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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,160 I had a long, 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:09,880 very fast left jab. 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:11,960 Not so fast these days. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,880 Throw the left hand, and then come- 5 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:17,880 because they're looking at this one, 6 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,720 and then I would hit them with this one. 7 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,240 They said I had dynamite in both hands. 8 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,000 (CROWD CHEERS) 9 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,520 It never occurred to me 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,760 that I was doing something so outrageous. 11 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:31,800 (SIREN WAILS) 12 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:44,160 We were challenging the norm, and that was frightening people. 13 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,720 MAN: A woman is not made to be a fighter. 14 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,800 It should not be tolerated. 15 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,440 Nobody in the whole United States wanted women in the ring, period. 16 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:56,560 ALI: Fighters are made to the punched. 17 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:58,720 Women ain't made to be hit in the breast. 18 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,840 It was unbelievable. They had rules to stop women from boxing. 19 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:06,520 A woman could never be a boxer, 20 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,760 just by the fact that a woman's role 21 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,520 is of being a subordinate. LYDIA: What the fuck, man? 22 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:15,560 I'm gonna kick some ass, you know, I wanna fuck somebody up. 23 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:17,000 Bam, bam, bam! 24 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:20,520 All the rage, the hate, the (ROARS) 25 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,120 you guys are not gonna stop me. This is something I want. 26 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,560 But nobody ever told the story. 27 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,960 The history of women's boxing is an amazing story, 28 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,039 but it has been totally erased. 29 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,000 After I left the sport, I went on the Internet, thinking, 30 00:01:38,039 --> 00:01:40,800 "Well, there's gotta be a lot of things about the pioneer 31 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:45,400 female boxers," and to my dismay, there's virtually nothing. 32 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:46,840 We disappeared. 33 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:50,280 There was Cat Davis, 34 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,000 Lavonne Ludian, Pat Pineda, 35 00:01:53,039 --> 00:01:56,440 Lady Tyger. Women are wonderful and great. 36 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:58,640 Lady Tyger, champion of the world. 37 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,000 Where are these fighters now? What happened to them? 38 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,400 And why have they been erased from history? 39 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:28,760 (INDISTINCT SHOUTING) 40 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,360 CAT: Well, it all started with fencing. 41 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,400 When I saw the '72 Olympics, 42 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:44,840 I got so inspired. 43 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,520 I decided to be a fencer. 44 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:51,680 I wanted to be up there 45 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,360 winning an Olympic medal because I was the best. 46 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:00,280 So, I signed up to a fencing club at Louisiana University. 47 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,240 I turned out to be very gifted at it. 48 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,200 My trainer, he said, "You need to move to New York 49 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:11,960 to study with Csaba Elthes." 50 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,640 He was the best coach in the world at the time. 51 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,160 But I knew my mom wouldn't approve. 52 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,280 My dad died before I was born, 53 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,560 so I was raised by my mom, and... 54 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,960 when my mother and I interacted, 55 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,800 it was a lot about the old south stuff. 56 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,600 She wanted me to stay a little doll. 57 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:37,920 I just couldn't do the girl thing. 58 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,079 I just wasn't- I wasn't cut out for it. 59 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,240 My fencing was a big disappointment to her, I think. 60 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,320 But I thought, you know, "Fuck it." 61 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,680 I packed up, headed to New York on a bus, 62 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,200 with 100 bucks in my pocket. I was pumped. 63 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,920 I was very excited to meet Csaba. 64 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,000 I was gonna meet the pope. 65 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,160 Csaba came in, and I asked him if he would teach me sabre. 66 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:19,560 And he said to me, in a very stern voice, 67 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,240 "Young lady, 68 00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:25,200 I don't teach women or cripples sabre." 69 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:30,400 And he actually hit me across my leg with his weapon, 70 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,520 and drew blood. 71 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,120 Sliced me up. I was heart-broken. 72 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,040 It was just because I was a woman. 73 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:47,960 (WOMEN CHANTING) 74 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,480 Well, by 1972, 75 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,720 the women's movement had made some progress in the courts. 76 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:57,000 We will make real the promise of equality for all. 77 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:58,040 (CHEERING) 78 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,360 But in the real world, we were still treated as second-class citizens. 79 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:06,720 Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in favour of women. 80 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,720 I mean, I think every man should own one.(AUDIENCE LAUGHS) 81 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,440 There have been 73 astronauts in our space programme, 82 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:14,280 but never any woman. 