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In the early 2k's, women's boxing started to take a stride a bit, led by the likes of Jacqui Frazier, Laila Ali, Christy Martin, Ann Wolfe, Lucia Rijker, Sumya Anani, Kathy Collins(who was on the way out), Holly Holm, Mia St. John ("everyone's taking PEDs") and Vonda Ward. It was the welterweight division of the time. I remember watching their fights and always thinking, these women bring it every single time.
You got lifetime achievements in there - Ann Wolfe, if I recall, remains only one of two fighters (the other Henry Armstrong) to hold titles in three weight divisions at the same time; Jacqui Frazier and Laila Ali were the first women to headline a PPV; Holly Holm the first fighter (male OR female) to hold titles in both boxing and MMA at the same time, etc.
But Laila, who arguably was a figurehead and not really a "great" boxer, never faced Ann Wolfe, who was probably the most dangerous of the ones I listed. Ann Wolfe is the one who slept Vonda Ward, an extremely tall KO puncher that was undefeated when they met, in what remains one of the most picture perfect knockouts in the last two decades.
Now, I frankly think Ann Wolfe would have walked through and possibly killed her, given Ali was taken the distance by, and damn near lost to, Jacqui Frazier who got in the game at THIRTY EIGHT YEARS OLD and had no early boxing experience. But it would have been interesting to see HOW Wolfe would have taken her out.
You got lifetime achievements in there - Ann Wolfe, if I recall, remains only one of two fighters (the other Henry Armstrong) to hold titles in three weight divisions at the same time; Jacqui Frazier and Laila Ali were the first women to headline a PPV; Holly Holm the first fighter (male OR female) to hold titles in both boxing and MMA at the same time, etc.
But Laila, who arguably was a figurehead and not really a "great" boxer, never faced Ann Wolfe, who was probably the most dangerous of the ones I listed. Ann Wolfe is the one who slept Vonda Ward, an extremely tall KO puncher that was undefeated when they met, in what remains one of the most picture perfect knockouts in the last two decades.
Now, I frankly think Ann Wolfe would have walked through and possibly killed her, given Ali was taken the distance by, and damn near lost to, Jacqui Frazier who got in the game at THIRTY EIGHT YEARS OLD and had no early boxing experience. But it would have been interesting to see HOW Wolfe would have taken her out.
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