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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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I had a long,

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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very fast left jab.

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Not so fast these days.

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Throw the left hand,
and then come-

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because they're looking at this one,

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and then I would hit them
with this one.

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They said
I had dynamite in both hands.

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(CROWD CHEERS)

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It never occurred to me

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that I was doing something
so outrageous.

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(SIREN WAILS)

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We were challenging the norm,
and that was frightening people.

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MAN: A woman is not made
to be a fighter.

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It should not be tolerated.

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Nobody in the whole United States
wanted women in the ring, period.

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ALI: Fighters are made
to the punched.

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Women ain't made to be
hit in the breast.

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It was unbelievable. They had
rules to stop women from boxing.

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A woman could never be a boxer,

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just by the fact that a woman's role

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is of being a subordinate.
LYDIA: What the fuck, man?

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I'm gonna kick some ass, you know,
I wanna fuck somebody up.

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Bam, bam, bam!

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All the rage, the hate,
the (ROARS)

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you guys are not gonna stop me.
This is something I want.

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But nobody ever told the story.

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The history of women's boxing
is an amazing story,

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but it has been totally erased.

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After I left the sport,
I went on the Internet, thinking,

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"Well, there's gotta be a lot
of things about the pioneer

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female boxers," and to my dismay,
there's virtually nothing.

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We disappeared.

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There was Cat Davis,

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Lavonne Ludian, Pat Pineda,

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Lady Tyger.
Women are wonderful and great.

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Lady Tyger, champion of the world.

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Where are these fighters now?
What happened to them?

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And why have they been
erased from history?

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(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

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CAT: Well,
it all started with fencing.

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When I saw the '72 Olympics,

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I got so inspired.

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I decided to be a fencer.

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I wanted to be up there

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winning an Olympic medal
because I was the best.

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So, I signed up to a fencing club
at Louisiana University.

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I turned out to be very gifted
at it.

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My trainer, he said,
"You need to move to New York

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to study with Csaba Elthes."

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He was the best coach in the world
at the time.

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But I knew my mom wouldn't approve.

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My dad died before I was born,

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so I was raised by my mom, and...

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when my mother and I interacted,

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it was a lot about
the old south stuff.

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She wanted me to stay a little doll.

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I just couldn't do the girl thing.

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I just wasn't-
I wasn't cut out for it.

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My fencing was a big disappointment
to her, I think.

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But I thought, you know, "Fuck it."

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I packed up, headed to New York
on a bus,

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with 100 bucks in my pocket.
I was pumped.

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I was very excited to meet Csaba.

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I was gonna meet the pope.

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Csaba came in, and I asked him
if he would teach me sabre.

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And he said to me,
in a very stern voice,

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"Young lady,

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I don't teach women
or cripples sabre."

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And he actually hit me across my leg
with his weapon,

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and drew blood.

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Sliced me up. I was heart-broken.

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It was just because I was a woman.

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(WOMEN CHANTING)

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Well, by 1972,

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the women's movement had made
some progress in the courts.

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We will make real the promise
of equality for all.

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(CHEERING)

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But in the real world, we were still
treated as second-class citizens.

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Don't get me wrong,
I'm totally in favour of women.

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I mean, I think every man
should own one.(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

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There have been 73 astronauts
in our space programme,

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but never any woman.

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A real woman don't wanna
be equal to a man,

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a real man don't want no woman
being his equal.

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And if she don't like it,
put her out, find another one.

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I went back to my apartment,

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I only had a few dollars left,

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but I said to myself,
"I am not going back home.

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I have to make it work here."

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So, I got some newspapers

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and I started looking for a job,

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and I was going through and circling
the ones I was interested in,

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and then I came upon this one
that says,

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'Wanted: woman boxers'.

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It sounded like assembly line,
boxing up things.

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I said, "Ah, that sounds
like something I can do."

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This guy answered the phone.

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MAN: We need somebody real bad.

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His name was Sal.
You're not a fighter, are you?

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It turned out it wasn't boxing
goods, it was the sport of boxing.

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I never heard of women boxing.

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I was a little bit taken aback,

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you know, this naive southern girl.

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He was a larger-than-life
Italian-American boxing trainer.

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So, we arranged to meet.

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When I first saw you
walking out the door,

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that I thought you were gonna be
some kind of an animal.

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She opens the door, here comes
this good-looking blonde,

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and I say, "Oh hell, man,
this is our girl."(LAUGHTER)

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I thought he was really dumb,
because he just sat there

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with his mouth open and
he wouldn't say anything.

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And I started to say, "Did I-
Did I say something wrong?"

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Finally he shut his mouth, says,
"Get in. We're going back
to the gym."

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The first thing he wanted me
to do was hit the bag.

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It felt pretty good.

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I mean, it works just like fencing.

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To be a good fencer, you have
to have the head of a chess player,

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the arms of an orangutan,

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and the footwork of a ballet artist.

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So, I had the arms of an orangutan.

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(LAUGHS)

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Sal said he was gonna make
woman's boxing the next big thing.

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He got the idea form a woman
named Lady Tyger,

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after seeing her in the gym
and training.

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I was born in New York, Harlem.

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Growing up in the projects
wasn't all bad.

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We played jump rope,
we played double Dutch.

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Used to get into little
street fights, little scraps.

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When I fought, I would scratch,

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and they called it tiger marks,

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so I got the name "Tiger".

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My father was an alcoholic.

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He sometimes would get drunk

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and he would lie down in the lobby
of the building.

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People would actually rob him
of the money for our rent,

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food, and everything,
and it was all gone.

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I loved my father, but that made it
a little difficult for me.

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One day, I came home and I saw

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my father watching Muhammad Ali.

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He was going through the motions,

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as if he was in the ring.

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I looked at my father
and his enthusiasm,

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and I felt that energy myself.

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We would actually shadowbox
together in the apartment.

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I said, "You know what?

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I think this is something
that I wanna do."

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And when I told my father
that I was interested in boxing,

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he didn't say,
"Oh no, that's not for girls."

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No, he didn't have
that attitude at all.

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So, I went looking
for somewhere to train.

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I went from gym to gym,

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but they would laugh at me and say,
"This is not a sport for women."

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No-one would take me in.

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Women's boxing
in the early '70s was...

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It really was more or less
non-existent.

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When I started reading
boxing magazines,

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along with the Charles Atlas ads
to get bigger muscles,

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00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,640
were ads for apartment boxing,

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and they were selling
these eight-millimetre films

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of women boxing,
sometimes topless,

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and that was the extent
of women boxing

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in the '60s and early '70s.

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I was determined to be a boxer,

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so I made business cards.

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On the card it said
I was the first female boxer.

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Eventually, a trainer accepted me,

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and he brought me into his gym.

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It was old-fashioned.

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They initiated me
with beating me up.

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Busted lip, a black eye,

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bloody nose.

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They were like trophies to me.

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The first time I saw
Lady Tyger in the gym, I thought,

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"That's odd, I hope she has
her own dressing room."

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00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,160
There was no bathroom for women.

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They had to tell
the fellas to get out.

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I started to take a shower there.

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00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:04,280
Then I noticed that they had
a peephole.

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Oh my goodness.

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00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:10,240
But I kept coming back.

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00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,520
I started getting better and better.

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00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,120
I eventually earned their respect.

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00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,680
But one day,
someone at the gym told me,

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00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,520
"The State Athletic Commission
has a rule.

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00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,760
No woman can be
licenced as a boxer."

188
00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,120
So, legally I can't box.

189
00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,520
I said, "What?"
I said, "What are you talking about?

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00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:42,440
And what the hell is
a boxing commission?"

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00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:46,640
100- no. 189...

192
00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,480
188 lbs. 188 lbs.

193
00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,760
The purpose of a boxing commission
is to supervise the sport.

194
00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,040
A boxer has to be licenced
by the State Athletic Commission.

195
00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,280
The manager has to be licenced.
Even the announcer.

196
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,440
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
I have an announcement here.

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00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:08,880
A boxing licence
represents everything,

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00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,040
because without a licence,
you can't box professionally.

199
00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,120
You wouldn't get paid,
so you can't make money.

200
00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:17,160
In those days,

201
00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:20,800
the most powerful boxing commission
was New York State.

202
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:22,640
It was home
to Madison Square Garden,

203
00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:24,600
the most famous arena in the world.

204
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,200
It had more famous boxers
than any other state,

205
00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,120
so it was logical that
the headquarters for boxing

206
00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:33,400
should be New York City.

207
00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,440
Because New York was the leader,
other states followed.

208
00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,480
They copied their book.

209
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,200
It was almost word for word.

210
00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:45,240
Pennsylvania, Illinois, California.

211
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,680
They all thought that women
did not belong in a boxing ring.

212
00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:51,120
It's as simple as that.

213
00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,480
PAT: Prospects for women
back then was, like,

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00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:09,360
kitchen,

215
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,080
pregnant,

216
00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:14,040
raising the babies,

217
00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:16,920
cooking.

218
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,720
I was 16 when I got married
and I got pregnant,

219
00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,680
and I was 17
when I had a second kid.

220
00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:26,440
I was caged.

221
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,640
There was no freedom.

222
00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:30,480
When I was 18,

223
00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,560
I thought I was gonna have
a nervous breakdown.

224
00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,720
I really wanted to commit suicide,
to be honest with you.

225
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,480
My best friend and my cousin
came and they said,

226
00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:45,760
"We're taking you to the gym.
Let's get you out of the house."

227
00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:50,840
So, we went
to the San Pedro Locker Club.

228
00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,480
I didn't have any money,
so they snuck me in.

229
00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:56,840
My best friend, she said,
"Yeah, come on downstairs,

230
00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:58,640
they got a boxing ring down there."

231
00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,120
I said, "Wow, really?
Let's go check it out."

232
00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:04,560
So, I started hitting the bag.

233
00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,320
I could feel, like, all the madness,

234
00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:12,800
the chaos...

235
00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,200
(GRUNTS)

236
00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:16,760
..the evil thoughts,

237
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,680
they all came out of my hands.

238
00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,320
(GRUNTS)

239
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,160
So many years of pain that
I didn't realise was gonna come out.

240
00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:30,920
My childhood, even though
everything was wonderful,

241
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,240
bad things happen to little kids,

242
00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:37,440
and it did.

243
00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,600
I think I was four, the latest five.

244
00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,520
Oh yeah, oh yeah,
somebody in the family.

245
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,120
Oh yeah.

246
00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,920
And everybody hid it.
It was a dirty little secret.
Dirty little lies.

247
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,960
"Oh, you can't be
telling the truth."

248
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,480
I'm a little girl.
You don't make this shit up.

249
00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:02,280
When I met that heavy bag,

250
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:05,280
that became my best friend by far.