83 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,520 A real woman don't wanna be equal to a man, 84 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,680 a real man don't want no woman being his equal. 85 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,400 And if she don't like it, put her out, find another one. 86 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:25,560 I went back to my apartment, 87 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:27,800 I only had a few dollars left, 88 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:31,480 but I said to myself, "I am not going back home. 89 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,480 I have to make it work here." 90 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,080 So, I got some newspapers 91 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,640 and I started looking for a job, 92 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,600 and I was going through and circling the ones I was interested in, 93 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,320 and then I came upon this one that says, 94 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:47,840 'Wanted: woman boxers'. 95 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,200 It sounded like assembly line, boxing up things. 96 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,000 I said, "Ah, that sounds like something I can do." 97 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:57,600 This guy answered the phone. 98 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:00,040 MAN: We need somebody real bad. 99 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:03,240 His name was Sal. You're not a fighter, are you? 100 00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:08,520 It turned out it wasn't boxing goods, it was the sport of boxing. 101 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:10,880 I never heard of women boxing. 102 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:13,600 I was a little bit taken aback, 103 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,000 you know, this naive southern girl. 104 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:20,200 He was a larger-than-life Italian-American boxing trainer. 105 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,160 So, we arranged to meet. 106 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,480 When I first saw you walking out the door, 107 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,840 that I thought you were gonna be some kind of an animal. 108 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,320 She opens the door, here comes this good-looking blonde, 109 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,800 and I say, "Oh hell, man, this is our girl."(LAUGHTER) 110 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:34,400 I thought he was really dumb, because he just sat there 111 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:36,720 with his mouth open and he wouldn't say anything. 112 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,920 And I started to say, "Did I- Did I say something wrong?" 113 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:43,400 Finally he shut his mouth, says, "Get in. We're going back to the gym." 114 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,960 The first thing he wanted me to do was hit the bag. 115 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:50,960 It felt pretty good. 116 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,800 I mean, it works just like fencing. 117 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:02,640 To be a good fencer, you have to have the head of a chess player, 118 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,240 the arms of an orangutan, 119 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:07,440 and the footwork of a ballet artist. 120 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,440 So, I had the arms of an orangutan. 121 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:12,760 (LAUGHS) 122 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,720 Sal said he was gonna make woman's boxing the next big thing. 123 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:22,080 He got the idea form a woman named Lady Tyger, 124 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,360 after seeing her in the gym and training. 125 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,120 I was born in New York, Harlem. 126 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,000 Growing up in the projects wasn't all bad. 127 00:07:49,159 --> 00:07:52,480 We played jump rope, we played double Dutch. 128 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:56,160 Used to get into little street fights, little scraps. 129 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,320 When I fought, I would scratch, 130 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:01,440 and they called it tiger marks, 131 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:03,400 so I got the name "Tiger". 132 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,680 My father was an alcoholic. 133 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,400 He sometimes would get drunk 134 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,080 and he would lie down in the lobby of the building. 135 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,920 People would actually rob him of the money for our rent, 136 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:26,039 food, and everything, and it was all gone. 137 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:31,480 I loved my father, but that made it a little difficult for me. 138 00:08:33,039 --> 00:08:35,360 One day, I came home and I saw 139 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,720 my father watching Muhammad Ali. 140 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:41,440 He was going through the motions, 141 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:43,640 as if he was in the ring. 142 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,040 I looked at my father and his enthusiasm, 143 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,000 and I felt that energy myself. 144 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,840 We would actually shadowbox together in the apartment. 145 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:01,240 I said, "You know what? 146 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,280 I think this is something that I wanna do." 147 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:12,280 And when I told my father that I was interested in boxing, 148 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:15,840 he didn't say, "Oh no, that's not for girls." 149 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:18,240 No, he didn't have that attitude at all. 150 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:23,000 So, I went looking for somewhere to train. 151 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,960 I went from gym to gym, 152 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:29,240 but they would laugh at me and say, "This is not a sport for women." 153 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,440 No-one would take me in. 154 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,440 Women's boxing in the early '70s was... 155 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:40,680 It really was more or less non-existent. 