Right to Fight (2023)

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Right to Fight (2023)

Post by bunniefuu »

I had a long,

very fast left jab.

Not so fast these days.

Throw the left hand,

and then come-

because they're looking at this one,

and then I would hit them

with this one.

They said

I had dynamite in both hands.

(CROWD CHEERS)

It never occurred to me

that I was doing something

so outrageous.

(SIREN WAILS)

We were challenging the norm,

and that was frightening people.

MAN: A woman is not made

to be a fighter.

It should not be tolerated.

Nobody in the whole United States

wanted women in the ring, period.

ALI: Fighters are made

to the punched.

Women ain't made to be

hit in the breast.

It was unbelievable. They had

rules to stop women from boxing.

A woman could never be a boxer,

just by the fact that a woman's role

is of being a subordinate.

LYDIA: What the f*ck, man?

I'm gonna kick some ass, you know,

I wanna f*ck somebody up.

Bam, bam, bam!

All the rage, the hate,

the (ROARS)

you guys are not gonna stop me.

This is something I want.

But nobody ever told the story.

The history of women's boxing

is an amazing story,

but it has been totally erased.

After I left the sport,

I went on the Internet, thinking,

"Well, there's gotta be a lot

of things about the pioneer

female boxers," and to my dismay,

there's virtually nothing.

We disappeared.

There was Cat Davis,

Lavonne Ludian, Pat Pineda,

Lady Tyger.

Women are wonderful and great.

Lady Tyger, champion of the world.

Where are these fighters now?

What happened to them?

And why have they been

erased from history?

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

CAT: Well,

it all started with fencing.

When I saw the '72 Olympics,

I got so inspired.

I decided to be a fencer.

I wanted to be up there

winning an Olympic medal

because I was the best.

So, I signed up to a fencing club

at Louisiana University.

I turned out to be very gifted

at it.

My trainer, he said,

"You need to move to New York

to study with Csaba Elthes."

He was the best coach in the world

at the time.

But I knew my mom wouldn't approve.

My dad d*ed before I was born,

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

when my mother and I interacted,

it was a lot about

the old south stuff.

She wanted me to stay a little doll.

I just couldn't do the girl thing.

I just wasn't-

I wasn't cut out for it.

My fencing was a big disappointment

to her, I think.

But I thought, you know, "f*ck it."

I packed up, headed to New York

on a bus,

with 100 bucks in my pocket.

I was pumped.

I was very excited to meet Csaba.

I was gonna meet the pope.

Csaba came in, and I asked him

if he would teach me sabre.

And he said to me,

in a very stern voice,

"Young lady,

I don't teach women

or cripples sabre."

And he actually hit me across my leg

with his w*apon,

and drew blood.

Sliced me up. I was heart-broken.

It was just because I was a woman.

(WOMEN CHANTING)

Well, by 1972,

the women's movement had made

some progress in the courts.

We will make real the promise

of equality for all.

(CHEERING)

But in the real world, we were still

treated as second-class citizens.

Don't get me wrong,

I'm totally in favour of women.

I mean, I think every man

should own one.(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

There have been 73 astronauts

in our space programme,

but never any woman.

A real woman don't wanna

be equal to a man,

a real man don't want no woman

being his equal.

And if she don't like it,

put her out, find another one.

I went back to my apartment,

I only had a few dollars left,

but I said to myself,

"I am not going back home.

I have to make it work here."

So, I got some newspapers

and I started looking for a job,

and I was going through and circling

the ones I was interested in,

and then I came upon this one

that says,

'Wanted: woman boxers'.

It sounded like assembly line,

boxing up things.

I said, "Ah, that sounds

like something I can do."

This guy answered the phone.

MAN: We need somebody real bad.

His name was Sal.

You're not a fighter, are you?

It turned out it wasn't boxing

goods, it was the sport of boxing.

I never heard of women boxing.

I was a little bit taken aback,

you know, this naive southern girl.

He was a larger-than-life

Italian-American boxing trainer.

So, we arranged to meet.

When I first saw you

walking out the door,

that I thought you were gonna be

some kind of an animal.

She opens the door, here comes

this good-looking blonde,

and I say, "Oh hell, man,

this is our girl."(LAUGHTER)

I thought he was really dumb,

because he just sat there

with his mouth open and

he wouldn't say anything.

And I started to say, "Did I-

Did I say something wrong?"

Finally he shut his mouth, says,

"Get in. We're going back

to the gym."

The first thing he wanted me

to do was hit the bag.

It felt pretty good.

I mean, it works just like fencing.

To be a good fencer, you have

to have the head of a chess player,

the arms of an orangutan,

and the footwork of a ballet artist.

So, I had the arms of an orangutan.

(LAUGHS)

Sal said he was gonna make

woman's boxing the next big thing.

He got the idea form a woman

named Lady Tyger,

after seeing her in the gym

and training.

I was born in New York, Harlem.

Growing up in the projects

wasn't all bad.

We played jump rope,

we played double Dutch.

Used to get into little

street fights, little scraps.

When I fought, I would scratch,

and they called it tiger marks,

so I got the name "Tiger".

My father was an alcoholic.

He sometimes would get drunk

and he would lie down in the lobby

of the building.

People would actually rob him

of the money for our rent,

food, and everything,

and it was all gone.

I loved my father, but that made it

a little difficult for me.

One day, I came home and I saw

my father watching Muhammad Ali.

He was going through the motions,

as if he was in the ring.

I looked at my father

and his enthusiasm,

and I felt that energy myself.

We would actually shadowbox

together in the apartment.

I said, "You know what?

I think this is something

that I wanna do."

And when I told my father

that I was interested in boxing,

he didn't say,

"Oh no, that's not for girls."

No, he didn't have

that attitude at all.

So, I went looking

for somewhere to train.

I went from gym to gym,

but they would laugh at me and say,

"This is not a sport for women."

No-one would take me in.

Women's boxing

in the early '70s was...

It really was more or less

non-existent.

When I started reading

boxing magazines,

along with the Charles Atlas ads

to get bigger muscles,

were ads for apartment boxing,

and they were selling

these eight-millimetre films

of women boxing,

sometimes topless,

and that was the extent

of women boxing

in the '60s and early '70s.

I was determined to be a boxer,

so I made business cards.

On the card it said

I was the first female boxer.

Eventually, a trainer accepted me,

and he brought me into his gym.

It was old-fashioned.

They initiated me

with b*ating me up.