251
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,920
Hitting something, hitting somebody,
was an outlet.

252
00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:10,680
I liked that part.

253
00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:16,680
And lo and behold, here comes
this big woman down the stairs.

254
00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,160
I thought, "Shit, man,
that bitch is gonna turn round

255
00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,080
and start telling me shit,"
cos I hadn't paid.

256
00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,880
But she'd seen us box,
and she liked what she'd seen.

257
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,000
She said she wanted to be
the first female boxing manager,

258
00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,040
and wanted me
to be a pro female boxer.

259
00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,280
That was the first time
I met Dee Knuckles,

260
00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,520
the manager
of San Pedro Locker Club.

261
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,920
Dee also told me that it was against
the law to box in California.

262
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,320
"And you want me to do this?"

263
00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,320
She said, "You'll go ahead and
start boxing, and I'll start doing

264
00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,920
what I need to do to find out
where we're gonna go from here."

265
00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:08,760
I didn't have nothing else going on

266
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,120
in my life, so I said,
"Fuck it, why not?"

267
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,360
New York State
wasn't letting us box,

268
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,480
but I thought that I could change
their minds,

269
00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,160
so I decided to put on
an exhibition

270
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,800
to show what real female boxers
could do.

271
00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,400
An exhibition is just
a sparring match,

272
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:34,280
and you don't need al licence.

273
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,600
It should never be mistaken
for a real fight.

274
00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,760
I needed an opponent, and I
immediately thought of Killer Diane.

275
00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:45,760
I met her when I was a teenager.

276
00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,680
You know what? I really
don't wanna talk about that.

277
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,960
No, let me stop.
That was just a joke.

278
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,560
Lady Tyger, she called me
Killer Diane, and it stuck.

279
00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,200
I had several fights under my belt,

280
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,839
but they were all street fighting.

281
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:21,960
Eventually, I found a venue
that might accept us.

282
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,520
I was so, so happy.

283
00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:29,720
Tyger and I were the first to try
to put on an exhibition like that.

284
00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,800
It was on an all-male card,
and we were the only females.

285
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,280
We were on the under-undercard,
OK?

286
00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,360
That was like- We were just,
kind of, pencilled in.

287
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,800
So, I get to the venue.
(BELL DINGS)

288
00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:50,560
My father's with me.

289
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:55,000
Next thing I know, I was told
that we would have to wait

290
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,880
until all the men fight
before we fight.

291
00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:01,720
Oh my goodness.

292
00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,720
So, it's eight o'clock,
then nine o'clock.

293
00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:11,840
I thought it would never happen.

294
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,080
But I see the people coming in
more and more,

295
00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:18,360
and they're hyped, because
they wanted to see female boxers.

296
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,440
"Oh, woman boxers?
Oh, I got to see this."

297
00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:28,160
And about 12 o'clock,
they allowed women to go on.

298
00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:44,560
We put on a good exhibition.

299
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,600
I realised that
I had a dynamite hook.

300
00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,760
You know, I was a legitimate hooker.

301
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:01,200
But, out of the blue, a man says,

302
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,680
"Those women should be shot."

303
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,240
They considered female boxers
fourth-class citizens.

304
00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,080
They... degraded you.

305
00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:13,880
My father went berserk.

306
00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:17,120
Started to fight the guy.

307
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:21,520
And it became a disaster.

308
00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,840
It was distracting.
I couldn't concentrate.

309
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,160
It made me feel very angry.

310
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:32,560
They had not taken it serious.

311
00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:37,480
That's when I realised that
women need to get a boxing licence.

312
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,480
The licence would make us
legitimate.

313
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,920
So, I decided to go
to the State Athletic Commission,

314
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:52,680
to apply for a boxing licence.

315
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,880
New York was a mecca of boxing.

316
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:02,720
That was where it was so important
to be licenced in that state.

317
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,560
I saw another female boxer

318
00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,720
called Jackie Tonawanda.

319
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,720
She was applying for a licence also.

320
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:14,360
It was a relief.

321
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,040
"I have someone else
that's interesting in boxing."

322
00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,280
Me and Tyger, you see,
we'd like to get the licence.

323
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,240
I'd like to very much fight
at Madison Square Garden.

324
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,960
I had an interest in getting me
and my family out of the ghetto,

325
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,760
and I thought that boxing
would be the vehicle for that.

326
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,120
So, I wish
I was there at that meeting.

327
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,080
Would they accept it?

328
00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:46,400
Would they give me a licence?

329
00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:49,160
I don't know what they thought.

330
00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,560
I had been coming along well
with the training,

331
00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,000
and I felt confident that
I could box very well.

332
00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:09,320
Sal was very anxious for me
to get in the ring.

333
00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:13,600
Come here. You're doing the same
thing you did the other night.

334
00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,120
Your head is way up. Get the
shoulder into it, man.

335
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:17,160
That's how you-

336
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,120
So, the next thing,
he's organising an exhibition.

337
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:22,960
I guess it's time to get in
and find out what I can do.

338
00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:31,760
If you're knocked down and the bell
rings, the count continues.

339
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:33,920
You have to get up.
Cannot be saved by the bell.

340
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,720
You can't be saved by the bell,
except for the last round.

341
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,440
I get in the dressing room,
and that's when I started thinking,

342
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:45,080
"I'm an educated woman, and I'm
gonna go try to beat somebody up?"

343
00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:48,880
I was having a complete
existential meltdown by that time.

344
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,120
(LAUGHS)

345
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,200
So, it's time to go fight.

346
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,320
We get in the ring.
We started boxing, boom, boom, boom.

347
00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:02,840
She came up with a hard right
and hit me in the nose,

348
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,360
and it hurt!

349
00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:07,800
So, we went back
to the dressing room,

350
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,960
and I had a talk to myself,
in the mirror,

351
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,240
blood running down my lips,
and I said,

352
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,480
"This is never gonna happen again,
or you're gonna get out of this."

353
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,840
We went back to the gym.

354
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,160
Sal said, "If you keep that arm in
their face, you'll never get hit."

355
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,360
Plus, she can't even see
where she's going.

356
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,440
And you throw your left hook
to her face.

357
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,120
Sal was gonna make sure
I didn't get hit,

358
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:40,600
because he wanted to sell this face.
Come on, get the elbow down, OK?

359
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:41,960
He made me a deal.

360
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,920
He was gonna be the promotor,

361
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,400
I was gonna be the product.

362
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,640
"Sell me, baby. Make me some money."

363
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:08,040
(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLANKING)

364
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:13,000
Well, I'm looking at the notes
of the Athletic Commission.

365
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,440
You have two women who apply.
They call practically every day.

366
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:18,720
Well, they were persistent.
(LAUGHS)

367
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,880
"The women have had no experience,
and they are in different weights.

368
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,680
Who are they going to fight?
You can't have them fight with men."

369
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,200
And I see Frank Morris is
the commissioner, said this.

370
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,000
I had a lot of respect for Frank
Morris. He's old-school boxing.

371
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,640
"I don't think women should be
referees, judges, or boxers.

372
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:40,800
Boxing is for men."

373
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:43,280
Oh, boy.

374
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,080
The doctors on the commission
are not in favour of it.

375
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:50,280
"The impact of a blow
could hurt the women physically."

376
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,440
Oh, well I gotta take
a deep breath on that one.

377
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,880
(DEEP BREATH)

378
00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,800
That's...

379
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:01,240
OK, this is what they said.

380
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,760
"If you get hit in the stomach,
you won't be able to have children."

381
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,680
Oh, please. Give me a break.

382
00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:11,920
They were turned down.

383
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,440
I couldn't believe
what I was hearing.

384
00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,760
You know, I want this opportunity,
I wanna fight.

385
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,240
Then, in September 1975,

386
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:28,240
everything changed.

387
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:29,280
(CROWD SHOUTING)

388
00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:33,960
The first professional fight
between women was sanctioned

389
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,400
by the State Boxing Commission,

390
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,640
after pressure from women's
rights groups.

391
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,600
Caroline Svendsen says she learned
her trade settling fights

392
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,080
when she was a bartender.

393
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:47,600
I was like, "Women boxing?
Are you kidding me?" (LAUGHS)

394
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,840
It was the first women to ever
fight in the state of Nevada.

395
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,040
This was a serious thing.

396
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,280
I was so happy, you know,

397
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,800
I was thinking that
this is a step forward.

398
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,720
I was training, and Dee comes.

399
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:05,800
She says, "I want you to hear this,"

400
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:08,880
because this woman in Nevada
had been licenced.

401
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,320
"Oh shit, I'm not alone.
Thank you, Jesus."

402
00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,640
Nobody's beat my record,
nobody's knocked me out.

403
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,680
INTERVIEWER: How many fights?
I've had one. (LAUGHS)

404
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,720
But Nevada has always been
an anything goes kind of place.

405
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:24,960
Everything's legal.

406
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,640
Because we couldn't get licenced
in the state of New York,

407
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,600
what we needed was a real big state,
like California.

408
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,360
So, Dee and I agreed,

409
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,960
the gameplan is to go to Nevada,

410
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,720
to get a licence.

411
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:45,680
Come back to California.

412
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,520
Once you go pro,
you can't go amateur no more.

413
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,720
So, then I would say,
"I want my licence in California."

414
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,480
So, they had to let me
get my licence.

415
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,480
Dee Knuckles found an opponent
for me, and her name was Kim Maybee.

416
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:09,200
I was happy, I was excited.

417
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,840
But the public,
they don't want woman boxing.

418
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,680
Women boxing?

419
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:20,400
Ah, it's like a comedy thing.
I mean, it's very embarrassing.

420
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,080
Women ain't made to be hit
in the breast or the face like that.

421
00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:26,880
Their body's not made to be punched.

422
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,440
A woman could never be a good boxer.

423
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:36,320
How could any woman who, just by
her daily existence, waits on men,

424
00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:39,480
how could they possibly go in
the ring and start throwing punches?

425
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,440
Women think that they can really be
doing the things that men can do.

426
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:48,600
I don't really think so.

427
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,560
I don't think
it's a sport for women,

428
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,400
cos they're not physically
constituted to be boxers.

429
00:26:58,440 --> 00:26:59,840
It's just not a sport for 'em.

430
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,960
The morning the day before
the fight, I get a call from Dee.

431
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,640
She said that the gym...

432
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,560
had been burned.

433
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:16,760
They didn't burn the whole gym.

434
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,120
It was the area
where my stuff was at.

435
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,280
And the policemen had to come.

436
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,960
Dee told them,
"She's had a lot of death threats."

437
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,480
And I was like,
"What death threats?"

438
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,440
"They wanna hurt you, Pat."

439
00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:35,120
She hands me the letters.

