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Exclusive One on One Interview
with Mia St. John
By BRIAN ACKLEY, WBAN Senior Editor
Mia St.
John can laugh, now, about the dressing room scene moments before stepping
into the ring against Christy Martin.
She was,
in her own words, very scared. But not so much as her mother, who like her
boxing daughter, was decked out in always-present pink. She had worked her
daughter’s corner for many fights -- and seen her daughter scared before.
But everyone in the room knew that tonight was different.
“She
stood there and said, ‘I’ve got this towel ready and if she hurts my baby,
I’m throwing it in,” Mia said, a hearty laugh crackling through the gym. “I
said, Believe me, if my life is in danger, I’ll throw in my own damn
towel.”
History
will recall no towel was necessary that night. “For a moment I thought to
myself ‘I could walk out of here and take the first plane home, what could
they do?” she wrote in a post fight account. “I looked at Fredia (Gibbs) and
said “I’m scared.” Fredia, with her words of wisdom, said “Aint notin but a
party baby, and tonight’s your party.” I was relieved she was there.”
Ten
rounds later, to the surprise of many, St. John was still there, standing,
smiling, relieved -- a swirl of emotions as much a trademark of her boxing
career as her pink shorts and luminescent smile.
She
hopes to surprise critics again April 18, when she meets undefeated Jennifer
Alcorn in a scheduled eight round bout. Although part of an HBO card, the
fight is not scheduled at this time to be televised. However it is listed
by promoters as a “swing” fight, meaning there’s an outside chance St. John
could again confound conventional thinking, and make history one more time.
No women’s bout has ever been televised by the pay cable outlet. She
recently shared her thoughts on that, and her career in the ring.
WBAN:
Against Alcorn, you’re going up there, on her own turf, how is that
affecting your thinking going in?
St.
John: “I don’t feel like its her turf. I feel like my turf is the entire
west coast. What makes it her fight really is that she has a contract with
the Palace, and she also has a contract with the promoter. I’ve been in
boxing seven years now, so obviously I know the politics behind it. I know
that if it goes to a decision, they will give it to her. They have to. She
has a contract that doesn’t expire until another year. So she can’t lose. I
know that. And that’s why everyone, my team, is telling me ‘Don’t take the
fight, you know how it is.’ And I feel like, ‘you know what, that’s fine. I
don’t really care about what the judges say. I don’t fight for the judges. I
fight for myself.’ If I go in there and fight to the best of my ability, do
the best job I can, and I’m happy with my performance, that’s all I care
about. I don’t give a shit as to what the judges have to say, they don’t pay
my bills. I’m not fighting for them.”
WBAN:
Are you thinking then you have to go in and knock her out? Does that change
your game plan at all?
St.
John: “Well, no, because even though I know, yeah, I have to knock her out
to win, it still doesn’t change how I’m going to fight. I’m still going to
go in there knowing that I can and will out box her. I’m not going to go in
there and fight her fight and brawl with her because that’s what Jennifer
is, she’s a brawler. She relies on her punching power. And I don’t need to
buy into that because I have nothing to prove. If she gets the decision, so
what. It’s like I go on being who I am, she’s not going to take my
endorsements away, Fox isn’t all of the sudden going to sign Jennifer
Alcorn, I’m still me and she’ll still be her. I always said, like Rolanda
Andrews, just because she beat me doesn’t mean she’s going to take my spot.
She’s still who she is and I’m still who I am. People said a long time ago
that my 15 minutes would come and go. It’s been seven years, and I’m still
here, that’s a damn long 15 minutes.”
WBAN:
Are you surprised that you are still in boxing?
St.
John: “No, because I always knew that I would be around for a long time.
It’s everybody else who said ‘just watch, she’s going to come and go’, but I
knew that I would be around for a long time and I’m still going to be around
for a long time. I’ll fight for another year or two, but I’ll stay in the
public eye, still be in the media, still be around in some way or another.