156 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:42,480 When I started reading boxing magazines, 157 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:46,600 along with the Charles Atlas ads to get bigger muscles, 158 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,640 were ads for apartment boxing, 159 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,360 and they were selling these eight-millimetre films 160 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:56,040 of women boxing, sometimes topless, 161 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,360 and that was the extent of women boxing 162 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,720 in the '60s and early '70s. 163 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,600 I was determined to be a boxer, 164 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:09,920 so I made business cards. 165 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,800 On the card it said I was the first female boxer. 166 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:17,520 Eventually, a trainer accepted me, 167 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:19,840 and he brought me into his gym. 168 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:28,880 It was old-fashioned. 169 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:34,160 They initiated me with beating me up. 170 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,640 Busted lip, a black eye, 171 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:39,800 bloody nose. 172 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:44,440 They were like trophies to me. 173 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,000 The first time I saw Lady Tyger in the gym, I thought, 174 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:52,440 "That's odd, I hope she has her own dressing room." 175 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,160 There was no bathroom for women. 176 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,280 They had to tell the fellas to get out. 177 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:00,800 I started to take a shower there. 178 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:04,280 Then I noticed that they had a peephole. 179 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,120 Oh my goodness. 180 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:10,240 But I kept coming back. 181 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,520 I started getting better and better. 182 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,120 I eventually earned their respect. 183 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,680 But one day, someone at the gym told me, 184 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,520 "The State Athletic Commission has a rule. 185 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,760 No woman can be licenced as a boxer." 186 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,120 So, legally I can't box. 187 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,520 I said, "What?" I said, "What are you talking about? 188 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:42,440 And what the hell is a boxing commission?" 189 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:46,640 100- no. 189... 190 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,480 188 lbs. 188 lbs. 191 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,760 The purpose of a boxing commission is to supervise the sport. 192 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,040 A boxer has to be licenced by the State Athletic Commission. 193 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,280 The manager has to be licenced. Even the announcer. 194 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,440 ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement here. 195 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:08,880 A boxing licence represents everything, 196 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,040 because without a licence, you can't box professionally. 197 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,120 You wouldn't get paid, so you can't make money. 198 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:17,160 In those days, 199 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:20,800 the most powerful boxing commission was New York State. 200 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:22,640 It was home to Madison Square Garden, 201 00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:24,600 the most famous arena in the world. 202 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,200 It had more famous boxers than any other state, 203 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,120 so it was logical that the headquarters for boxing 204 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:33,400 should be New York City. 205 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,440 Because New York was the leader, other states followed. 206 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,480 They copied their book. 207 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,200 It was almost word for word. 208 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:45,240 Pennsylvania, Illinois, California. 209 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,680 They all thought that women did not belong in a boxing ring. 210 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:51,120 It's as simple as that. 211 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,480 PAT: Prospects for women back then was, like, 212 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:09,360 kitchen, 213 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,080 pregnant, 214 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:14,040 raising the babies, 215 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:16,920 cooking. 216 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,720 I was 16 when I got married and I got pregnant, 217 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,680 and I was 17 when I had a second kid. 218 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:26,440 I was caged. 219 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,640 There was no freedom. 220 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:30,480 When I was 18, 221 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,560 I thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown. 222 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:35,720 I really wanted to commit suicide, to be honest with you. 223 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,480 My best friend and my cousin came and they said, 224 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:45,760 "We're taking you to the gym. Let's get you out of the house." 225 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:50,840 So, we went to the San Pedro Locker Club. 226 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,480 I didn't have any money, so they snuck me in. 227 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:56,840 My best friend, she said, "Yeah, come on downstairs, 228 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:58,640 they got a boxing ring down there." 229 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,120 I said, "Wow, really? Let's go check it out." 230 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:04,560 So, I started hitting the bag. 231 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,320 I could feel, like, all the madness, 232 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:12,800 the chaos... 233 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,200 (GRUNTS) 234 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:16,760 ..the evil thoughts, 235 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,680 they all came out of my hands. 236 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,320 (GRUNTS) 237 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,160 So many years of pain that I didn't realise was gonna come out. 238 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:30,920 My childhood, even though everything was wonderful, 239 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,240 bad things happen to little kids, 240 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:37,440 and it did. 241 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,600 I think I was four, the latest five. 242 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,520 Oh yeah, oh yeah, somebody in the family. 