440
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:41,200
They're predominantly males
being vicious and mean.

441
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,120
Things they would like to do.

442
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,000
And who sends all these letters,
threatening?

443
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,480
Who wants to hurt me and my children
when I didn't do anything to nobody?

444
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,600
All I wanted to do was box.

445
00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:55,320
For crying out loud, what the fuck?
Can somebody give me a break?

446
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,520
Dee kept the letters from me,
because she thought that

447
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,400
if I had any inclination
of this stuff, I would stop boxing.

448
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,280
But, you know what, all the rage,
the hate, the (ROARS)

449
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:09,960
you guys are not gonna stop me.

450
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,280
You can't. You can't.
This is something I want.

451
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:13,640
I'm ready for it.

452
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,000
REPORTER: For the first time
in California boxing history,

453
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,200
two women squared off in the ring
tonight.

454
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:33,600
(CROWD JEERING)

455
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,360
There was 10,000 people there.

456
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,560
The had the police escort me
into the ring,

457
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,560
because they were afraid that
somebody was gonna shoot me.

458
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:48,680
You get in the ring
and you got the crowd...

459
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,560
(CROWD JEERING AND BOOING)

460
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,200
..that doesn't like
what you're doing,

461
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,400
so you really heard that hate.

462
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:56,920
(BOOING)

463
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,160
You actually really heard it
from more of the women.

464
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,960
You know, "These fucking broads.

465
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,320
Check them out,
they think they can fucking fight,

466
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,400
and they're nothing
but a bunch of little bitches."

467
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,000
I'm only 20 years old.

468
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:18,440
Scared shitless.

469
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,000
And if things weren't already
complicated enough,

470
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,160
I was carrying a secret
that nobody knew.

471
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:31,920
I got a routine physical
from my physician,

472
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:34,760
who gave me
a clean bill of health.

473
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,320
But indicated that I was pregnant.

474
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,520
And then he said,
"So, you can't box."

475
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,360
I don't want the baby to get hurt,
but, at the same time,

476
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,480
I know that I have to do this.
It was about becoming somebody.

477
00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:01,920
So, I said, "You have to change
this. I wanna fight."

478
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,760
Poor guy, he didn't know
whether to trust me or not.

479
00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,200
But he said, "OK."

480
00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:12,920
I told Dee that I was pregnant.

481
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,480
Dee was like,
"So, are you gonna fight?"

482
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,120
I said, "Well, hell yeah,
I'm gonna fight."

483
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:20,360
Showtime.

484
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:23,440
(CROWD BOOS)

485
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,200
There's Kim Maybee. Oh, my god.

486
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,280
I was 5'4", she was 6'1".

487
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,320
I'm, like, little,
looking up at her like,

488
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,400
"Oh shit, I'm gonna get killed."

489
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,440
It's a mismatch,
but I wasn't gonna let it stop me.

490
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,280
Then, all of a sudden,
I started hearing the different,

491
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,200
you know, the changing of the minds,
the tone in their voices, you know.

492
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,760
(CROWD CHEERS)

493
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,520
Like, "Wow, I think
they enjoyed it."

494
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,360
But, all of a sudden,
she went for my stomach.

495
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,960
The reality kicked in, the baby,
and it was like, "Oh shit."

496
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,640
So, then I start covering up more.

497
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:08,200
She clocked me.

498
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,680
And it was like, "Whoa."

499
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:21,560
And then the referee's in front of
me like going like this, "Pat, Pat."

500
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:24,480
The fight was over.

501
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,080
She ended up winning,
but I didn't care, because I did it,

502
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:30,200
and I was ecstatic.

503
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:35,960
I accomplished what I wanted.
Which was?

504
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,080
Which was being the first female
licenced in California,

505
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,680
and the first fight in California.

506
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:44,480
And I became

507
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,160
California's first pro female boxer.

508
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,600
And the baby that I had nine months
later was...

509
00:31:57,960 --> 00:31:59,200
healthy as can be.

510
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,200
Tonight's fight
did make boxing history.

511
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,200
Fighter and audience agree, there is
a place for women in the ring.

512
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,400
Once Pat Pineda was licenced
in the state of California,

513
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:15,400
it was like a domino effect.

514
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,680
Other states started
issuing licences.

515
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,600
Oregon, Washington, Utah,

516
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,280
Connecticut, and the list goes on.

517
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,200
REPORTER: How much does she weigh,
commissioner?

518
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:33,880
(MEN LAUGH)

519
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,920
130 lbs. Fine, very good.

520
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,320
Sharon Oldbury
at the beauty parlour.

521
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:43,600
At the same time,
21-year-old Zenda Foster

522
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,280
was finishing her day at work.
That night, the two women met.

523
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,840
The first professional fight
between women in Washington.

524
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,360
Women are beautiful and great.
(BELL DINGS)

525
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,960
I left New York and I did a tour,

526
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:15,120
and I was the first to fight in
Canada, Pennsylvania,

527
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:16,240
Connecticut.

528
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,120
We're gonna see a film clip
of the first female boxing match

529
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:23,320
in the history of Connecticut.
Really?

530
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,920
Observers say there was
no question the fighters

531
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:27,720
were of professional calibre.

532
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,280
They said, you know,
they thought that I was crazy.

533
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:31,720
A woman wanting to box?

534
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,520
I showed them my sincerity,

535
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,760
and they saw what I could do.

536
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,360
There were other women
in smaller states

537
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,240
that were getting licences to fight,

538
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,920
so Sal and I decided to just go down
and apply for a licence

539
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:52,680
in New York.

540
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,040
We marched down
to the commissioner's office,

541
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,880
filled out an application,

542
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,560
and I gave it to the New York
Athletic Commissioner at the time,

543
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,679
and he looked me straight
in the eye

544
00:34:05,719 --> 00:34:08,960
and he tore it up in front of me

545
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:10,679
and put it in the trashcan.

546
00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:13,920
What a "fuck you" moment.

547
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,120
So you don't think they should grant
women their licence in New York?

548
00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:18,760
Definitely not. Not as fighters.

549
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,440
They wanna do it as wrestlers,
which is an exhibition, that's fine.

550
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:24,719
But as fighters,
where they can actually get hurt,

551
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:26,159
I'm very much against it.

552
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,920
Without New York on board,

553
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,400
the sport wasn't going to go
anywhere.

554
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:39,159
Women needed to be able
to have a licence in that state.

555
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,280
I wanted to be
the first to fight in New York,

556
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:46,600
but I wouldn't have that
opportunity without a licence.

557
00:34:46,639 --> 00:34:49,960
And then I got a call from a lady
by the name of Dee Knuckles,

558
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,800
who said that she would manage me
in California.

559
00:34:54,720 --> 00:34:57,600
My family was very sceptical
about it.

560
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,760
They were saying,
"You don't know this lady.

561
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,680
How do you know it's not a set-up?"

562
00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:06,800
But I took a chance.
I took a gamble.

563
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,680
I left and went to California.

564
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,160
Dee Knuckles had a gym
and I met Pat Pineda there.

565
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,200
When I first met Tyger, I thought,
"This bitch is crazy,"

566
00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:30,040
but I liked her, because I knew
her heart was in the right place

567
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:31,760
and she was the real deal.

568
00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:38,480
Dee Knuckles wanted California to be
the centre of boxing for women.

569
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,800
I was at the after-school programme
for troubled kids,

570
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,280
and Dee Knuckles came in and said,

571
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,920
"Are you girls interested
in doing any fighting?"

572
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:52,560
"Sure, I am."

573
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,840
Lydia, she was the leader
of a gang at 15.

574
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,880
She actually had a killer instinct.

575
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,240
Bottom line.
I had the power.

576
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:02,560
Bam!

577
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,160
Boxing, it sparked something in me.

578
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,560
It felt good to punch
somebody legally, like,

579
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,520
you're not gonna go to jail.

580
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:13,160
You'd have to right to do it.

581
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,400
The women are just
kind of popping up everywhere.

582
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:20,840
There was Diane Syverson,

583
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,640
Princess Redstar,
and Lavonne Ludian.

584
00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:26,080
The grandmother.

585
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,240
They asked my name and I thought,

586
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,640
"Oh boy,
will I be able to pass an EEG?"

587
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,560
Or EKG. Which is the one
that checks the heart?

588
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:36,560
But anyway, I passed it.

589
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:38,920
I just told 'em I was 29,

590
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,720
but I had to be closer to 40.

591
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:45,920
They didn't guess that
I was an old lady. (LAUGHS)

592
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:47,480
And then there was me.

593
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,880
I wanted to be a police officer,

594
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:54,080
but they said
I was one half-inch too short.

595
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:58,360
I used to do exercises every day
trying to get up to that height.

596
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,880
But, instead,
I got into women's boxing.

597
00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,960
I wanted to be part of history.

598
00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:09,720
We had the same goal in life:

599
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,040
to be taken seriously
as professional fighters

600
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:14,640
or professional athletes.

601
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,640
We saw the importance
that we needed federations

602
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,240
that would rank the women,
just like the males.

603
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:26,600
So, on the West Coast, they set up
the WBB, the Women's Boxing Board.

604
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,880
And Lady Tyger was
ranked on the top.

605
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,880
There was nobody
that could compete with her.

606
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,840
ANNOUNCER: Lady Tyger Trimiar!

607
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:39,400
Blows kisses to the audience,

608
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:41,720
and shows that
she's definitely a showman.

609
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:47,160
I sparred with her
quite a few times.

610
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,440
She was hard to hit.
She's a pro, and she's special.

611
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,440
It's because she always kept
her head down.

612
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,720
She had strategy about her.

613
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:00,760
I'm not one to brag,

614
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,720
but I have to admit
that I was pretty good.

615
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,120
Then I heard about a fighter
on the East Coast.

616
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:13,480
ANNOUNCER: I see Cat Davis
making her way into the ring.

617
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:15,160
(APPLAUSE)

618
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,640
In the East Coast, Sal had
set up another federation,

619
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,480
the WBF,
or the Women's Boxing Federation.

620
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,960
CAT DAVIES: Sal and I decided
to go around the country,

621
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,680
to these other states,
outside New York.

622
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,560
ANNOUNCER: Cathy "Cat" Davis!

623
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,800
I was winning all my fights.
(BELL DINGS)

624
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,840
The winner, by knockout,
Cathy "Cat" Davis!

625
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:56,840
So, on the East Coast, with the WBF,
we had Cat at the top.

626
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:03,720
On the West Coast, with the
WBB, Tyger was ranked at the top.

627
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:10,280
There was a rivalry there, and
Tyger, she wanted to beat her ass.

628
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:13,160
I really, really
wanted to fight Cat Davis,

629
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,440
because she was in my weight class.