Busted lip, a black eye,

bloody nose.

They were like trophies to me.

The first time I saw

Lady Tyger in the gym, I thought,

"That's odd, I hope she has

her own dressing room."

There was no bathroom for women.

They had to tell

the fellas to get out.

I started to take a shower there.

Then I noticed that they had

a peephole.

Oh my goodness.

But I kept coming back.

I started getting better and better.

I eventually earned their respect.

But one day,

someone at the gym told me,

"The State Athletic Commission

has a rule.

No woman can be

licenced as a boxer."

So, legally I can't box.

I said, "What?"

I said, "What are you talking about?

And what the hell is

a boxing commission?"

100- no. 189...

188 lbs. 188 lbs.

The purpose of a boxing commission

is to supervise the sport.

A boxer has to be licenced

by the State Athletic Commission.

The manager has to be licenced.

Even the announcer.

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,

I have an announcement here.

A boxing licence

represents everything,

because without a licence,

you can't box professionally.

You wouldn't get paid,

so you can't make money.

In those days,

the most powerful boxing commission

was New York State.

It was home

to Madison Square Garden,

the most famous arena in the world.

It had more famous boxers

than any other state,

so it was logical that

the headquarters for boxing

should be New York City.

Because New York was the leader,

other states followed.

They copied their book.

It was almost word for word.

Pennsylvania, Illinois, California.

They all thought that women

did not belong in a boxing ring.

It's as simple as that.

PAT: Prospects for women

back then was, like,

kitchen,

pregnant,

raising the babies,

cooking.

I was 16 when I got married

and I got pregnant,

and I was 17

when I had a second kid.

I was caged.

There was no freedom.

When I was 18,

I thought I was gonna have

a nervous breakdown.

I really wanted to commit su1c1de,

to be honest with you.

My best friend and my cousin

came and they said,

"We're taking you to the gym.

Let's get you out of the house."

So, we went

to the San Pedro Locker Club.

I didn't have any money,

so they snuck me in.

My best friend, she said,

"Yeah, come on downstairs,

they got a boxing ring down there."

I said, "Wow, really?

Let's go check it out."

So, I started hitting the bag.

I could feel, like, all the madness,

the chaos...

(GRUNTS)

..the evil thoughts,

they all came out of my hands.

(GRUNTS)

So many years of pain that

I didn't realise was gonna come out.

My childhood, even though

everything was wonderful,

bad things happen to little kids,

and it did.

I think I was four, the latest five.

Oh yeah, oh yeah,

somebody in the family.

Oh yeah.

And everybody hid it.

It was a dirty little secret.

Dirty little lies.

"Oh, you can't be

telling the truth."

I'm a little girl.

You don't make this sh*t up.

When I met that heavy bag,

that became my best friend by far.

Hitting something, hitting somebody,

was an outlet.

I liked that part.

And lo and behold, here comes

this big woman down the stairs.

I thought, "sh*t, man,

that bitch is gonna turn round

and start telling me sh*t,"

cos I hadn't paid.

But she'd seen us box,

and she liked what she'd seen.

She said she wanted to be

the first female boxing manager,

and wanted me

to be a pro female boxer.

That was the first time

I met Dee Knuckles,

the manager

of San Pedro Locker Club.

Dee also told me that it was against

the law to box in California.

"And you want me to do this?"

She said, "You'll go ahead and

start boxing, and I'll start doing

what I need to do to find out

where we're gonna go from here."

I didn't have nothing else going on

in my life, so I said,

"f*ck it, why not?"

New York State

wasn't letting us box,

but I thought that I could change

their minds,

so I decided to put on

an exhibition

to show what real female boxers

could do.

An exhibition is just

a sparring match,

and you don't need al licence.

It should never be mistaken

for a real fight.

I needed an opponent, and I

immediately thought of k*ller Diane.

I met her when I was a teenager.

You know what? I really

don't wanna talk about that.

No, let me stop.

That was just a joke.

Lady Tyger, she called me

k*ller Diane, and it stuck.

I had several fights under my belt,

but they were all street fighting.

Eventually, I found a venue

that might accept us.

I was so, so happy.

Tyger and I were the first to try

to put on an exhibition like that.

It was on an all-male card,

and we were the only females.

We were on the under-undercard,

OK?

That was like- We were just,

kind of, pencilled in.

So, I get to the venue.

(BELL DINGS)

My father's with me.

Next thing I know, I was told

that we would have to wait

until all the men fight

before we fight.

Oh my goodness.

So, it's eight o'clock,

then nine o'clock.

I thought it would never happen.

But I see the people coming in

more and more,

and they're hyped, because

they wanted to see female boxers.

"Oh, woman boxers?

Oh, I got to see this."

And about 12 o'clock,

they allowed women to go on.

We put on a good exhibition.

I realised that

I had a dynamite hook.

You know, I was a legitimate hooker.

But, out of the blue, a man says,

"Those women should be sh*t."

They considered female boxers

fourth-class citizens.

They... degraded you.

My father went berserk.

Started to fight the guy.

And it became a disaster.

It was distracting.

I couldn't concentrate.

It made me feel very angry.

They had not taken it serious.

That's when I realised that

women need to get a boxing licence.

The licence would make us

legitimate.

So, I decided to go

to the State Athletic Commission,

to apply for a boxing licence.

New York was a mecca of boxing.

That was where it was so important

to be licenced in that state.

I saw another female boxer

called Jackie Tonawanda.

She was applying for a licence also.

It was a relief.

"I have someone else

that's interesting in boxing."

Me and Tyger, you see,

we'd like to get the licence.

I'd like to very much fight

at Madison Square Garden.

I had an interest in getting me

and my family out of the ghetto,

and I thought that boxing

would be the vehicle for that.

So, I wish

I was there at that meeting.

Would they accept it?

Would they give me a licence?

I don't know what they thought.

I had been coming along well

with the training,

and I felt confident that

I could box very well.

Sal was very anxious for me

to get in the ring.

Come here. You're doing the same

thing you did the other night.

Your head is way up. Get the

shoulder into it, man.

That's how you-

So, the next thing,

he's organising an exhibition.

I guess it's time to get in

and find out what I can do.

If you're knocked down and the bell

rings, the count continues.

You have to get up.

Cannot be saved by the bell.

You can't be saved by the bell,

except for the last round.

I get in the dressing room,

and that's when I started thinking,

"I'm an educated woman, and I'm

gonna go try to b*at somebody up?"