I’m working on my own TV show right now, or I’ll host a show. But I’ll stay
in the sport. You can’t get rid of me. I know all the Mia haters want to get
rid of me, but you just can’t, I’m not going anywhere. And I’ve proved it.
Seven years is a long time in boxing.”
WBAN:
What still drives you to box? What do you have left to accomplish?
St.
John: “When I left Bob Arum, I decided I was going to fight for me. I was no
longer going to fight for the promoters, I don’t fight for any promoter, I
don’t have a contract with anyone. I fight when I want, who I want, how I
want, all the terms and conditions are made up by me. I write my own
contracts, I give my contracts to the promoters, you either sign it or you
don’t, take it or leave it. I don’t sign their contract. They do what I
want, when I want it and how I want it, because I spent my whole career
pretty much with Bob Arum, and before that I was with Don King. When I left
Arum I said I’m going to take the fights I want, I’m going to fight for me,
not the judges, not the promoters, not for anybody but me.”
WBAN:
You mentioned Bob Arum and Don King. Generally speaking, have they been good
or bad for women’s boxing?
St.
John: “Bob Arum is a very smart businessman. I mean, when you look at my
career with Don King, I went into the ring wearing all black, no make-up.
Then when Arum took me, he basically changed my whole image, sold me as like
the Playboy Bunny, whatever. He started me on Univision first, before he
crossed me over to pay-per-view with De la Hoya. And let everybody know that
I was sexy. It was very smart marketing. He’s a very intelligent man. But
these promoters don’t give a shit about women’s boxing. All they care about
is making money and getting publicity, for the fight. That’s all we do,
that’s all I did for him. That’s all I do for Fox, I bring publicity to
their main event.”
WBAN:
So, not as a boxer, but on a personal level, it was pretty unfulfilling
really?
St.
John: “It was fulfilling in the sense I got to do what I loved, I got to go
in the ring and fight, which is all I really wanted to do. I spent 23 years
in Tae Kwon Do paying to fight. So when somebody said, ‘Hey, I’m going to
pay YOU to fight,’ I was thrilled. The problem with Arum was that I didn’t
get to fight the fights that I wanted. I had no say with Arum. Bob Arum
doesn’t let anyone tell him what to do. I just got to a point where I felt
like I was big enough I could handle my own self. I could still go to
networks like ESPN and Fox and I felt like I was big enough to negotiate on
my own. And I could fight better opponents. And if I lose, it was no big
deal to me. I lost plenty of time in Tae Kwon Do.”
WBAN:
So is it fair to say if he used you, you used him?
St.
John: “I totally used him. I felt like he was using me, I was using him. He
paid me great money, I got exposure all over the world. It was great, I was
a single mom with two kids. We were using each other. But it got to the
point in my career, as a competitor, I felt like I wanted to fight harder
fights. Not that the girls I fought weren’t competition, I respect all
fighters. I just didn’t want to do that anymore. I felt like OK, enough is
enough. I’m tired of being the queen of the four-rounder. I just got tired
of it. I wanted to move forward and evolve. And it’s weird because the
first fight without Arum, I was KO’d on ESPN. And I didn’t care. I was so
happy because I had left Arum. My mom was like ‘See, you should have never
left Bob Arum.’ And I was like ‘You know what, I don’t want to change a
thing. I don’t care. I’m so happy, I could give a shit that I was KO’d. I
was happy I got to fight who I fought, and I still get to do that.”
WBAN:
Do you think there’s anything you can ever do that will silence your
critics?
St.
John: “There’s always going to be critics no matter what I do. People are
like “Oh, she’ll never fight Christy Martin, she’s all talk.’ And when I did
it, they still criticized me. They said I’d go out in the first round, and I
didn’t. And they still criticized me. So I don’t care any more.”
WBAN:
You wrote on your website that before fighting Martin, you were rubbery
legged and nervous and scared. Do you get that way for all your fights?
St.