630
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:17,480
But I never heard from her

631
00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,480
or any of those people
that was working with her.

632
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:23,920
Sal was involved with all
the business of it.

633
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,720
He found out who I was gonna fight.

634
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,400
So, I don't know exactly
what was going on there.

635
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:32,960
But we were focused on New York.

636
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,200
Without the New York
Athletic Commission on board,

637
00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:38,600
women's boxing was going
nowhere fast.

638
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,520
I had to get that New York licence.

639
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:50,160
So, we decided to do this
protest exhibition.

640
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,080
We'd get a lot of publicity.

641
00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:58,400
The athletic commission was livid.

642
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:00,840
(SIREN WAILS)

643
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,920
WOMAN: I think she should do what
she wants. She has her rights.

644
00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:15,440
What difference does it make?

645
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,200
If she wants to fight,
she should be able to fight.

646
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,520
They don't have any
jurisdiction over us,

647
00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:27,040
because we don't have a licence.

648
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,200
So, I don't think
they can do anything but lock us up

649
00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:32,080
for a misdemeanour, maybe
disturbing the peace or something.

650
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,880
So, they couldn't arrest HIM,
because he's a guy,

651
00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,000
and it's perfect legal for him.

652
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,520
But for me, they would have
to arrest me for being a woman.

653
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,000
Which was silly.

654
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:47,360
Why did the commission call
the police the other day

655
00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,800
and stop the exhibition?
Well, simply because it's not legal.

656
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,040
It's not legal for a woman to box.

657
00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:03,920
In California, I was really
struggling to make a living.

658
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:08,720
It's a wonder I wasn't
on the boulevard with a tin cup.

659
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,520
We couldn't make
as much money as men.

660
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:16,680
I realised that we needed
a big boxing promoter

661
00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:18,600
to get the sport going.

662
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:26,000
REPORTER: What does a boxing
promoter do? He hustles and sells.

663
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,480
He convinces the boxers to fight,
the money men

664
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,680
and television executives to invest,
and the public to watch.

665
00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:34,960
In the mid-'70s,
there were two major promoters,

666
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:36,440
and that was Don King...

667
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:38,560
Today I'm standing
in the glory of the lord,

668
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,160
again being blessed by him
who sits high and looks low.

669
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:42,520
..and Bob Arum.

670
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,920
My name is Bob Arum,
I'm the attorney for Muhammad Ali.

671
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:48,880
Both promoters
operated from New York,

672
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,120
and basically
they monopolised the sport.

673
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,240
We've taken on all
the big institutions,

674
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,880
such as Madison Square Garden, and
all the major ones across the world.

675
00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,840
Boxing is closer to showbusiness
than it is

676
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,160
to any other professional sport.

677
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,880
If the fighter is good and he has
charisma, you've got a goldmine.

678
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,400
They have to pay me
8 million that night.

679
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,320
What they pay him is their business,
but they have to pay me 8.

680
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,920
We had to think about how women
should market themselves.

681
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:21,360
We realised how important
setting our image was.

682
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,000
Boxing was a man's sport.

683
00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,680
It is aggressive. It's not pretty.

684
00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:31,520
But in the media,
women were expected to, like,

685
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,200
just be prim and proper.

686
00:42:34,240 --> 00:42:36,760
So, I made sure everywhere
I showed up,

687
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:39,080
I got make-up on,
hair done, everything.

688
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,680
Or the men would've felt threatened.

689
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:47,680
You have to ask yourself,
what are you willing to compromise

690
00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:50,200
to get where you wanna go?

691
00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:53,800
Dee Knuckles, she tried
to make me like a showgirl,

692
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:57,920
and someone tried to pick me up
because he thought I was a hooker.

693
00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,920
I didn't understand it,

694
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,080
because I didn't really
know what a hooker was.

695
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:07,280
I was innocent. (LAUGHS)
You know?

696
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,000
One fighter that didn't compromise
with anything?

697
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:15,720
Tyger.

698
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:17,400
Definitely Tyger.

699
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,840
No, I didn't shave
my head for boxing,

700
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:28,880
but now it's considered a trademark.

701
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,120
I like to be unique.
I like to be different.

702
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,560
That's one of the reasons
I have the shaved head.

703
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:39,800
People might think
that it was a masculine move,

704
00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,520
but you don't have
to have hair to be a woman.

705
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:48,120
For me, it was important
to be an individual.

706
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,880
She was ahead of her time,

707
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,320
where we were all tunnel-visioned.

708
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:03,720
There was never any doubt in my mind
who was gonna be the poster girl.

709
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:08,640
She's a 23-year-old, 5'10, 135-lbs
blonde named Cathy "Cat" Davis.

710
00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:10,720
And, of course,
the logical question is,

711
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:13,720
what's a girl like you
doing in a sport like boxing?

712
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:19,120
She was a beautiful-looking blonde.
Really easy on the eye.

713
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:22,760
She was in the magazines,
newspapers.

714
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,880
I was the first woman
on the cover of Ring Magazine.

715
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,200
It created such a controversy,

716
00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:34,960
and the people who still didn't want
us to have a licence were incensed.

717
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,480
When I saw Cat Davis on the cover
of Ring Magazine,

718
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,120
I thought, "OK...

719
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,360
how low can Ring Magazine go?"

720
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:48,760
Cat Davis set the benchmark
for how other women should

721
00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:50,760
market themselves in the sport.

722
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:55,680
Sal wanted me to be more feminine,
and he said he didn't want

723
00:44:55,720 --> 00:44:59,000
to be associated with feminists,

724
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:02,240
with those kind of women, he said,

725
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:07,000
so that it would be more acceptable

726
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,120
to a wider range of people.

727
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:10,600
How many men have you hit?

728
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:12,520
Never hit a man in my life.
You're kidding!

729
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:14,960
No. I'm not a fighter
outside of the ring.

730
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,920
Outside the ring you're a...
I'm a pussycat.

731
00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:20,960
Sal moved us into an apartment,

732
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,880
and we lived together,
just the two of us.

733
00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:30,480
The arrangement was
we were still manager and boxer.

734
00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:40,720
But he was trying to create
a... relationship

735
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:42,280
other than just boxing.

736
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:48,720
He actually put the rumours out
that we were engaged

737
00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:50,560
and going to get married.

738
00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:53,960
But it was a lie.

739
00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,360
And I would debunk that.

740
00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,440
I would say,
"No, we're not engaged."

741
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:06,000
But after a while,
everybody took it as the truth.

742
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:26,960
Well, there's always a lot
of the boxing trainers

743
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:31,160
that wanna have sex with you,
and if you didn't go with them,

744
00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:34,920
they would say that you were gay,
you know.

745
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:37,280
Dating was a little difficult.

746
00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:41,560
One day a guy was walking me home

747
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,480
and then a lady in the building said
"Tyger, when is your next fight?"

748
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:47,400
and he said,
"Fight? Oh you're a boxer"

749
00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:49,920
and I never saw him again.
(LAUGHTER)

750
00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:57,640
I really wanted to be married
and have maybe two or three kids.

751
00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:00,560
But boxing was my priority.

752
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:03,120
You know, and I had to do it
while I was young.

753
00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:06,400
That was the sacrifice
that I made to box.

754
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,560
Women should be able to participate
in all walks of life.

755
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,640
This is America and everything
should be open to everybody.

756
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,520
Tyger was a one-woman
campaigning machine.

757
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:21,600
She was like nonstop 24/7, out
for any female that wanted to box.

758
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:25,120
Most of my fight
was outside of the ring.

759
00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:26,840
Going on hunger strike.

760
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,280
Picketing, commission meetings,

761
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,200
I wrote letters, petitions,

762
00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:39,680
all of these things to promote
female fighters.

763
00:47:39,720 --> 00:47:42,200
Lady Tyger did everything

764
00:47:42,240 --> 00:47:44,760
to change the minds
about women's boxing.

765
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,840
I had my doubts
about women boxing, but hey,

766
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:52,760
it looks sensational to me.

767
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,000
I mean,
if they got the guts to do it

768
00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:57,680
and the determination,
I think they should try.

769
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:06,120
Every time Don King
came to California,

770
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:11,160
I would be right there to ask him
to promote women's boxing.

771
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:14,160
Eventually he said that he would.

772
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:17,240
Don King, he said he promises
to use women boxers, so I want

773
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:21,000
everybody to put pressure on him
because he made that promise to.

774
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:24,120
MAN: Alright!

775
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,640
Suddenly I'm hearing from Don King,

776
00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:34,120
Bob Arum, big promoters,

777
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:36,520
and they wanna put me
in Madison Square Garden,

778
00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:40,520
the biggest venue in town
which was a big deal.

779
00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:45,040
I would be making
hundreds of thousands of dollars.

780
00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:49,120
Time for a party baby! (LAUGHS)

781
00:48:57,120 --> 00:48:58,960
That's a good question.

782
00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:06,400
Finally we were on the verge
of getting legitimacy.

783
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:08,000
But the one caveat

784
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:10,480
was we had to have
a licence in New York,

785
00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:12,040
which we hadn't gotten yet.

786
00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:15,120
We needed help with the fight.

787
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:21,000
I graduated in 1974

788
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:24,080
and the first time I went to court

789
00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:27,560
the judge looked at me and said,
"When's the lawyer coming here?"

790
00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:29,720
and I said "Judge, I AM the lawyer."

791
00:49:30,720 --> 00:49:33,280
I met Cat and Sal

792
00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:34,960
and they told me

793
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:39,400
women were prohibited from getting
a licence to box in New York

794
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:42,000
and I said,
"Well that doesn't sound right."

795
00:49:43,240 --> 00:49:46,320
The New York State Athletic
Commission said that

796
00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:51,480
women's boxing would possibly
be too pornography,

797
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:56,320
seeing two women box is,
you know, everybody's fantasy.

798
00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:01,240
"This could cause irreparable
harm to the image of the sport

799
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:04,480
and ultimately add to the
financial detriment of those

800
00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:09,120
whose livelihoods depend
upon this activity." Meaning men.

801
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,720
I felt the denial
of licences to women

802
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:16,120
was a violation of the
14th Amendment of Constitution

803
00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:20,280
which prohibits discrimination
on the basis of being a woman.

804
00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:23,000
They can sue.

805
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:25,680
REPORTER: The attractive blond
boxer served papers on the

806
00:50:25,720 --> 00:50:27,680
New York State Athletic Commission
today

807
00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:29,520
requiring the Commission
to show cause

808
00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:33,080
why she's being refused a licence
to box in this state.

809
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:35,760
Beautiful, alright.

810
00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:39,840
Now, you're gonna step in under
and bring the uppercut up, right.

811
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,960
Maybe we were moving toward
getting a boxing licence,

812
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:48,280
but behind the scenes it was-
it was getting more tense.

