Frenetic Terri Moss in No Hurry To Slow Down

By Lyle Fitzsimmons

It’s the year’s shortest month, but for Terri Moss… it feels like the longest.

The 5-foot-1 ex-world champion, whose in-ring life saw her competing with foes within a meal or two of 100 pounds, takes on a heavyweight workload about this time each February.

And in 2015, thanks to a venue change for her early-year activity, and another handful of projects at some stage of attention-needing tumult – the number of hours in a day seems particularly insufficient.

“A routine would be great these days,” she said.

“Right now things are pretty much a bell-ringing, texting, emailing, phone-calling, training buzz of crazy from the time I wake until the time I go to bed. I'm moving at the speed of light, it seems, every day now for the past two years. I'll slow it down once I get what I'm going after.”

Moss, who turned 49 in late January, will oversee the ninth incarnation of her Atlanta Corporate Fight Night endeavor on Thursday night, this time at the city’s downtown Marriott Marquis hotel – a 52-story behemoth whose recognizable profile on the skyline is symbolic of the uptick in stature and prestige the event’s founder is hoping will be just as noticeable.

The Corporate Fight Night model sprang from Moss’ desire to give business people the chance to experience what she did 18 times in a pro career that ultimately earned her a world title – the WIBFs 105-pound crown – in her final outing at age 41. And while it’s a concept that matches accounts against tax attorneys against insurance agents, Moss still gets revved as if belts were at stake.

“This show is much more elegant, and much more expensive, but I feel it’s the next step in making it into a more entertaining and sought-after event by both the boxers and the sponsors,” she said. “I've never minded taking the time to build, so we are building. It’s not a simple event to put on, but it’s a worthy cause. I will say that now it’s a well-oiled machine, so there are some parts that move without me at the wheel now. We just need more.”

We caught up with Moss during some brief February downtime to discuss the show, her other activities and her imminent induction into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame.

Q: A few years ago you were "just" a world championship level female boxer. These days, you've got your hand in what appears from the outside to be about a million things. How much time do you actually leave for sleep?

A: I have diligently been seeking the answer to that question myself. I do have a lot going on, but it’s all in the sport, so it doesn't seem that far away. I am excessively busy though, to be certain. The good thing is that I love what I do, so it’s all logistics. There are just a lot of them.

Q: Elsewhere, you're a gym owner, too. I see “Buckhead Fight Club” references and pictures on your Facebook page all the time. Tell me how things are going there and what's the day-to-day grind of running a gym?

A: My gym is a bit more of a headache than your average boxing gym. It’s almost 15,000 square feet, so it’s big and it’s involved. We must have staff just to open the doors. There's a lot of paperwork, and a lot of overhead, and we still have 11,000 square feet to build out, so you can imagine this is no small project. In fact, it pretty much sucks up all of the funds and backbone of all that we do. Ultimately, everything comes back to the gym. That's OK, though, because it’s where we do what we do and it’s the place we love to be the most. I do the promotions and things to build the gym, and there's nowhere else I would rather be than in that gym at night working with my clients and fighters, and laughing and dancing around with all of the other trainers and their clients and fighters. That's a lot of what we do in the fight club. I just love that place. Everyone loves the fight club, it is a too cool place to be.
 
The day-to-day grind would be morning training, emails, emails, texts, phone call, paperwork, emails, text, text, emails, train. Train, dance, laugh, lots of loud music, train, lay around on the sofas after training, emails, texts, go eat tacos at 11 p.m. That is a perfect description of a day in the gym.

Q: How did the gym involvement actually come about? What's the most enjoyable or rewarding part of being involved with it? Does it help fill the boxing void now that you're no longer in the ring professionally?

A: Well, as I said, the gym is incredible. There's something really different about a big giant boxing gym run and owned by women. I can't say what that is, other than it’s just a really fun place, where we can fight and we can laugh. If anyone is getting harassed in there it's not the women, I can tell you that. But I think that's part of what everyone loves about it, it’s just a really cool place to be. I wish I could just be in the gym and train my people, but the finances require me to build, so I build. Then again, that may be some of the lure for people, they know they're training somewhere that's making noise.

Opening the gym happened when my own trainer kicked me out of his gym. He probably had all he could tolerate of me, quite honestly. I never sit still and I never stop making goals. Most people can't understand why I want to keep moving, but I just want to see how high I can go, me and those close to me. There's just too much left to experience, why stop now? When I'm the female Freddie Roach, then I'll consider slowing down, but not a minute sooner.

Q: What sort of clientele are you typically get in there? Are they usually aware of your background? Do they seem surprised if/when they find out?

