Rakoczy dominated Mia St. John in April 2004
© copyrighted photo taken by Jessica Trevino
On April 15, 2004 at the Palace Indian Gaming Center in Lemoore, California, IBA Lightweight champion
Jessica Rakoczy (132½ lbs) won an
eight-round unanimous decision over Mia (138½ lbs) in a non-title fight that was the
co-main event on the card. Rakoczy dominated the bout with her speed and power, occasionally pinning St. John
against the ropes with a barrage of overhand rights. For her part, St. John tried
to stay out of trouble and look for opportunities to counter the hard-charging
Canadian. Rakoczy improved to 14-1-0 (4 KO) with the win while dropping the outgunned St. John
to 31-4-2 (13 KO). (For more fight photos, see Photo Gallery #162 on the |