813
00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:50,760
Alright, get ready.

814
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,600
Work. Go ahead now.

815
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,480
That's it.
Sal was putting more pressure on me

816
00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:00,600
to be his wife.
He was very insistent.

817
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:05,160
Now he would kiss me and hold me,

818
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:08,400
I realised how controlled I felt.

819
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:17,800
I needed an escape from that.

820
00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:20,920
So I enrolled in university.

821
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:28,400
I was teaching women's studies,

822
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:30,160
I walked into class,

823
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:33,680
and there, halfway back,

824
00:51:33,720 --> 00:51:36,880
was this really striking woman.

825
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:39,800
I was immediately curious about her.

826
00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:44,440
I had a woman's studies professor,

827
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:46,960
she would talk about
different things in her life

828
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:51,760
that she was doing;
rock climbing and- and travelling,

829
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,120
and I started noticing
I was envious of her.

830
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,480
Her freedom was very alluring to me.

831
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:02,840
I didn't know women boxed.

832
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:05,600
She told me about the relationship

833
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:08,640
between manager and athlete.

834
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:11,520
This sounds like pimp
and prostitute.

835
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:15,400
No wonder this woman is
uncomfortable.

836
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,840
You know, every month we would
get together and do something.

837
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:22,800
And, one afternoon,

838
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:25,240
we were hanging out...

839
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,720
and she leaned over and kissed me.

840
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:32,720
It changed my whole life.

841
00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:38,560
I knew I had been denying something.

842
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:42,360
Only half of me...

843
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:43,800
living.

844
00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:56,360
Being gay was a horrible thing.

845
00:52:56,400 --> 00:53:00,040
It was...

846
00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:04,320
I- It's hard to explain,

847
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:08,880
the gravity of what happened to you

848
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:11,400
if you came out as being gay.

849
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:16,160
It's so senseless.
You love a person,

850
00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:20,040
and you have to pay for it
in such a dire way.

851
00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:25,920
A gay is not a creation of God.

852
00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:27,840
There is hope
for the homosexuals that,

853
00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,400
if they're willing to turn from sin

854
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:34,680
they can be ex-homosexuals, the same
as there can be an ex-murderer,

855
00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:36,680
an ex-thief or ex-anybody.

856
00:53:36,720 --> 00:53:41,160
A lot of people,
male and female, are homophobic.

857
00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:44,560
And people think, "Oh,
are they this or are they that?"

858
00:53:44,600 --> 00:53:48,040
Instead of, we're just women
that are interested in boxing.

859
00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:58,640
Beverley and I, we couldn't see
each other very often,

860
00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:00,760
so we started exchanging letters.

861
00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:04,120
One day Sal found a love letter
that she had sent me.

862
00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:10,040
And he- he blew up.

863
00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:15,800
Sal said it was gonna tear
women's boxing apart.

864
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:23,320
We were doing something that upset
the roles we have in society.

865
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:28,680
If we were exposed as gay,

866
00:54:28,720 --> 00:54:32,360
it would confirm
all of the nay-sayers

867
00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:34,520
that it was just a gay thing.

868
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:40,200
Sal gave her an ultimatum;

869
00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:42,720
him or me.

870
00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:45,680
Foolish move on his part,

871
00:54:45,720 --> 00:54:49,800
cos it's pretty clear to me
what she's gonna choose here.

872
00:54:56,640 --> 00:54:58,600
It was the best thing for the sport,

873
00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:02,480
for me to be straight.

874
00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:07,360
So I decided

875
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:08,960
to break it off.

876
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:19,680
It felt like a huge disappointment.

877
00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:24,080
Dare I say, almost betrayal.

878
00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:36,400
It was such a sacrifice.

879
00:55:36,440 --> 00:55:41,720
But I had to make it to get
the licence and change history.

880
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:51,600
I was 27 and three years out of law
school, with very little experience,

881
00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:54,120
suing New York state,

882
00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:56,360
you know,
a division of New York state.

883
00:55:56,400 --> 00:55:58,440
What the hell was I thinking?

884
00:56:00,160 --> 00:56:04,320
Then, I discovered Cat's licence
was denied

885
00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:08,080
on the recommendation
of the Medical Advisory Board.

886
00:56:09,800 --> 00:56:13,440
But I subsequently learned
that the Medical Advisory Board

887
00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:15,000
had never met.

888
00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:17,240
Gotcha. (LAUGHS)

889
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:18,760
How stupid are you?

890
00:56:18,800 --> 00:56:21,440
If you're gonna do something,
at least do it right

891
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:23,560
so you don't get caught. (LAUGHS)

892
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:32,200
Then, I received a call,
and they told me that the court

893
00:56:32,240 --> 00:56:36,720
agreed that prohibiting women
from being licenced to box

894
00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:41,200
in New York state was
unconstitutional and discriminatory

895
00:56:41,240 --> 00:56:44,720
and that I could call Cat and say,

896
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:46,360
"You're getting a licence."

897
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,680
And it just- it was wonderful.
Wow, yes!

898
00:56:49,720 --> 00:56:52,520
A recent State Supreme Court
decision allowing women

899
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:54,320
the right to fight professionally.

900
00:56:56,960 --> 00:57:02,000
Things were really rolling
so I flew out to New York.

901
00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:13,240
The day finally comes.

902
00:57:13,280 --> 00:57:16,960
And I go right down
to the State Athletic Commission.

903
00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,520
Can't believe
we finally got this form.

904
00:57:23,560 --> 00:57:27,160
Fingerprints, pictures,
and they're gonna accept it all.

905
00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:37,320
They're gonna give out the boxing
licence to Jackie Tonawanda,

906
00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:39,680
Cat Davis and myself.

907
00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:42,600
We have three women
with us today

908
00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:44,720
who are among the first to apply

909
00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:47,160
for licences within this state.

910
00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:48,800
They gave us our licence,

911
00:57:48,840 --> 00:57:52,280
the little piece of paper
that we had fought so hard for.

912
00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:55,400
And we got it.

913
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:05,240
Oh my god, it was a big thing.

914
00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:07,240
The money was gonna come,

915
00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:09,120
everything was gonna come with it.

916
00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:11,880
The New York licence wasn't
just a piece of paper,

917
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:14,480
it was a symbol of achievement.

918
00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:20,040
New York was the final piece
of the puzzle.

919
00:58:21,600 --> 00:58:23,280
This was a massive deal.

920
00:58:43,440 --> 00:58:47,680
After waiting all that time
I should've been happy.

921
00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:51,680
But what they did was

922
00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:55,880
they handed Cat Davis
the licence first,

923
00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:58,400
even though Jackie and I

924
00:58:58,440 --> 00:59:02,040
were the first to apply.

925
00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:06,120
You know. Everybody knew getting
the licence first means a lot.

926
00:59:07,240 --> 00:59:11,080
Lady Tyger wasn't happy,
and she was grumbling a bit,

927
00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:16,200
because she and Jackie had been
trying for a licence before me.

928
00:59:16,240 --> 00:59:20,680
And they were a bit annoyed that
the cracker got the licence first.

929
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:24,520
I felt hurt for Tyger.

930
00:59:25,800 --> 00:59:28,840
It's like they shouldn't have
done it that way to her.

931
00:59:30,040 --> 00:59:33,360
Cat was white, the great white hope.

932
00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:35,440
And in boxing that was a big thing.

933
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:39,560
Although all three of them
got the licence,

934
00:59:39,600 --> 00:59:42,320
it was clear that it was
all about one of 'em.

935
00:59:42,360 --> 00:59:43,560
(APPLAUSE)

936
00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:46,840
Our guest's name is Cat Davis.

937
00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:48,440
(APPLAUSE)

938
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:51,240
Cat Davis was on this TV show.

939
00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:54,360
When are you gonna fight in Madison
Square Garden and could you fill it?

940
00:59:54,400 --> 00:59:57,360
Yes, definitely I could.
And that TV show.

941
00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:01,200
The financial independence
I have now is-

942
01:00:01,240 --> 01:00:03,720
is mainly through boxing,
from boxing.

943
01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:06,880
And good management.
And good management,

944
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:09,960
and good publicity, and what else
did you tell me to say?

945
01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:13,200
So now that we've got the licence,

946
01:00:13,240 --> 01:00:16,720
the deal at Madison Square Garden
was gonna come through.

947
01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:20,200
I got an offer of $150,000.

948
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:30,560
I'm a native New Yorker and I wanted
to fight at Madison Square Garden.

949
01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:33,600
And I wanted to fight Cat Davis.

950
01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:35,600
But that didn't happen.

951
01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:40,680
I never- never had an opportunity
to fight in New York.

952
01:00:45,120 --> 01:00:47,960
I got my licence,

953
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:50,240
and I was never able to use it.

954
01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:58,280
I had no other choice
but to go back to California.

955
01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:10,520
I was in really bad shape
financially.

956
01:01:10,560 --> 01:01:15,520
And a friend of mine told me
about another way of making money.

957
01:01:16,760 --> 01:01:18,760
Apartment boxing.

958
01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:20,240
Oh, my goodness.

959
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:23,160
Shit.

960
01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:35,640
It was women that
would box businessmen

961
01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:39,040
who got off on it sexually.

962
01:01:39,080 --> 01:01:41,680
That's what they wanted
to spend their money on,

963
01:01:41,720 --> 01:01:44,240
was getting their ass kicked,
they loved it.

964
01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:47,080
You don't get naked,
you don't take off your clothes,

965
01:01:47,120 --> 01:01:48,280
nothing like that.

966
01:01:52,640 --> 01:01:57,480
But some people might call it
a form of prostitution.

967
01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:03,720
It meant that I was able
to pay my rent and pay my bills

968
01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:06,880
so that I could continue
with my career.

969
01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:14,000
But, with women's boxing,
you don't know what to expect.

970
01:02:24,200 --> 01:02:27,200
A couple of weeks
after Lady Tyger and Cat Davis

971
01:02:27,240 --> 01:02:29,720
got their boxing licences,

972
01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:32,960
an article came out
in The Village Voice;

973
01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:37,120
it dropped a bomb in the sport.

974
01:02:38,200 --> 01:02:40,600
"Cat Davies is a kinky
media phenomenon,

975
01:02:40,640 --> 01:02:43,520
a product of the
Great American Hype Machine.

976
01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:47,120
Cat is a lady boxer who is white,
blonde and pretty."

977
01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:50,520
"White, pretty
and not what she appears to be.

978
01:02:50,560 --> 01:02:54,760
Her manager, Sal Algieri,
is a tank artist

979
01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:57,320
and accused of fight fixing."

