by Dennis 'dSource' Guillermo
The laceration on her forehead she got from an accidental head-butt in her last fight has healed. A reminder in the form of a scar is all that remains. Cuts and scars are common in boxing, but one has to wonder though why a beautiful female like Ana Julaton insists on sacrificing her blood, sweat and tears -- on top of her model good looks -- to pursue a sport that hasn't necessarily reciprocated the love toward it's female combatants.
You want to talk about travesty in boxing? Forget that Ring Magazine touted Manny Pacquiao's controversial win over Juan Manuel Marquez as their "Robbery of the Year". And Amir Khan can have a cookie for his cries of crime allegedly done upon him against Lamont Peterson in DC. The real travesty in boxing in the US is how female fighters are being mistreated.
And Julaton might as well be the poster child of this sad fact.
As much as Europe and Mexico have embraced the female boxing scene, female boxers are still getting no love from US promoters and networks. I am one to stay away from the politics that go behind the scenes in boxing, but it's just hard to bear witness to a fighter that embodies everything that's right in a sport, get swept to the side time and time again, especially when you have people like Floyd Mayweather, Jr. who continues to show his butt in public with his antics, and a guy like Bob Arum who is sucking the marrow out of boxing for profit, yet hold it's very fans hostage when it comes to giving them the fight they truly want.
Perhaps women will never get their real due in boxing any time soon. I don't see any new faces taking over the current rats and pigs that pull the strings any time soon: a fact Julaton is very much aware of.
So despite her great run in 2011 defending her WBO super bantamweight crown against the bigger Franchesca Alcanter, going up in weight to thwart Angel Gladney, and flying to Mexico on enemy territory to dominate Jessica Villafranca, nobody will even have Julaton as an afterthought in their year-end boxing awards. Ho hum. Julaton will continue on her quest. The obstacles and the disrespect simply do not faze her.
Because to understand what drives the Bok Fu black belt Julaton who took up boxing in 2004, is to realize that her plight is bigger than money, ego or pride.
"Sometimes I do think about it and wonder why I'm still doing this and why I put my body through all the punishment.. I have a big scar now on my forehead and all the stitches I've been getting in my recent fights.. it's not fun. But not here for myself or to make money. Even if they haven't been fair with me, I want to show them that I'm going to finish what I started and I will not quit. Maybe then they will finally give me, and women our due respect," a determined Julaton told me.
Julaton plans to take on all comers in 2012 and let the chips fall where they may. She is ready to go into her enemy's backyards and take all the jewelry and all the loot to be had like a bad chick in a "Set it Off" movie remake.
In a sport in dire need of true role models and authentic characters, how can they keep on sleeping on Julaton.