I was having a complete

existential meltdown by that time.

(LAUGHS)

So, it's time to go fight.

We get in the ring.

We started boxing, boom, boom, boom.

She came up with a hard right

and hit me in the nose,

and it hurt!

So, we went back

to the dressing room,

and I had a talk to myself,

in the mirror,

blood running down my lips,

and I said,

"This is never gonna happen again,

or you're gonna get out of this."

We went back to the gym.

Sal said, "If you keep that arm in

their face, you'll never get hit."

Plus, she can't even see

where she's going.

And you throw your left hook

to her face.

Sal was gonna make sure

I didn't get hit,

because he wanted to sell this face.

Come on, get the elbow down, OK?

He made me a deal.

He was gonna be the promotor,

I was gonna be the product.

"Sell me, baby. Make me some money."

(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLANKING)

Well, I'm looking at the notes

of the Athletic Commission.

You have two women who apply.

They call practically every day.

Well, they were persistent.

(LAUGHS)

"The women have had no experience,

and they are in different weights.

Who are they going to fight?

You can't have them fight with men."

And I see Frank Morris is

the commissioner, said this.

I had a lot of respect for Frank

Morris. He's old-school boxing.

"I don't think women should be

referees, judges, or boxers.

Boxing is for men."

Oh, boy.

The doctors on the commission

are not in favour of it.

"The impact of a blow

could hurt the women physically."

Oh, well I gotta take

a deep breath on that one.

(DEEP BREATH)

That's...

OK, this is what they said.

"If you get hit in the stomach,

you won't be able to have children."

Oh, please. Give me a break.

They were turned down.

I couldn't believe

what I was hearing.

You know, I want this opportunity,

I wanna fight.

Then, in September 1975,

everything changed.

(CROWD SHOUTING)

The first professional fight

between women was sanctioned

by the State Boxing Commission,

after pressure from women's

rights groups.

Caroline Svendsen says she learned

her trade settling fights

when she was a bartender.

I was like, "Women boxing?

Are you kidding me?" (LAUGHS)

It was the first women to ever

fight in the state of Nevada.

This was a serious thing.

I was so happy, you know,

I was thinking that

this is a step forward.

I was training, and Dee comes.

She says, "I want you to hear this,"

because this woman in Nevada

had been licenced.

"Oh sh*t, I'm not alone.

Thank you, Jesus."

Nobody's b*at my record,

nobody's knocked me out.

INTERVIEWER: How many fights?

I've had one. (LAUGHS)

But Nevada has always been

an anything goes kind of place.

Everything's legal.

Because we couldn't get licenced

in the state of New York,

what we needed was a real big state,

like California.

So, Dee and I agreed,

the gameplan is to go to Nevada,

to get a licence.

Come back to California.

Once you go pro,

you can't go amateur no more.

So, then I would say,

"I want my licence in California."

So, they had to let me

get my licence.

Dee Knuckles found an opponent

for me, and her name was Kim Maybee.

I was happy, I was excited.

But the public,

they don't want woman boxing.

Women boxing?

Ah, it's like a comedy thing.

I mean, it's very embarrassing.

Women ain't made to be hit

in the breast or the face like that.

Their body's not made to be punched.

A woman could never be a good boxer.

How could any woman who, just by

her daily existence, waits on men,

how could they possibly go in

the ring and start throwing punches?

Women think that they can really be

doing the things that men can do.

I don't really think so.

I don't think

it's a sport for women,

cos they're not physically

constituted to be boxers.

It's just not a sport for 'em.

The morning the day before

the fight, I get a call from Dee.

She said that the gym...

had been b*rned.

They didn't burn the whole gym.

It was the area

where my stuff was at.

And the policemen had to come.

Dee told them,

"She's had a lot of death threats."

And I was like,

"What death threats?"

"They wanna hurt you, Pat."

She hands me the letters.

They're predominantly males

being vicious and mean.

Things they would like to do.

And who sends all these letters,

threatening?

Who wants to hurt me and my children

when I didn't do anything to nobody?

All I wanted to do was box.

For crying out loud, what the f*ck?

Can somebody give me a break?

Dee kept the letters from me,

because she thought that

if I had any inclination

of this stuff, I would stop boxing.

But, you know what, all the rage,

the hate, the (ROARS)

you guys are not gonna stop me.

You can't. You can't.

This is something I want.

I'm ready for it.

REPORTER: For the first time

in California boxing history,

two women squared off in the ring

tonight.

(CROWD JEERING)

There was 10,000 people there.

The had the police escort me

into the ring,

because they were afraid that

somebody was gonna sh**t me.

You get in the ring

and you got the crowd...

(CROWD JEERING AND BOOING)

..that doesn't like

what you're doing,

so you really heard that hate.

(BOOING)

You actually really heard it

from more of the women.

You know, "These f*cking broads.

Check them out,

they think they can f*cking fight,

and they're nothing

but a bunch of little b*tches."

I'm only 20 years old.

Scared shitless.

And if things weren't already

complicated enough,

I was carrying a secret

that nobody knew.

I got a routine physical

from my physician,

who gave me

a clean bill of health.

But indicated that I was pregnant.

And then he said,

"So, you can't box."

I don't want the baby to get hurt,

but, at the same time,

I know that I have to do this.

It was about becoming somebody.

So, I said, "You have to change

this. I wanna fight."

Poor guy, he didn't know

whether to trust me or not.

But he said, "OK."

I told Dee that I was pregnant.

Dee was like,

"So, are you gonna fight?"

I said, "Well, hell yeah,

I'm gonna fight."

Showtime.

(CROWD BOOS)

There's Kim Maybee. Oh, my god.

I was 5'4", she was 6'1".

I'm, like, little,

looking up at her like,

"Oh sh*t, I'm gonna get k*lled."

It's a mismatch,

but I wasn't gonna let it stop me.

Then, all of a sudden,

I started hearing the different,

you know, the changing of the minds,

the tone in their voices, you know.

(CROWD CHEERS)

Like, "Wow, I think

they enjoyed it."

But, all of a sudden,

she went for my stomach.

The reality kicked in, the baby,

and it was like, "Oh sh*t."

So, then I start covering up more.

She clocked me.

And it was like, "Whoa."

And then the referee's in front of

me like going like this, "Pat, Pat."

The fight was over.

She ended up winning,

but I didn't care, because I did it,

and I was ecstatic.

I accomplished what I wanted.

Which was?