243 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,120 Oh yeah. 244 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,920 And everybody hid it. It was a dirty little secret. Dirty little lies. 245 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,960 "Oh, you can't be telling the truth." 246 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,480 I'm a little girl. You don't make this shit up. 247 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:02,280 When I met that heavy bag, 248 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:05,280 that became my best friend by far. 249 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,920 Hitting something, hitting somebody, was an outlet. 250 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:10,680 I liked that part. 251 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:16,680 And lo and behold, here comes this big woman down the stairs. 252 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,160 I thought, "Shit, man, that bitch is gonna turn round 253 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,080 and start telling me shit," cos I hadn't paid. 254 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,880 But she'd seen us box, and she liked what she'd seen. 255 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:35,000 She said she wanted to be the first female boxing manager, 256 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:39,040 and wanted me to be a pro female boxer. 257 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,280 That was the first time I met Dee Knuckles, 258 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,520 the manager of San Pedro Locker Club. 259 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,920 Dee also told me that it was against the law to box in California. 260 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,320 "And you want me to do this?" 261 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,320 She said, "You'll go ahead and start boxing, and I'll start doing 262 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,920 what I need to do to find out where we're gonna go from here." 263 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:08,760 I didn't have nothing else going on 264 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,120 in my life, so I said, "Fuck it, why not?" 265 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,360 New York State wasn't letting us box, 266 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,480 but I thought that I could change their minds, 267 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,160 so I decided to put on an exhibition 268 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,800 to show what real female boxers could do. 269 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,400 An exhibition is just a sparring match, 270 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:34,280 and you don't need al licence. 271 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,600 It should never be mistaken for a real fight. 272 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,760 I needed an opponent, and I immediately thought of Killer Diane. 273 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:45,760 I met her when I was a teenager. 274 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,680 You know what? I really don't wanna talk about that. 275 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,960 No, let me stop. That was just a joke. 276 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,560 Lady Tyger, she called me Killer Diane, and it stuck. 277 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,200 I had several fights under my belt, 278 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,839 but they were all street fighting. 279 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:21,960 Eventually, I found a venue that might accept us. 280 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,520 I was so, so happy. 281 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:29,720 Tyger and I were the first to try to put on an exhibition like that. 282 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,800 It was on an all-male card, and we were the only females. 283 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,280 We were on the under-undercard, OK? 284 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,360 That was like- We were just, kind of, pencilled in. 285 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:48,800 So, I get to the venue. (BELL DINGS) 286 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:50,560 My father's with me. 287 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:55,000 Next thing I know, I was told that we would have to wait 288 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,880 until all the men fight before we fight. 289 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:01,720 Oh my goodness. 290 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,720 So, it's eight o'clock, then nine o'clock. 291 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:11,840 I thought it would never happen. 292 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,080 But I see the people coming in more and more, 293 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:18,360 and they're hyped, because they wanted to see female boxers. 294 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,440 "Oh, woman boxers? Oh, I got to see this." 295 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:28,160 And about 12 o'clock, they allowed women to go on. 296 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:44,560 We put on a good exhibition. 297 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,600 I realised that I had a dynamite hook. 298 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,760 You know, I was a legitimate hooker. 299 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:01,200 But, out of the blue, a man says, 300 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,680 "Those women should be shot." 301 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,240 They considered female boxers fourth-class citizens. 302 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,080 They... degraded you. 303 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:13,880 My father went berserk. 304 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:17,120 Started to fight the guy. 305 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:21,520 And it became a disaster. 306 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,840 It was distracting. I couldn't concentrate. 307 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:28,160 It made me feel very angry. 308 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:32,560 They had not taken it serious. 309 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:37,480 That's when I realised that women need to get a boxing licence. 310 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,480 The licence would make us legitimate. 311 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,920 So, I decided to go to the State Athletic Commission, 312 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:52,680 to apply for a boxing licence. 313 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,880 New York was a mecca of boxing. 314 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:02,720 That was where it was so important to be licenced in that state. 315 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,560 I saw another female boxer 316 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,720 called Jackie Tonawanda. 317 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,720 She was applying for a licence also. 318 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:14,360 It was a relief. 319 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,040 "I have someone else that's interesting in boxing." 