980
01:03:04,520 --> 01:03:05,840
(SIGHS)

981
01:03:07,600 --> 01:03:11,560
Sal and Cat were known
for being a little underhanded,

982
01:03:12,840 --> 01:03:17,440
I'm sorry, I- I shouldn't say
bad things about people

983
01:03:17,480 --> 01:03:18,960
but...

984
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:23,240
when they offered a fight to me,
I told 'em that I was out of shape,

985
01:03:23,280 --> 01:03:26,000
that I hadn't been working out

986
01:03:26,040 --> 01:03:30,040
so I told 'em I don't think
I should do it, they said,

987
01:03:30,080 --> 01:03:35,360
"Oh don't worry about it,
it's just an exhibition".

988
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:38,080
I got in the ring with Cat Davis,

989
01:03:38,120 --> 01:03:43,400
and, boy, I'm telling you,
she came on like gang busters.

990
01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:45,320
(INDISTINCT COMMENTARY)

991
01:03:50,280 --> 01:03:53,200
My trainer says,
"They're serious about this fight,

992
01:03:53,240 --> 01:03:54,760
they're gonna beat you up".

993
01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:07,960
My trainer, he saw how defeated
I felt over the whole scenario,

994
01:04:08,000 --> 01:04:11,400
it caused me to quit
and that made me sad.

995
01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:15,920
Sal Algieri and Cat Davis,

996
01:04:15,960 --> 01:04:19,840
they just were not good
for the boxing picture.

997
01:04:22,440 --> 01:04:25,960
It was really shocking
when this article came out.

998
01:04:28,600 --> 01:04:33,440
I don't know if she knew
or had any kind of idea

999
01:04:33,480 --> 01:04:36,400
that Sal was fixing her fights.

1000
01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:39,920
I don't know.

1001
01:04:46,680 --> 01:04:49,760
I really can't remember...

1002
01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:57,080
any fights that look like
they were fake.

1003
01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:04,560
(BELL DINGS)

1004
01:05:05,440 --> 01:05:09,680
COMMENTATOR: Cat Davis, who in 16
fights has won 15 by knockouts...

1005
01:05:11,320 --> 01:05:14,320
When somebody hits the ground
with a thud,

1006
01:05:14,360 --> 01:05:16,360
that's a real knockout.

1007
01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:19,360
Nobody could say I was a fake.

1008
01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:28,400
Maybe she knew and was in on it

1009
01:05:29,880 --> 01:05:32,560
or maybe she had no idea,

1010
01:05:32,600 --> 01:05:35,240
and truly believed
she was a great fighter.

1011
01:05:44,520 --> 01:05:48,240
REPORTER: I'm standing on the
business end of a punching bag...
(LAUGHS)

1012
01:05:48,280 --> 01:05:50,640
with Women's Lightweight Boxing
Champion of the World,

1013
01:05:50,680 --> 01:05:53,800
so certified
by The Women's Boxing Federation.

1014
01:05:54,840 --> 01:05:57,680
Have you ever been hurt,
knocked out?No.

1015
01:05:57,720 --> 01:06:00,440
What happens when you do?
I don't think that'll ever happen.

1016
01:06:00,480 --> 01:06:02,240
When do you defend your title next?

1017
01:06:02,280 --> 01:06:05,440
Well, my next fight is a non-title
fight in Atlanta, Georgia.

1018
01:06:08,360 --> 01:06:11,160
Ernestine was like my daughter,

1019
01:06:11,200 --> 01:06:12,880
she was such a sweetheart

1020
01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:16,000
and she'd come down to the gym
and sit there and watch the guys

1021
01:06:16,040 --> 01:06:18,720
and I started teaching her
how to box a little bit,

1022
01:06:18,760 --> 01:06:21,560
she just wanted to stay in it
and wanted to be a boxer.

1023
01:06:21,600 --> 01:06:25,680
So I took her to Georgia,
and she met Cat Davis.

1024
01:06:25,720 --> 01:06:28,760
I heard that Sal
talked with Ernestine's manager

1025
01:06:28,800 --> 01:06:32,680
before the fight and said,
"Your girl got to lose,

1026
01:06:34,560 --> 01:06:38,840
she has got to lose because
a black girl has no market value".

1027
01:06:40,120 --> 01:06:43,400
I thought that was just,
that was just mean but it's-

1028
01:06:43,440 --> 01:06:47,120
it's reality here. It's reality.

1029
01:06:51,320 --> 01:06:54,600
Sal Algieri's under the impression
that Ernestine Jones

1030
01:06:54,640 --> 01:06:56,320
was gonna get beat up,

1031
01:06:57,360 --> 01:07:01,240
but they didn't know that
Ernestine wasn't coming out there

1032
01:07:01,280 --> 01:07:02,440
to play around.

1033
01:07:02,480 --> 01:07:04,520
(CHEERING) (SHUTTER CLICKS)

1034
01:07:08,240 --> 01:07:10,680
We start boxing,
everything is going alright,

1035
01:07:11,800 --> 01:07:14,360
and I kept that left jab out.

1036
01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:18,440
Everybody was all around, they were
waiting for Cathy to lower the boom.

1037
01:07:18,480 --> 01:07:21,680
The jab is something that everybody
think that nobody can get away from.

1038
01:07:21,720 --> 01:07:24,800
Ernestine threw a right hand
over the top of it,

1039
01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:29,560
and she just stifled up like a board
and fell down, flat out,

1040
01:07:29,600 --> 01:07:31,840
just lay there
like a canoe or something,

1041
01:07:31,880 --> 01:07:33,600
it looked like she was
gonna float away.

1042
01:07:33,640 --> 01:07:35,360
I thought it was over with.

1043
01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:38,200
It was the first time
I got knocked out.

1044
01:07:38,240 --> 01:07:42,080
The referee's counting,
I went to the corner,

1045
01:07:42,120 --> 01:07:45,440
and I told Sal,
"I can't feel my feet".

1046
01:07:47,120 --> 01:07:51,400
They stood Cathy up and Ernestine
threw the same smart punch

1047
01:07:53,480 --> 01:07:56,280
and Cathy, she was laid out,

1048
01:07:57,200 --> 01:07:58,760
looked dead.

1049
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:04,000
Algieri came up there and told me
to get out the ring,

1050
01:08:04,040 --> 01:08:07,720
I don't know what for,
but she hurt bad,

1051
01:08:07,760 --> 01:08:10,800
and they put the ammonium nitrate
underneath her nose,

1052
01:08:11,760 --> 01:08:13,840
that wakes people up
if they get knocked out.

1053
01:08:15,640 --> 01:08:18,200
I must've been in
and out of consciousness.

1054
01:08:18,240 --> 01:08:19,560
(RINGING)

1055
01:08:21,439 --> 01:08:23,560
They started the fight back up

1056
01:08:23,600 --> 01:08:26,720
and this time Cathy
didn't even throw a punch.

1057
01:08:30,479 --> 01:08:32,439
She's laying there a third time,
I said,

1058
01:08:32,479 --> 01:08:34,040
"That's it, the fight's over."

1059
01:08:34,080 --> 01:08:36,399
I said, "This girl is gonna have
brain damage,

1060
01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:39,359
you can't knock a person out
three times in one night".

1061
01:08:42,960 --> 01:08:44,520
Yeah, she was out cold.

1062
01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:48,439
They carried her out,
took her to a hospital.

1063
01:08:49,520 --> 01:08:51,800
Ernestine had a purpose,

1064
01:08:51,840 --> 01:08:53,960
and it wasn't to make the money,

1065
01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:57,760
it was knock the air out
of Sal Algieri's dream

1066
01:08:59,240 --> 01:09:00,680
and that's what happened.

1067
01:09:02,000 --> 01:09:04,760
But Sal called it a no contest,

1068
01:09:07,680 --> 01:09:09,479
there was nothing we could do.

1069
01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:16,200
Well, I kind of struggle with memory

1070
01:09:16,240 --> 01:09:18,720
because my brain
isn't quite together,

1071
01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:21,800
I had a stroke seven years ago

1072
01:09:21,840 --> 01:09:26,080
but I'm not stupid,
I can still carry on. (CHUCKLES)

1073
01:09:26,120 --> 01:09:29,680
it's just that I can't...
you know, there are blank spaces.

1074
01:09:31,279 --> 01:09:36,279
The article on this fight
was devastating for Cat

1075
01:09:36,319 --> 01:09:40,359
and for the sport of women's boxing.

1076
01:09:40,399 --> 01:09:45,720
This boxer was supposed to be the
great white hope of women's boxing,

1077
01:09:47,080 --> 01:09:52,920
but... you know, all the...
the potential deals dried up.

1078
01:09:54,880 --> 01:09:58,920
The corruption didn't just end
there, it was also in California.

1079
01:10:00,920 --> 01:10:05,280
In the boxing world there were those
that took it really seriously

1080
01:10:05,320 --> 01:10:09,560
and there was those that just did it
for the money, you know?

1081
01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:12,920
Dee Knuckles scheduled for me
the fight with Cora Webber,

1082
01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:16,320
I had to be on my Ps and Qs
with her ass because

1083
01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:18,720
that white girl was tough,
believe me.

1084
01:10:18,760 --> 01:10:21,040
But before the fight
Dee Knuckles says,

1085
01:10:21,080 --> 01:10:23,320
"You don't have to do
anything but drop."

1086
01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:27,320
I didn't even understand
what the word drop meant

1087
01:10:27,360 --> 01:10:30,920
until I finally realised that means
for me to hit the canvas.

1088
01:10:32,640 --> 01:10:35,640
You know, and Dee Knuckles
is sitting there, she goes,

1089
01:10:35,680 --> 01:10:38,440
"It's just, all you gotta do
is just drop, Lydia,

1090
01:10:38,480 --> 01:10:40,760
we'll pay you a little extra."

1091
01:10:45,160 --> 01:10:48,040
Cora Webber!(CHEERING)

1092
01:10:51,160 --> 01:10:53,760
Very hard for me to understand
why would they do something

1093
01:10:53,800 --> 01:10:57,440
like that to me when I put all my
heart and soul into what I'm doing?

1094
01:10:57,480 --> 01:11:00,200
You know, they wanted
to build up a white girl.

1095
01:11:02,880 --> 01:11:07,040
I don't think Cora Webber,
I don't think she knew,

1096
01:11:07,080 --> 01:11:09,920
but Dee Knuckles,
I was pissed off at that bitch.

1097
01:11:09,960 --> 01:11:12,280
Pfft. I said, "I'm not dropping".

1098
01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:22,680
And boy, did I fuckin' go nuts.

1099
01:11:32,400 --> 01:11:34,120
I'm not dropping, I'm not dropping.

1100
01:11:37,920 --> 01:11:38,920
(BELL DINGS)

1101
01:11:40,880 --> 01:11:42,400
And we had a draw.