John: “Every fight... Every fight, even when I just fought Jessica Mohs, I
was in the dressing room scared to death. It’s just that you’re afraid of
the unknown. And boxing is so unpredictable, you don’t know if you’re even
going to make it out alive. It’s scary just taking that walk to the ring
with cameras on you, knowing that you’re on national television, that you
could make an ass of yourself or you can do really well. It’s scary. I’m not
going to say it is like my first or second fight. I’ve matured in the sport,
I’ve learned to channel my nervousness elsewhere. I mean, I still get
nervous. When I was with Arum, I was always petrified. He would always
remind me, “If you get knocked out, this contract is over.’ That was a lot
of pressure with Arum. And now I feel like, if I get knocked out, who cares?
I mean, of course I care, but it’s not like ‘Oh my God, the world is
ending.’ I look at it like may the best man win.”
WBAN:
In hindsight, obviously the Playboy pictorial was great for you personally,
but purely in a boxing sense, does that still haunt you to a degree?
St.
John: “You know, it might. But, again, you know, I just don’t care what
those people think. People don’t know my life, and where I came from. My
family comes from Mexico. I was the first generation born in America. To
have this kind of fame -- I’m no Jennifer Lopez -- but to know where I’ve
come from, from poverty, my Mom couldn’t speak any English, I’ve come a long
way. And my family was so proud when I was on the cover of Playboy. I was
the first Mexican on the cover of Playboy, I was the first boxer. I made
history. So if you knew where I came from , I think you would understand
better.”
WBAN:
How neat is it that your Mom has been a big part of this?
St.
John: “My Mom was the one that was determined to raise her kids in this
country, to do something with their lives. All three of us are college
graduates, and we’ve all done something in our lives. It was an amazing
accomplishment on my mother’s part alone, to raise three kids on her own, to
not speak any English, not have any family in this country. She did a great
job.”
WBAN:
Speaking of family, you have two kids. What do they think of all this?
St.
John: “I have a son and a daughter, 13 and 10. They don’t really think
anything. I got into boxing when they were young, that’s all they know. Like
with their Dad, the same thing with him, he’s an actor, they don’t sit and
watch him on TV. There like ‘oh, that’s just Dad.’ So when they see me on TV
it’s like ‘oh, it’s just Mom.’ They’re not allowed to go to my fights.
They’re allowed to watch it on TV if they want, but usually they don’t want
to, but if they do they can. To me, boxing is not an atmosphere for kids.
It’s a violent sport, there’s a lot of drinking.”
WBAN:
What big fights do you see left for you, if you’re only going to box for
another year or two? Who’s on your checklist?
St.
John: “Well, Jennifer Alcorn was one of them. And another one, if we can
ever work it out, is Lucia. But it kind of worries me, she’s kind of known
for signing for fights and then she doesn’t fight. And I want a rematch with
Christy Martin, and then anyone else. You know, I tried to rematch with
Rolanda, she never called us back. We tried to get her for this last Fox
fight, They said they would call back, and they never did.”
WBAN:
There’s no chance you’d go up in weight to take on a Laila Ali or someone
like that.
St.
John: “Oh, God no. I had even a hard time with Christy’s fight, I weighed in
at 140, and I was allowed 147. That’s too much weight. Laila’s a big girl.
I would love to. Of course that’s a sellable fight. But it’s just not
realistic.”
WBAN:
The sport in general, is it on a good trend, a bad trend.
St.
John: “I think it’s going well. With women’s soccer, the WNBA, women are
going somewhere. But I don’t think it will really be taken seriously until
they allow it in the Olympics. I think what I did and Christy did and Laila
did was bring it to the media’s and public’s attention. That helps bring in
younger girls, and you’re going to see them start fighting more like the
men. Their techniques are going to be so on and so beautiful, it’s not going
to be the same sport. Right now, we have women that brawl, very offense
minded, just like I was doing. But, the girls now, you’re going to see a
whole net set of girls that can really know how to fight, that are really
like the men. Then and only then will it be taken as legitimate.”
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