Which was being the first female

licenced in California,

and the first fight in California.

And I became

California's first pro female boxer.

And the baby that I had nine months

later was...

healthy as can be.

Tonight's fight

did make boxing history.

Fighter and audience agree, there is

a place for women in the ring.

Once Pat Pineda was licenced

in the state of California,

it was like a domino effect.

Other states started

issuing licences.

Oregon, Washington, Utah,

Connecticut, and the list goes on.

REPORTER: How much does she weigh,

commissioner?

(MEN LAUGH)

130 lbs. Fine, very good.

Sharon Oldbury

at the beauty parlour.

At the same time,

21-year-old Zenda Foster

was finishing her day at work.

That night, the two women met.

The first professional fight

between women in Washington.

Women are beautiful and great.

(BELL DINGS)

I left New York and I did a tour,

and I was the first to fight in

Canada, Pennsylvania,

Connecticut.

We're gonna see a film clip

of the first female boxing match

in the history of Connecticut.

Really?

Observers say there was

no question the fighters

were of professional calibre.

They said, you know,

they thought that I was crazy.

A woman wanting to box?

I showed them my sincerity,

and they saw what I could do.

There were other women

in smaller states

that were getting licences to fight,

so Sal and I decided to just go down

and apply for a licence

in New York.

We marched down

to the commissioner's office,

filled out an application,

and I gave it to the New York

Athletic Commissioner at the time,

and he looked me straight

in the eye

and he tore it up in front of me

and put it in the trashcan.

What a "f*ck you" moment.

So you don't think they should grant

women their licence in New York?

Definitely not. Not as fighters.

They wanna do it as wrestlers,

which is an exhibition, that's fine.

But as fighters,

where they can actually get hurt,

I'm very much against it.

Without New York on board,

the sport wasn't going to go

anywhere.

Women needed to be able

to have a licence in that state.

I wanted to be

the first to fight in New York,

but I wouldn't have that

opportunity without a licence.

And then I got a call from a lady

by the name of Dee Knuckles,

who said that she would manage me

in California.

My family was very sceptical

about it.

They were saying,

"You don't know this lady.

How do you know it's not a set-up?"

But I took a chance.

I took a gamble.

I left and went to California.

Dee Knuckles had a gym

and I met Pat Pineda there.

When I first met Tyger, I thought,

"This bitch is crazy,"

but I liked her, because I knew

her heart was in the right place

and she was the real deal.

Dee Knuckles wanted California to be

the centre of boxing for women.

I was at the after-school programme

for troubled kids,

and Dee Knuckles came in and said,

"Are you girls interested

in doing any fighting?"

"Sure, I am."

Lydia, she was the leader

of a g*ng at 15.

She actually had a k*ller instinct.

Bottom line.

I had the power.

Bam!

Boxing, it sparked something in me.

It felt good to punch

somebody legally, like,

you're not gonna go to jail.

You'd have to right to do it.

The women are just

kind of popping up everywhere.

There was Diane Syverson,

Princess Redstar,

and Lavonne Ludian.

The grandmother.

They asked my name and I thought,

"Oh boy,

will I be able to pass an EEG?"

Or EKG. Which is the one

that checks the heart?

But anyway, I passed it.

I just told 'em I was 29,

but I had to be closer to 40.

They didn't guess that

I was an old lady. (LAUGHS)

And then there was me.

I wanted to be a police officer,

but they said

I was one half-inch too short.

I used to do exercises every day

trying to get up to that height.

But, instead,

I got into women's boxing.

I wanted to be part of history.

We had the same goal in life:

to be taken seriously

as professional fighters

or professional athletes.

We saw the importance

that we needed federations

that would rank the women,

just like the males.

So, on the West Coast, they set up

the WBB, the Women's Boxing Board.

And Lady Tyger was

ranked on the top.

There was nobody

that could compete with her.

ANNOUNCER: Lady Tyger Trimiar!

Blows kisses to the audience,

and shows that

she's definitely a showman.

I sparred with her

quite a few times.

She was hard to hit.

She's a pro, and she's special.

It's because she always kept

her head down.

She had strategy about her.

I'm not one to brag,

but I have to admit

that I was pretty good.

Then I heard about a fighter

on the East Coast.

ANNOUNCER: I see Cat Davis

making her way into the ring.

(APPLAUSE)

In the East Coast, Sal had

set up another federation,

the WBF,

or the Women's Boxing Federation.

CAT DAVIES: Sal and I decided

to go around the country,

to these other states,

outside New York.

ANNOUNCER: Cathy "Cat" Davis!

I was winning all my fights.

(BELL DINGS)

The winner, by knockout,

Cathy "Cat" Davis!

So, on the East Coast, with the WBF,

we had Cat at the top.

On the West Coast, with the

WBB, Tyger was ranked at the top.

There was a rivalry there, and

Tyger, she wanted to b*at her ass.

I really, really

wanted to fight Cat Davis,

because she was in my weight class.

But I never heard from her

or any of those people

that was working with her.

Sal was involved with all

the business of it.

He found out who I was gonna fight.

So, I don't know exactly

what was going on there.

But we were focused on New York.

Without the New York

Athletic Commission on board,

women's boxing was going

nowhere fast.

I had to get that New York licence.

So, we decided to do this

protest exhibition.

We'd get a lot of publicity.

The athletic commission was livid.

(SIREN WAILS)

WOMAN: I think she should do what

she wants. She has her rights.

What difference does it make?

If she wants to fight,

she should be able to fight.

They don't have any

jurisdiction over us,

because we don't have a licence.

So, I don't think

they can do anything but lock us up

for a misdemeanour, maybe

disturbing the peace or something.

So, they couldn't arrest HIM,

because he's a guy,

and it's perfect legal for him.

But for me, they would have

to arrest me for being a woman.

Which was silly.

Why did the commission call

the police the other day

and stop the exhibition?

Well, simply because it's not legal.

It's not legal for a woman to box.

In California, I was really

struggling to make a living.

It's a wonder I wasn't

on the boulevard with a tin cup.

We couldn't make

as much money as men.

I realised that we needed

a big boxing promoter

to get the sport going.

REPORTER: What does a boxing

promoter do? He hustles and sells.

He convinces the boxers to fight,

the money men

and television executives to invest,

and the public to watch.

In the mid-'70s,

there were two major promoters,

and that was Don King...

Today I'm standing

in the glory of the lord,

again being blessed by him

who sits high and looks low.