1102
01:11:42,440 --> 01:11:44,320
A draw! (APPLAUSE)

1103
01:11:47,200 --> 01:11:50,800
I didn't know the business
was so crooked like that, pfft,

1104
01:11:50,840 --> 01:11:54,560
it's not gonna get anywhere
because if women are doing that

1105
01:11:54,600 --> 01:11:57,520
let it be and I'm out,
you know I'm out of it so...

1106
01:12:02,000 --> 01:12:05,960
At my first fight, I thought
maybe I could trust Dee,

1107
01:12:07,440 --> 01:12:11,240
but I later found out that she had
bet against me at the fight.

1108
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:18,680
She did, bitch, she did,
she bet against me

1109
01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:22,640
cos she knew I was pregnant,

1110
01:12:22,680 --> 01:12:25,240
and she knew that
I wasn't gonna win

1111
01:12:25,280 --> 01:12:29,480
and she did get a new car
and so it, it pissed me off so bad

1112
01:12:29,520 --> 01:12:33,120
when I turned around and I just
said, "You know what? Fuck you Dee".

1113
01:12:33,160 --> 01:12:35,320
After that I was done.

1114
01:12:35,360 --> 01:12:37,400
If Dee was here today,

1115
01:12:37,440 --> 01:12:39,840
shit, I'd call her on everything,
I said,

1116
01:12:39,880 --> 01:12:43,160
"You know you fucked up, you know
you screwed us all."

1117
01:12:44,320 --> 01:12:46,440
But I would also tell her thank you

1118
01:12:46,480 --> 01:12:48,440
because I wouldn't be Pat Pineda,

1119
01:12:48,480 --> 01:12:50,960
California's first
pro female fighter,

1120
01:12:51,000 --> 01:12:53,160
if it wasn't for Dee Knuckles.

1121
01:13:04,600 --> 01:13:09,520
We were trying to build up the sport
and the phony fights and all,

1122
01:13:09,560 --> 01:13:14,120
all, all the things
was letting us down,

1123
01:13:14,160 --> 01:13:16,120
but I couldn't let that bother me.

1124
01:13:17,560 --> 01:13:22,640
Then someone put on
an all-female fight card,

1125
01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:27,600
that's the first time
that happened anywhere.

1126
01:13:29,320 --> 01:13:31,680
All females fighting.

1127
01:13:35,480 --> 01:13:37,920
I was honoured to be amongst

1128
01:13:37,960 --> 01:13:41,840
female boxing greats,
and making history.

1129
01:13:49,240 --> 01:13:52,440
And I was crowned World Champion.

1130
01:13:57,880 --> 01:14:01,880
But I don't even have
a trophy to prove it.

1131
01:14:03,720 --> 01:14:06,760
Once you work hard enough to get
to the top of your profession,

1132
01:14:06,800 --> 01:14:10,160
the top of your sport, that you win
a certain kind of respect, Tyger won

1133
01:14:10,200 --> 01:14:13,960
the World Lightweight Championship
for women, how much did you make?

1134
01:14:14,000 --> 01:14:16,280
Err, about $1,500,

1135
01:14:16,320 --> 01:14:19,160
you see it's so embarrassing
that I, I really don't like to,

1136
01:14:19,200 --> 01:14:22,120
you know, mention it when Hadler's
making 3 million

1137
01:14:22,160 --> 01:14:25,160
and it's just a shame that
Miss Piggy gets more publicity

1138
01:14:25,200 --> 01:14:27,480
than we do, you know? Really.
(AUDIENCE LAUGH)

1139
01:14:27,520 --> 01:14:29,040
(APPLAUSE)
We'll be right back.

1140
01:14:29,080 --> 01:14:32,200
And around this time
I'm getting a little older,

1141
01:14:32,240 --> 01:14:36,000
I would like to have a nice husband.
(CHUCKLES)

1142
01:14:37,640 --> 01:14:39,640
So there was a guy

1143
01:14:41,040 --> 01:14:44,960
that would come to the gym,
he'd keep himself in shape

1144
01:14:45,000 --> 01:14:49,280
and he was part of a motorcycle gang
called The Chosen Few.

1145
01:14:51,160 --> 01:14:54,600
they wore leather and
they kind of were rough necks,

1146
01:14:54,640 --> 01:14:56,840
but I enjoyed them.

1147
01:14:56,880 --> 01:15:01,240
I rode on the back of the bike, and
it was a, it was a whole lot of fun.

1148
01:15:02,360 --> 01:15:04,680
It was really a cool relationship.

1149
01:15:06,000 --> 01:15:08,280
One day we drove to Las Vegas.

1150
01:15:09,560 --> 01:15:11,200
(ENGINE REVS)

1151
01:15:16,480 --> 01:15:20,000
In Vegas they have
a lot of chapels there,

1152
01:15:21,480 --> 01:15:24,800
this marriage chapel,
that marriage chapel,

1153
01:15:24,840 --> 01:15:27,080
and we got married just like that.

1154
01:15:31,240 --> 01:15:34,280
Sal wanted me to continue to box

1155
01:15:34,320 --> 01:15:37,680
but I was denying this part of me
that had been...

1156
01:15:39,600 --> 01:15:41,880
repressed for so many years

1157
01:15:43,360 --> 01:15:46,640
and I had to,

1158
01:15:46,680 --> 01:15:50,600
had to start living an authentic
life or I was just gonna,

1159
01:15:50,640 --> 01:15:53,560
I was done with living,

1160
01:15:54,800 --> 01:15:59,120
it was, it was my, it was my time.

1161
01:15:59,160 --> 01:16:01,280
So I packed up at night

1162
01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:05,320
so Sal wouldn't know anything
about it and headed west.

1163
01:16:13,200 --> 01:16:17,480
I drove three nights to get
across country to California

1164
01:16:23,520 --> 01:16:27,080
and I met Beverly
on my birthday

1165
01:16:28,120 --> 01:16:29,360
in Yosemite.

1166
01:16:31,240 --> 01:16:34,240
Oh, it was such an incredible
feeling of freedom.

1167
01:16:39,560 --> 01:16:41,480
Finally I could be me.

1168
01:16:54,880 --> 01:16:58,440
After I got married, it got
a little bit more complicated,

1169
01:16:59,440 --> 01:17:02,040
he thought that he owned me,

1170
01:17:02,080 --> 01:17:05,200
it became a disaster,
he started being abusive.

1171
01:17:07,480 --> 01:17:09,920
One day I was at my apartment,

1172
01:17:10,920 --> 01:17:14,920
I got out of the shower,
had a bath robe on,

1173
01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:16,920
and he said, "You're coming with me"

1174
01:17:16,960 --> 01:17:19,400
and I said, "No, I'm not going"

1175
01:17:19,440 --> 01:17:22,320
and he was pulling me,
and he had a pistol,

1176
01:17:23,560 --> 01:17:27,680
he hit me in the stomach
and everywhere,

1177
01:17:27,720 --> 01:17:29,120
it was pretty bad.

1178
01:17:29,880 --> 01:17:32,240
(ANNOUNCER TALKS INDISTINCTLY)

1179
01:17:36,440 --> 01:17:39,960
Everybody expects Tyger
to be a Tyger,

1180
01:17:41,360 --> 01:17:43,080
you know...

1181
01:17:44,440 --> 01:17:47,720
being strong in most situations,

1182
01:17:47,760 --> 01:17:52,680
it's very difficult to- to uphold
that, you know that type of thing.

1183
01:17:58,280 --> 01:18:02,760
So I went to the hospital, they
said, "You know, you're pregnant,

1184
01:18:02,800 --> 01:18:06,760
you know, you're- you're pregnant"
and I was like, "Wow".

1185
01:18:10,840 --> 01:18:14,440
If I had stayed there in California,

1186
01:18:14,480 --> 01:18:19,560
I knew I would've either killed him

1187
01:18:19,600 --> 01:18:21,960
or he would've killed me,

1188
01:18:22,000 --> 01:18:26,400
it was, it was no, nothing else,
no ands, ifs or buts

1189
01:18:26,440 --> 01:18:28,640
so I had to get out.

1190
01:18:37,360 --> 01:18:42,520
I decided to leave California
permanently

1191
01:18:42,560 --> 01:18:46,120
which also meant
that was the end of my boxing career

1192
01:18:48,200 --> 01:18:51,440
and I had to start a life
all over with my son.

1193
01:18:59,680 --> 01:19:04,280
I thought that through boxing
I would be able to buy a house

1194
01:19:04,320 --> 01:19:08,760
for my family and get out of the
ghetto,

1195
01:19:08,800 --> 01:19:12,000
but it didn't work for me.

1196
01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:16,840
I'm ready to leave, let me put
everything in place for you.Mm-mm.

1197
01:19:16,880 --> 01:19:19,200
Let me put this. A-ha. Oh yeah.

1198
01:19:20,680 --> 01:19:22,000
Get out this.

1199
01:19:23,320 --> 01:19:24,800
(UNCLEAR)

1200
01:19:24,840 --> 01:19:26,200
My eyedrops.

1201
01:19:26,240 --> 01:19:29,480
I put the eyedrops on the afternoon,
remember?

1202
01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:30,920
Don't worry for this.

1203
01:19:32,000 --> 01:19:37,200
Yeah. OK. So (KISSES).OK.

1204
01:19:37,240 --> 01:19:39,720
OK, thank you so much, Carmen!

1205
01:19:39,760 --> 01:19:41,920
See you tomorrow, Big Mama.
OK.

1206
01:19:45,120 --> 01:19:46,360
Goodnight.

1207
01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:49,920
Have a good night!
Goodnight.

1208
01:19:49,960 --> 01:19:51,400
I'm gonna lock the door.

1209
01:19:53,640 --> 01:19:54,640
(DOOR CLOSES)

1210
01:20:32,640 --> 01:20:33,840
Cat!

1211
01:20:35,520 --> 01:20:37,960
How you doing, Cat?
Is this the Tyger?

1212
01:20:38,000 --> 01:20:39,600
Yes!
Oh my god!

1213
01:20:39,640 --> 01:20:41,880
(LAUGHS)
Here! Give me a hug.

1214
01:20:41,920 --> 01:20:44,160
I want a hug! I want a hug.Oh!

1215
01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:46,560
Oh you're in a wheelchair too?
I'm in a chair.

1216
01:20:46,600 --> 01:20:49,240
Oh gosh I, I walk like I should be.

1217
01:20:49,280 --> 01:20:52,560
Mwah.How are you, sweetheart?
Oh how are you, how are you?

1218
01:20:52,600 --> 01:20:54,640
We looking pretty good
for old girls!