A: Well, if they don't know, I tell them. It's really interesting, because I'm in a mostly Latino district, and I thought it was going to be really difficult to get them to accept me, especially as a trainer. But now I train about 25 percent women and 75 percent men, and they've surprisingly been extremely gracious, trusting and loyal to me as a trainer. I have finally realized that having a women trainer to some of the guys is a novelty that they believe will help their career, not hinder it. It may get more press, it may get more people talking. And when their trainer is 5-foot-1, 106 pounds, it's even more to talk about. News is news, and they seem to think it's great. If there are men, and women sometimes, who don't feel good about a female trainer, they find someone else in my gym to train with, and that's fine, too. For the most part, I've found that they judge me on my abilities rather than my gender, and I love that. I've come to realize that while a lot of the old-school boxing trainers seem to have a hard time accepting a woman trainer, gym owner or promoter, the fighters are young, and they don't have a problem with it. Times are changing, and I want to be at the front of the line with all of the new ideals. I don't mind plowing through the weeds, I guess that's why I'm doing as well with it as I am.

Q: Assess the health of the women's sport. Feels like it made some progress a few years back, but it's hard to gauge where things stand now. How are things from your perspective? Are you happy with it, or disappointed?

A: I tell anyone who asks me that the progression it made a few years back was mostly based on novelty. With Christy Martin, who was a great fighter of course, people just marveled at the idea of women boxing professionally. Then came Laila Ali, the daughter of the champ, and though a good fighter, she had more identity based on her father than on who she was. Well, now people think it's quiet, but what they don't know is to look into the amateurs. The story lies there. Once women's boxing went to the Olympics, everything changed. Quite the contrary to the eyes of most of the media, women's boxing is on the rise. There is now not only width to women's boxing, there is depth. There are women now with fights numbering in the hundreds in the amateurs, and they can fight. There is enough depth to make good fights, and there is a demand. It’s slow running here in the states, but if you want to see where it’s going, look outside of the U.S. and you can see that it’s not only coming, but it’s coming to stay. Finally.

Q: And last but not least, I hear you'll be down Florida way for a Hall of Fame induction this summer. Congratulations. I'm imagining having your name included with any Hall is a pretty significant honor. Has it resonated with you? What does it mean? How did it come about and when did you hear of your inclusion?

A: It is definitely a huge honor to be inducted into the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame. It’s a relatively new project, but nonetheless, it carries a huge honor. I was there last year when Christy Martin, Bonnie Canino, Lucia Rijker, Regina Halmich and Barbara Buttrick were inducted, and I was blown away at the sheer star power of who was in that room. I can't believe anyone would vote me into this incredible group of champions, yet here I am with my name on the roster. I'm still not sure they didn't get the wrong number, but I'll definitely run with it. Sue Fox let me know in January that I had been inducted, and it’s something I can't wait to experience. I have the honor of being inducted with Laila Ali, Ann Wolfe, Laura Serrano, Jeannine Garside and Dierdre Gogarty, all of whom I admired as I came up through boxing. It will be one of the highlight accomplishments of my life, and I plan to have a whole lot of friends and family there, and a big celebration after the induction.

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This week's title-fight schedule:

SATURDAY

IBO/WBA middleweight titles – Monte Carlo, Monaco
Gennady Golovkin (champion/No. 2 IWBR) vs. Martin Murray (No. 5 IBO contender/No. 9 IWBR)
Golovkin (31-0, 28 KO): Tenth IBO title defense; Third fight in Monte Carlo (2-0, 2 KO)
Murray (29-1-1, 12 KO): Third title fight (0-1-1); Never lost a non-world title fight (29-0, 12 KO)
Fitzbitz says: With the KO streak and the title defenses, Golovkin’s is nearing a Tyson level of fireworks expectation. This may not be his “Buster” moment, but it could at least be more rugged. Golovkin in 10

IBO strawweight/WBA minimumweight titles – Monte Carlo, Monaco
Hekkie Budler (champion/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Jesus Silvestre (No. 2 WBA contender/No. 11 IWBR)
Budler (27-1, 9 KO): Eighth IBO title defense; Third fight in Monte Carlo (2-0, 1 KO)
Silvestre (30-5, 22 KO): Second title fight (0-1); Fourth fight outside Mexico (0-3)
Fitzbitz says: Like Golovkin, Budler is another prolific champion other sanctioning bodies started to view favorably after he established himself with an IBO title. He continues the run here. Budler by decision

WBO super middleweight title – Berlin, Germany
Arthur Abraham (champion/No. 3 IWBR) vs. Paul Smith (No. 4 contender/No. 67 IWBR)
Abraham (41-4, 28 KO): Third title defense; Held IBF title at 160 pounds (2005-09, 10 defenses)
Smith (35-4, 20 KO): Second title fight (0-1); Lost to Abraham (UD 12) in September
Fitzbitz says: Smith had a light resume before getting the initial Abraham match, and he gets a second as a reward for a credible effort. But unless the champ has slipped badly, he’s 0 for 2. Abraham by decision

Last week's picks: None
2015 picks record: 2-1 (66.6 percent)
Overall picks record: 641-224 (74.1 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.