..and Bob Arum.

My name is Bob Arum,

I'm the attorney for Muhammad Ali.

Both promoters

operated from New York,

and basically

they monopolised the sport.

We've taken on all

the big institutions,

such as Madison Square Garden, and

all the major ones across the world.

Boxing is closer to showbusiness

than it is

to any other professional sport.

If the fighter is good and he has

charisma, you've got a goldmine.

They have to pay me

8 million that night.

What they pay him is their business,

but they have to pay me 8.

We had to think about how women

should market themselves.

We realised how important

setting our image was.

Boxing was a man's sport.

It is aggressive. It's not pretty.

But in the media,

women were expected to, like,

just be prim and proper.

So, I made sure everywhere

I showed up,

I got make-up on,

hair done, everything.

Or the men would've felt threatened.

You have to ask yourself,

what are you willing to compromise

to get where you wanna go?

Dee Knuckles, she tried

to make me like a showgirl,

and someone tried to pick me up

because he thought I was a hooker.

I didn't understand it,

because I didn't really

know what a hooker was.

I was innocent. (LAUGHS)

You know?

One fighter that didn't compromise

with anything?

Tyger.

Definitely Tyger.

No, I didn't shave

my head for boxing,

but now it's considered a trademark.

I like to be unique.

I like to be different.

That's one of the reasons

I have the shaved head.

People might think

that it was a masculine move,

but you don't have

to have hair to be a woman.

For me, it was important

to be an individual.

She was ahead of her time,

where we were all tunnel-visioned.

There was never any doubt in my mind

who was gonna be the poster girl.

She's a 23-year-old, 5'10, 135-lbs

blonde named Cathy "Cat" Davis.

And, of course,

the logical question is,

what's a girl like you

doing in a sport like boxing?

She was a beautiful-looking blonde.

Really easy on the eye.

She was in the magazines,

newspapers.

I was the first woman

on the cover of Ring Magazine.

It created such a controversy,

and the people who still didn't want

us to have a licence were incensed.

When I saw Cat Davis on the cover

of Ring Magazine,

I thought, "OK...

how low can Ring Magazine go?"

Cat Davis set the benchmark

for how other women should

market themselves in the sport.

Sal wanted me to be more feminine,

and he said he didn't want

to be associated with feminists,

with those kind of women, he said,

so that it would be more acceptable

to a wider range of people.

How many men have you hit?

Never hit a man in my life.

You're kidding!

No. I'm not a fighter

outside of the ring.

Outside the ring you're a...

I'm a pussycat.

Sal moved us into an apartment,

and we lived together,

just the two of us.

The arrangement was

we were still manager and boxer.

But he was trying to create

a... relationship

other than just boxing.

He actually put the rumours out

that we were engaged

and going to get married.

But it was a lie.

And I would debunk that.

I would say,

"No, we're not engaged."

But after a while,

everybody took it as the truth.

Well, there's always a lot

of the boxing trainers

that wanna have sex with you,

and if you didn't go with them,

they would say that you were gay,

you know.

Dating was a little difficult.

One day a guy was walking me home

and then a lady in the building said

"Tyger, when is your next fight?"

and he said,

"Fight? Oh you're a boxer"

and I never saw him again.

(LAUGHTER)

I really wanted to be married

and have maybe two or three kids.

But boxing was my priority.

You know, and I had to do it

while I was young.

That was the sacrifice

that I made to box.

Women should be able to participate

in all walks of life.

This is America and everything

should be open to everybody.

Tyger was a one-woman

campaigning machine.

She was like nonstop 24/7, out

for any female that wanted to box.

Most of my fight

was outside of the ring.

Going on hunger strike.

Picketing, commission meetings,

I wrote letters, petitions,

all of these things to promote

female fighters.

Lady Tyger did everything

to change the minds

about women's boxing.

I had my doubts

about women boxing, but hey,

it looks sensational to me.

I mean,

if they got the guts to do it

and the determination,

I think they should try.

Every time Don King

came to California,

I would be right there to ask him

to promote women's boxing.

Eventually he said that he would.

Don King, he said he promises

to use women boxers, so I want

everybody to put pressure on him

because he made that promise to.

MAN: Alright!

Suddenly I'm hearing from Don King,

Bob Arum, big promoters,

and they wanna put me

in Madison Square Garden,

the biggest venue in town

which was a big deal.

I would be making

hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Time for a party baby! (LAUGHS)

That's a good question.

Finally we were on the verge

of getting legitimacy.

But the one caveat

was we had to have

a licence in New York,

which we hadn't gotten yet.

We needed help with the fight.

I graduated in 1974

and the first time I went to court

the judge looked at me and said,

"When's the lawyer coming here?"

and I said "Judge, I AM the lawyer."

I met Cat and Sal

and they told me

women were prohibited from getting

a licence to box in New York

and I said,

"Well that doesn't sound right."

The New York State Athletic

Commission said that

women's boxing would possibly

be too p*rn,

seeing two women box is,

you know, everybody's fantasy.

"This could cause irreparable

harm to the image of the sport

and ultimately add to the

financial detriment of those

whose livelihoods depend

upon this activity." Meaning men.

I felt the denial

of licences to women

was a violation of the

14th Amendment of Constitution

which prohibits discrimination

on the basis of being a woman.

They can sue.

REPORTER: The attractive blond

boxer served papers on the

New York State Athletic Commission

today

requiring the Commission

to show cause

why she's being refused a licence

to box in this state.

Beautiful, alright.

Now, you're gonna step in under

and bring the uppercut up, right.

Maybe we were moving toward

getting a boxing licence,

but behind the scenes it was-

it was getting more tense.

Alright, get ready.

Work. Go ahead now.

That's it.

Sal was putting more pressure on me

to be his wife.

He was very insistent.

Now he would kiss me and hold me,

I realised how controlled I felt.

I needed an escape from that.

So I enrolled in university.

I was teaching women's studies,

I walked into class,

and there, halfway back,

was this really striking woman.

I was immediately curious about her.

I had a woman's studies professor,

she would talk about

different things in her life

that she was doing;

rock climbing and- and travelling,

and I started noticing

I was envious of her.

Her freedom was very alluring to me.

I didn't know women boxed.

She told me about the relationship

between manager and athlete.

This sounds like pimp

and prost*tute.

No wonder this woman is

uncomfortable.

You know, every month we would

get together and do something.

And, one afternoon,

we were hanging out...

and she leaned over and kissed me.