1219
01:20:54,680 --> 01:20:56,840
Oh my god, we are old, aren't we?
Yeah, yeah.

1220
01:20:56,880 --> 01:20:58,640
I want you to have a seat.

1221
01:20:58,680 --> 01:21:00,400
Wow.

1222
01:21:02,600 --> 01:21:03,600
Oh...

1223
01:21:04,920 --> 01:21:06,840
When you think about those days,

1224
01:21:06,880 --> 01:21:10,120
I still can't believe how badly
we were hated and how much

1225
01:21:10,160 --> 01:21:13,760
we were- how badly we were treated.
Oh. Yeah, yeah.

1226
01:21:13,800 --> 01:21:15,880
It's so mixed up in my mind.
Mm-mm.

1227
01:21:15,920 --> 01:21:19,800
What happened.
Yeah, so, why did Sal, you know,

1228
01:21:19,840 --> 01:21:22,920
did you know that Sal was doing
all this crooked stuff?

1229
01:21:22,960 --> 01:21:25,280
No clue.Wow.
I, I was-

1230
01:21:25,320 --> 01:21:28,640
You were innocent in all this?
I was just this golden girl.

1231
01:21:28,680 --> 01:21:29,880
Right, right.

1232
01:21:29,920 --> 01:21:34,480
And I think that was the whole
pitch that he put forward

1233
01:21:34,520 --> 01:21:37,840
and I just, I didn't like it
because it was a lie.

1234
01:21:37,880 --> 01:21:39,000
Exactly.

1235
01:21:39,040 --> 01:21:41,920
And he wasn't a bad man.

1236
01:21:41,960 --> 01:21:46,160
He was just a hustler
so that was what he was.

1237
01:21:46,200 --> 01:21:47,920
Was he your boyfriend or what?
No-

1238
01:21:47,960 --> 01:21:50,000
But he was-
He wanted to be my boyfriend.

1239
01:21:50,040 --> 01:21:52,240
And he wanted to be married-
Get out of here!

1240
01:21:52,280 --> 01:21:55,760
Yeah! (LAUGHS) But also,
I was trying to figure out

1241
01:21:55,800 --> 01:21:59,120
who I was sexually,
I ended up being gay.

1242
01:21:59,160 --> 01:22:00,320
Wow.

1243
01:22:00,360 --> 01:22:03,840
But that was a big turmoil for me,
yeah, I was...

1244
01:22:03,880 --> 01:22:06,320
Yeah, it must've been hard being gay

1245
01:22:06,360 --> 01:22:10,040
and not being able to express
that part of your life.

1246
01:22:10,080 --> 01:22:13,760
Well, it was but at that point I
wasn't even admitting it to myself.

1247
01:22:13,800 --> 01:22:16,040
Wow, but let me ask you something,

1248
01:22:16,080 --> 01:22:19,440
I wanna know, OK, when,
when we were all licenced

1249
01:22:19,480 --> 01:22:21,840
you were given your licence first.
Mm-mm.

1250
01:22:21,880 --> 01:22:24,360
Did you think it was fair,
I would like to know-

1251
01:22:24,400 --> 01:22:27,280
I didn't actually know this,
I, I wasn't that in tune,

1252
01:22:27,320 --> 01:22:29,680
I wasn't that...

1253
01:22:29,720 --> 01:22:32,240
politicised at that time...

1254
01:22:32,280 --> 01:22:34,920
But it didn't dawn on you
that you were getting

1255
01:22:34,960 --> 01:22:36,480
a lot of publicity then?

1256
01:22:36,520 --> 01:22:39,000
Oh yeah, that dawned on me
because it was obvious.

1257
01:22:39,040 --> 01:22:41,280
Mm-mm, yeah it was obvious.
That was obvious.

1258
01:22:41,320 --> 01:22:45,160
I heard a lot, then it was
because it was so unfair-

1259
01:22:45,200 --> 01:22:46,480
And it was so unjust.

1260
01:22:46,520 --> 01:22:50,880
OK.I'm so sorry we didn't get
a chance to get to know each other.

1261
01:22:52,240 --> 01:22:56,640
You were my adversary, you know
Sal made you out to be,

1262
01:22:56,680 --> 01:23:01,280
you know, this person I didn't
wanna have any contact with...

1263
01:23:01,320 --> 01:23:04,200
Wow...so, he wouldn't let me
interact with you,

1264
01:23:04,240 --> 01:23:06,840
or any of the other gals.
That's not nice.

1265
01:23:06,880 --> 01:23:09,120
I didn't, I didn't know any of them.
OK.

1266
01:23:10,760 --> 01:23:12,560
I think we would have
been great friends.

1267
01:23:12,600 --> 01:23:14,680
I think so too.Yeah.

1268
01:23:14,720 --> 01:23:18,600
Look who's coming,
that looks like Pat, Pat Pineda!

1269
01:23:18,640 --> 01:23:22,400
Oh my god, Tyger!
No, hug honey, hug.

1270
01:23:22,440 --> 01:23:26,240
I wanna hug. Oh my god.
Oh, she is wonderful to hug.

1271
01:23:26,280 --> 01:23:28,840
How are you? You look skinny,
how d'you do that?

1272
01:23:28,880 --> 01:23:30,680
You don't wanna know.
(LAUGHS)

1273
01:23:30,720 --> 01:23:34,040
Cat.
Cat, oh my God, nice to meet you.

1274
01:23:34,080 --> 01:23:36,800
Oh yeah, I don't think
I've ever met you, have I?

1275
01:23:36,840 --> 01:23:38,320
No, you've never met me.
Oh gosh...

1276
01:23:38,360 --> 01:23:42,400
Oh my god.No!
(LAUGHS)

1277
01:23:42,440 --> 01:23:45,400
Sue, Sue Fox.
How you doing, Sue?

1278
01:23:45,440 --> 01:23:47,720
Wait a minute,
I don't think I've ever met you,

1279
01:23:47,760 --> 01:23:50,920
but I've talked to you on the phone,
haven't I?Yes, you have.

1280
01:23:50,960 --> 01:23:55,000
Oh, my God, it's awesome.
And me and Sue go way back.

1281
01:23:55,040 --> 01:23:59,280
How are you?I'm so angry
we never became friends.

1282
01:24:00,800 --> 01:24:04,600
You know, I know we've maybe had
horror stories and everything.

1283
01:24:04,640 --> 01:24:07,600
I know I've had my share.
And it was hard.

1284
01:24:07,640 --> 01:24:10,880
The suffering was unbearable,
I mean, come on, I had two kids,

1285
01:24:10,920 --> 01:24:14,400
I was getting out of the marriage.
You had it tough.

1286
01:24:14,440 --> 01:24:17,240
Trying to get babysitters,
trying to get to the gym.

1287
01:24:17,280 --> 01:24:20,920
You know, it took me years
to understand what we had done.

1288
01:24:20,960 --> 01:24:22,920
I, I didn't realise it at the time.

1289
01:24:22,960 --> 01:24:25,480
I just thought
we were something everybody hated.

1290
01:24:25,520 --> 01:24:29,480
(LAUGHTER)
Well, we didn't get accepted.

1291
01:24:29,520 --> 01:24:33,200
We need this documented.
This is our story.

1292
01:24:34,720 --> 01:24:37,120
When I look back at the sport,

1293
01:24:37,160 --> 01:24:41,080
we were not erased from the record
books because of controversy

1294
01:24:41,120 --> 01:24:42,560
or corruption,

1295
01:24:42,600 --> 01:24:45,520
or because no-one cares
about women's boxing.

1296
01:24:46,480 --> 01:24:48,280
We were written out of history

1297
01:24:48,320 --> 01:24:51,960
because it's men who have always
written the history of boxing

1298
01:24:53,120 --> 01:24:56,720
and they didn't think our story
was worth telling.

1299
01:24:56,760 --> 01:24:59,680
Well, we're determined
to set the record straight.

1300
01:25:01,080 --> 01:25:04,600
They can't take that away from us.
Yeah.And we were erased.

1301
01:25:04,640 --> 01:25:08,600
We're not erased now.
This is why I'm getting emotional.

1302
01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:14,640
I'm gonna start crying, I'm so happy
to be with all you guys.Exactly!

1303
01:25:14,680 --> 01:25:21,160
It's wonderful.It is healing,
it's, um, it's amazing.

1304
01:25:21,200 --> 01:25:24,160
We're all here.
Let's make a circle of power.

1305
01:25:24,200 --> 01:25:29,360
You better believe it, and I love
all you guys; I really do.

1306
01:25:29,400 --> 01:25:33,240
Nobody can take what we did,
in history, away.

1307
01:25:33,280 --> 01:25:35,440
We're free again.

1308
01:25:35,480 --> 01:25:38,680
We're actually free at last.
At last.Yeah.

1309
01:25:45,840 --> 01:25:50,480
While none of us made millions or
fought at Madison Square Garden,

1310
01:25:50,520 --> 01:25:54,800
we were the spark that started a
fire, that's burning brightly today.

1311
01:25:56,440 --> 01:25:58,040
(CHEERING)

1312
01:27:19,800 --> 01:27:21,160
(APPLAUSE) (CHEERING)

1313
01:27:21,200 --> 01:27:22,360
Lady Tyger!

1314
01:27:24,160 --> 01:27:28,400
In September 1978, she was one
of the first women granted licences,

1315
01:27:28,440 --> 01:27:31,600
tireless advocate for women
in the sport,

1316
01:27:31,640 --> 01:27:34,360
Marian "Lady Tyger" Trimiar.

1317
01:27:34,400 --> 01:27:37,640
I love you, love you, love you.

1318
01:27:37,680 --> 01:27:41,440
It was always Lady Tyger's goal
to have a belt.

1319
01:27:41,480 --> 01:27:43,400
She was a trailblazer.

1320
01:27:43,440 --> 01:27:46,080
Lady Tyger now has a belt.

1321
01:27:46,120 --> 01:27:49,040
Oh, thank you! Thank you!

1322
01:27:49,080 --> 01:27:51,880
Thank you! Oh!

1323
01:27:51,920 --> 01:27:54,240
Oh!

1324
01:27:54,280 --> 01:27:59,240
Oh, thank you!

1325
01:28:00,160 --> 01:28:03,040
Thank you all!

1326
01:28:03,080 --> 01:28:06,440
Bless you all!

1327
01:28:06,480 --> 01:28:09,600
Thank you! Oh!

1328
01:28:09,640 --> 01:28:11,600
Oh, my God.

1329
01:28:11,640 --> 01:28:14,840
Oh, thank you!

1330
01:28:14,880 --> 01:28:16,480
(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)

1331
01:28:22,640 --> 01:28:24,480
(SHUTTER CLICKS)

1332
01:28:39,120 --> 01:28:42,120
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