It changed my whole life.

I knew I had been denying something.

Only half of me...

living.

Being gay was a horrible thing.

It was...

I- It's hard to explain,

the gravity of what happened to you

if you came out as being gay.

It's so senseless.

You love a person,

and you have to pay for it

in such a dire way.

A gay is not a creation of God.

There is hope

for the h*m* that,

if they're willing to turn from sin

they can be ex-h*m*, the same

as there can be an ex-m*rder*r,

an ex-thief or ex-anybody.

A lot of people,

male and female, are h*m*.

And people think, "Oh,

are they this or are they that?"

Instead of, we're just women

that are interested in boxing.

Beverley and I, we couldn't see

each other very often,

so we started exchanging letters.

One day Sal found a love letter

that she had sent me.

And he- he blew up.

Sal said it was gonna tear

women's boxing apart.

We were doing something that upset

the roles we have in society.

If we were exposed as gay,

it would confirm

all of the nay-sayers

that it was just a gay thing.

Sal gave her an ultimatum;

him or me.

Foolish move on his part,

cos it's pretty clear to me

what she's gonna choose here.

It was the best thing for the sport,

for me to be straight.

So I decided

to break it off.

It felt like a huge disappointment.

Dare I say, almost betrayal.

It was such a sacrifice.

But I had to make it to get

the licence and change history.

I was 27 and three years out of law

school, with very little experience,

suing New York state,

you know,

a division of New York state.

What the hell was I thinking?

Then, I discovered Cat's licence

was denied

on the recommendation

of the Medical Advisory Board.

But I subsequently learned

that the Medical Advisory Board

had never met.

Gotcha. (LAUGHS)

How stupid are you?

If you're gonna do something,

at least do it right

so you don't get caught. (LAUGHS)

Then, I received a call,

and they told me that the court

agreed that prohibiting women

from being licenced to box

in New York state was

unconstitutional and discriminatory

and that I could call Cat and say,

"You're getting a licence."

And it just- it was wonderful.

Wow, yes!

A recent State Supreme Court

decision allowing women

the right to fight professionally.

Things were really rolling

so I flew out to New York.

The day finally comes.

And I go right down

to the State Athletic Commission.

Can't believe

we finally got this form.

Fingerprints, pictures,

and they're gonna accept it all.

They're gonna give out the boxing

licence to Jackie Tonawanda,

Cat Davis and myself.

We have three women

with us today

who are among the first to apply

for licences within this state.

They gave us our licence,

the little piece of paper

that we had fought so hard for.

And we got it.

Oh my god, it was a big thing.

The money was gonna come,

everything was gonna come with it.

The New York licence wasn't

just a piece of paper,

it was a symbol of achievement.

New York was the final piece

of the puzzle.

This was a massive deal.

After waiting all that time

I should've been happy.

But what they did was

they handed Cat Davis

the licence first,

even though Jackie and I

were the first to apply.

You know. Everybody knew getting

the licence first means a lot.

Lady Tyger wasn't happy,

and she was grumbling a bit,

because she and Jackie had been

trying for a licence before me.

And they were a bit annoyed that

the cr*cker got the licence first.

I felt hurt for Tyger.

It's like they shouldn't have

done it that way to her.

Cat was white, the great white hope.

And in boxing that was a big thing.

Although all three of them

got the licence,

it was clear that it was

all about one of 'em.

(APPLAUSE)

Our guest's name is Cat Davis.

(APPLAUSE)

Cat Davis was on this TV show.

When are you gonna fight in Madison

Square Garden and could you fill it?

Yes, definitely I could.

And that TV show.

The financial independence

I have now is-

is mainly through boxing,

from boxing.

And good management.

And good management,

and good publicity, and what else

did you tell me to say?

So now that we've got the licence,

the deal at Madison Square Garden

was gonna come through.

I got an offer of $150,000.

I'm a native New Yorker and I wanted

to fight at Madison Square Garden.

And I wanted to fight Cat Davis.

But that didn't happen.

I never- never had an opportunity

to fight in New York.

I got my licence,

and I was never able to use it.

I had no other choice

but to go back to California.

I was in really bad shape

financially.

And a friend of mine told me

about another way of making money.

Apartment boxing.

Oh, my goodness.

sh*t.

It was women that

would box businessmen

who got off on it sexually.

That's what they wanted

to spend their money on,

was getting their ass kicked,

they loved it.

You don't get naked,

you don't take off your clothes,

nothing like that.

But some people might call it

a form of prostitution.

It meant that I was able

to pay my rent and pay my bills

so that I could continue

with my career.

But, with women's boxing,

you don't know what to expect.

A couple of weeks

after Lady Tyger and Cat Davis

got their boxing licences,

an article came out

in The Village Voice;

it dropped a b*mb in the sport.

"Cat Davies is a kinky

media phenomenon,

a product of the

Great American Hype Machine.

Cat is a lady boxer who is white,

blonde and pretty."

"White, pretty

and not what she appears to be.

Her manager, Sal Algieri,

is a t*nk artist

and accused of fight fixing."

(SIGHS)

Sal and Cat were known

for being a little underhanded,

I'm sorry, I- I shouldn't say

bad things about people

but...

when they offered a fight to me,

I told 'em that I was out of shape,

that I hadn't been working out

so I told 'em I don't think

I should do it, they said,

"Oh don't worry about it,

it's just an exhibition".

I got in the ring with Cat Davis,

and, boy, I'm telling you,

she came on like g*ng busters.

(INDISTINCT COMMENTARY)

My trainer says,

"They're serious about this fight,

they're gonna b*at you up".

My trainer, he saw how defeated

I felt over the whole scenario,

it caused me to quit

and that made me sad.

Sal Algieri and Cat Davis,

they just were not good

for the boxing picture.

It was really shocking

when this article came out.

I don't know if she knew

or had any kind of idea

that Sal was fixing her fights.

I don't know.

I really can't remember...

any fights that look like

they were fake.

(BELL DINGS)

COMMENTATOR: Cat Davis, who in 16

fights has won 15 by knockouts...

When somebody hits the ground

with a thud,

that's a real knockout.

Nobody could say I was a fake.

Maybe she knew and was in on it

or maybe she had no idea,

and truly believed

she was a great fighter.

REPORTER: I'm standing on the

business end of a punching bag...

(LAUGHS)

with Women's Lightweight Boxing

Champion of the World,

so certified

by The Women's Boxing Federation.

Have you ever been hurt,

knocked out?No.

What happens when you do?

I don't think that'll ever happen.

When do you defend your title next?

Well, my next fight is a non-title

fight in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ernestine was like my daughter,

she was such a sweetheart

and she'd come down to the gym

and sit there and watch the guys

and I started teaching her

how to box a little bit,

she just wanted to stay in it

and wanted to be a boxer.

So I took her to Georgia,

and she met Cat Davis.

I heard that Sal

talked with Ernestine's manager

before the fight and said,

"Your girl got to lose,

she has got to lose because

a black girl has no market value".

I thought that was just,

that was just mean but it's-

it's reality here. It's reality.

Sal Algieri's under the impression

that Ernestine Jones

was gonna get b*at up,

but they didn't know that

Ernestine wasn't coming out there

to play around.

(CHEERING) (SHUTTER CLICKS)

We start boxing,

everything is going alright,

and I kept that left jab out.

Everybody was all around, they were

waiting for Cathy to lower the boom.

The jab is something that everybody

think that nobody can get away from.

Ernestine threw a right hand

over the top of it,

and she just stifled up like a board

and fell down, flat out,

just lay there

like a canoe or something,

it looked like she was

gonna float away.

I thought it was over with.

It was the first time

I got knocked out.

The referee's counting,

I went to the corner,

and I told Sal,

"I can't feel my feet".

They stood Cathy up and Ernestine

threw the same smart punch

and Cathy, she was laid out,

looked dead.

Algieri came up there and told me

to get out the ring,

I don't know what for,

but she hurt bad,

and they put the ammonium nitrate

underneath her nose,

that wakes people up

if they get knocked out.

I must've been in

and out of consciousness.

(RINGING)

They started the fight back up

and this time Cathy

didn't even throw a punch.

She's laying there a third time,

I said,

"That's it, the fight's over."

I said, "This girl is gonna have

brain damage,

you can't knock a person out

three times in one night".

Yeah, she was out cold.

They carried her out,

took her to a hospital.

Ernestine had a purpose,

and it wasn't to make the money,

it was knock the air out

of Sal Algieri's dream

and that's what happened.

But Sal called it a no contest,

there was nothing we could do.

Well, I kind of struggle with memory

because my brain

isn't quite together,

I had a stroke seven years ago

but I'm not stupid,

I can still carry on. (CHUCKLES)

it's just that I can't...

you know, there are blank spaces.

The article on this fight

was devastating for Cat

and for the sport of women's boxing.

This boxer was supposed to be the

great white hope of women's boxing,

but... you know, all the...

the potential deals dried up.

The corruption didn't just end

there, it was also in California.

In the boxing world there were those

that took it really seriously

and there was those that just did it

for the money, you know?

Dee Knuckles scheduled for me

the fight with Cora Webber,

I had to be on my Ps and Qs

with her ass because

that white girl was tough,

believe me.

But before the fight

Dee Knuckles says,

"You don't have to do

anything but drop."

I didn't even understand

what the word drop meant

until I finally realised that means

for me to hit the canvas.

You know, and Dee Knuckles

is sitting there, she goes,

"It's just, all you gotta do

is just drop, Lydia,

we'll pay you a little extra."

Cora Webber!(CHEERING)

Very hard for me to understand

why would they do something

like that to me when I put all my

heart and soul into what I'm doing?

You know, they wanted

to build up a white girl.

I don't think Cora Webber,

I don't think she knew,

but Dee Knuckles,

I was pissed off at that bitch.

Pfft. I said, "I'm not dropping".

And boy, did I f*ckin' go nuts.

I'm not dropping, I'm not dropping.

(BELL DINGS)

And we had a draw.

A draw! (APPLAUSE)

I didn't know the business

was so crooked like that, pfft,

it's not gonna get anywhere

because if women are doing that

let it be and I'm out,

you know I'm out of it so...

At my first fight, I thought

maybe I could trust Dee,

but I later found out that she had

bet against me at the fight.

She did, bitch, she did,

she bet against me

cos she knew I was pregnant,

and she knew that

I wasn't gonna win

and she did get a new car

and so it, it pissed me off so bad

when I turned around and I just

said, "You know what? f*ck you Dee".

After that I was done.

If Dee was here today,

sh*t, I'd call her on everything,

I said,

"You know you f*cked up, you know

you screwed us all."

But I would also tell her thank you

because I wouldn't be Pat Pineda,

California's first

pro female fighter,

if it wasn't for Dee Knuckles.

We were trying to build up the sport

and the phony fights and all,

all, all the things

was letting us down,

but I couldn't let that bother me.

Then someone put on

an all-female fight card,

that's the first time

that happened anywhere.

All females fighting.

I was honoured to be amongst

female boxing greats,

and making history.

And I was crowned World Champion.

But I don't even have

a trophy to prove it.

Once you work hard enough to get

to the top of your profession,

the top of your sport, that you win

a certain kind of respect, Tyger won

the World Lightweight Championship

for women, how much did you make?

Err, about $1,500,

you see it's so embarrassing

that I, I really don't like to,

you know, mention it when Hadler's

making 3 million

and it's just a shame that

Miss Piggy gets more publicity

than we do, you know? Really.

(AUDIENCE LAUGH)

(APPLAUSE)

We'll be right back.

And around this time

I'm getting a little older,

I would like to have a nice husband.

(CHUCKLES)

So there was a guy

that would come to the gym,

he'd keep himself in shape

and he was part of a motorcycle g*ng

called The Chosen Few.

they wore leather and

they kind of were rough necks,

but I enjoyed them.

I rode on the back of the bike, and

it was a, it was a whole lot of fun.

It was really a cool relationship.

One day we drove to Las Vegas.

(ENGINE REVS)

In Vegas they have

a lot of chapels there,

this marriage chapel,

that marriage chapel,

and we got married just like that.

Sal wanted me to continue to box

but I was denying this part of me

that had been...

repressed for so many years

and I had to,

had to start living an authentic

life or I was just gonna,

I was done with living,

it was, it was my, it was my time.

So I packed up at night

so Sal wouldn't know anything

about it and headed west.

I drove three nights to get

across country to California

and I met Beverly

on my birthday

in Yosemite.

Oh, it was such an incredible

feeling of freedom.

Finally I could be me.

After I got married, it got

a little bit more complicated,

he thought that he owned me,

it became a disaster,

he started being abusive.

One day I was at my apartment,

I got out of the shower,

had a bath robe on,

and he said, "You're coming with me"

and I said, "No, I'm not going"

and he was pulling me,

and he had a p*stol,

he hit me in the stomach

and everywhere,

it was pretty bad.

(ANNOUNCER TALKS INDISTINCTLY)

Everybody expects Tyger

to be a Tyger,

you know...

being strong in most situations,

it's very difficult to- to uphold

that, you know that type of thing.

So I went to the hospital, they

said, "You know, you're pregnant,

you know, you're- you're pregnant"

and I was like, "Wow".

If I had stayed there in California,

I knew I would've either k*lled him

or he would've k*lled me,

it was, it was no, nothing else,

no ands, ifs or buts

so I had to get out.

I decided to leave California

permanently

which also meant

that was the end of my boxing career

and I had to start a life

all over with my son.

I thought that through boxing

I would be able to buy a house

for my family and get out of the

ghetto,

but it didn't work for me.

I'm ready to leave, let me put

everything in place for you.Mm-mm.

Let me put this. A-ha. Oh yeah.

Get out this.

(UNCLEAR)

My eyedrops.

I put the eyedrops on the afternoon,

remember?

Don't worry for this.

Yeah. OK. So (KISSES).OK.

OK, thank you so much, Carmen!

See you tomorrow, Big Mama.

OK.

Goodnight.

Have a good night!

Goodnight.

I'm gonna lock the door.

(DOOR CLOSES)

Cat!

How you doing, Cat?

Is this the Tyger?

Yes!

Oh my god!

(LAUGHS)

Here! Give me a hug.

I want a hug! I want a hug.Oh!

Oh you're in a wheelchair too?

I'm in a chair.

Oh gosh I, I walk like I should be.

Mwah.How are you, sweetheart?

Oh how are you, how are you?

We looking pretty good

for old girls!

Oh my god, we are old, aren't we?

Yeah, yeah.

I want you to have a seat.

Wow.

Oh...

When you think about those days,

I still can't believe how badly

we were hated and how much

we were- how badly we were treated.

Oh. Yeah, yeah.

It's so mixed up in my mind.

Mm-mm.

What happened.

Yeah, so, why did Sal, you know,

did you know that Sal was doing

all this crooked stuff?

No clue.Wow.

I, I was-

You were innocent in all this?

I was just this golden girl.

Right, right.

And I think that was the whole

pitch that he put forward

and I just, I didn't like it

because it was a lie.

Exactly.

And he wasn't a bad man.

He was just a hustler

so that was what he was.

Was he your boyfriend or what?

No-

But he was-

He wanted to be my boyfriend.

And he wanted to be married-

Get out of here!

Yeah! (LAUGHS) But also,

I was trying to figure out

who I was sexually,

I ended up being gay.

Wow.

But that was a big turmoil for me,

yeah, I was...

Yeah, it must've been hard being gay

and not being able to express

that part of your life.

Well, it was but at that point I

wasn't even admitting it to myself.

Wow, but let me ask you something,

I wanna know, OK, when,

when we were all licenced

you were given your licence first.

Mm-mm.

Did you think it was fair,

I would like to know-

I didn't actually know this,

I, I wasn't that in tune,

I wasn't that...

politicised at that time...

But it didn't dawn on you

that you were getting

a lot of publicity then?

Oh yeah, that dawned on me

because it was obvious.

Mm-mm, yeah it was obvious.

That was obvious.

I heard a lot, then it was

because it was so unfair-

And it was so unjust.

OK.I'm so sorry we didn't get

a chance to get to know each other.

You were my adversary, you know

Sal made you out to be,

you know, this person I didn't

wanna have any contact with...

Wow...so, he wouldn't let me

interact with you,

or any of the other gals.

That's not nice.

I didn't, I didn't know any of them.

OK.

I think we would have

been great friends.

I think so too.Yeah.

Look who's coming,

that looks like Pat, Pat Pineda!

Oh my god, Tyger!

No, hug honey, hug.

I wanna hug. Oh my god.

Oh, she is wonderful to hug.

How are you? You look skinny,

how d'you do that?

You don't wanna know.

(LAUGHS)

Cat.

Cat, oh my God, nice to meet you.

Oh yeah, I don't think

I've ever met you, have I?

No, you've never met me.

Oh gosh...

Oh my god.No!

(LAUGHS)

Sue, Sue Fox.

How you doing, Sue?

Wait a minute,

I don't think I've ever met you,

but I've talked to you on the phone,

haven't I?Yes, you have.

Oh, my God, it's awesome.

And me and Sue go way back.

How are you?I'm so angry

we never became friends.

You know, I know we've maybe had

horror stories and everything.

I know I've had my share.

And it was hard.

The suffering was unbearable,

I mean, come on, I had two kids,

I was getting out of the marriage.

You had it tough.

Trying to get babysitters,

trying to get to the gym.

You know, it took me years

to understand what we had done.

I, I didn't realise it at the time.

I just thought

we were something everybody hated.

(LAUGHTER)

Well, we didn't get accepted.

We need this documented.

This is our story.

When I look back at the sport,

we were not erased from the record

books because of controversy

or corruption,

or because no-one cares

about women's boxing.

We were written out of history

because it's men who have always

written the history of boxing

and they didn't think our story

was worth telling.

Well, we're determined

to set the record straight.

They can't take that away from us.

Yeah.And we were erased.

We're not erased now.

This is why I'm getting emotional.

I'm gonna start crying, I'm so happy

to be with all you guys.Exactly!

It's wonderful.It is healing,

it's, um, it's amazing.

We're all here.

Let's make a circle of power.

You better believe it, and I love

all you guys; I really do.

Nobody can take what we did,

in history, away.

We're free again.

We're actually free at last.

At last.Yeah.

While none of us made millions or

fought at Madison Square Garden,

we were the spark that started a

fire, that's burning brightly today.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE) (CHEERING)

Lady Tyger!

In September 1978, she was one

of the first women granted licences,

tireless advocate for women

in the sport,

Marian "Lady Tyger" Trimiar.

I love you, love you, love you.

It was always Lady Tyger's goal

to have a belt.

She was a trailblazer.

Lady Tyger now has a belt.

Oh, thank you! Thank you!

Thank you! Oh!

Oh!

Oh, thank you!

Thank you all!

Bless you all!

Thank you! Oh!

Oh, my God.

Oh, thank you!

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)

(SHUTTER CLICKS)
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