320 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,280 Me and Tyger, you see, we'd like to get the licence. 321 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,240 I'd like to very much fight at Madison Square Garden. 322 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:32,960 I had an interest in getting me and my family out of the ghetto, 323 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,760 and I thought that boxing would be the vehicle for that. 324 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,120 So, I wish I was there at that meeting. 325 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,080 Would they accept it? 326 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:46,400 Would they give me a licence? 327 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:49,160 I don't know what they thought. 328 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:00,560 I had been coming along well with the training, 329 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,000 and I felt confident that I could box very well. 330 00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:09,320 Sal was very anxious for me to get in the ring. 331 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:13,600 Come here. You're doing the same thing you did the other night. 332 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,120 Your head is way up. Get the shoulder into it, man. 333 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:17,160 That's how you- 334 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,120 So, the next thing, he's organising an exhibition. 335 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:22,960 I guess it's time to get in and find out what I can do. 336 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:31,760 If you're knocked down and the bell rings, the count continues. 337 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:33,920 You have to get up. Cannot be saved by the bell. 338 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,720 You can't be saved by the bell, except for the last round. 339 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,440 I get in the dressing room, and that's when I started thinking, 340 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:45,080 "I'm an educated woman, and I'm gonna go try to beat somebody up?" 341 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:48,880 I was having a complete existential meltdown by that time. 342 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,120 (LAUGHS) 343 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,200 So, it's time to go fight. 344 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,320 We get in the ring. We started boxing, boom, boom, boom. 345 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:02,840 She came up with a hard right and hit me in the nose, 346 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,360 and it hurt! 347 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:07,800 So, we went back to the dressing room, 348 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,960 and I had a talk to myself, in the mirror, 349 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,240 blood running down my lips, and I said, 350 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,480 "This is never gonna happen again, or you're gonna get out of this." 351 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,840 We went back to the gym. 352 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,160 Sal said, "If you keep that arm in their face, you'll never get hit." 353 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,360 Plus, she can't even see where she's going. 354 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,440 And you throw your left hook to her face. 355 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,120 Sal was gonna make sure I didn't get hit, 356 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:40,600 because he wanted to sell this face. Come on, get the elbow down, OK? 357 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:41,960 He made me a deal. 358 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,920 He was gonna be the promotor, 359 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,400 I was gonna be the product. 360 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,640 "Sell me, baby. Make me some money." 361 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:08,040 (TYPEWRITER KEYS CLANKING) 362 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:13,000 Well, I'm looking at the notes of the Athletic Commission. 363 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,440 You have two women who apply. They call practically every day. 364 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:18,720 Well, they were persistent. (LAUGHS) 365 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,880 "The women have had no experience, and they are in different weights. 366 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,680 Who are they going to fight? You can't have them fight with men." 367 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,200 And I see Frank Morris is the commissioner, said this. 368 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:36,000 I had a lot of respect for Frank Morris. He's old-school boxing. 369 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,640 "I don't think women should be referees, judges, or boxers. 370 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:40,800 Boxing is for men." 371 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:43,280 Oh, boy. 372 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,080 The doctors on the commission are not in favour of it. 373 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:50,280 "The impact of a blow could hurt the women physically." 374 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,440 Oh, well I gotta take a deep breath on that one. 375 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,880 (DEEP BREATH) 376 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,800 That's... 377 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:01,240 OK, this is what they said. 378 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,760 "If you get hit in the stomach, you won't be able to have children." 379 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,680 Oh, please. Give me a break. 380 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:11,920 They were turned down. 381 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,440 I couldn't believe what I was hearing. 382 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,760 You know, I want this opportunity, I wanna fight. 383 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,240 Then, in September 1975, 384 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:28,240 everything changed. 385 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:29,280 (CROWD SHOUTING) 386 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:33,960 The first professional fight between women was sanctioned 387 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,400 by the State Boxing Commission, 388 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,640 after pressure from women's rights groups. 389 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,600 Caroline Svendsen says she learned her trade settling fights 390 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,080 when she was a bartender. 391 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:47,600 I was like, "Women boxing? Are you kidding me?" (LAUGHS) 392 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,840 It was the first women to ever fight in the state of Nevada. 393 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,040 This was a serious thing. 394 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,280 I was so happy, you know, 395 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,800 I was thinking that this is a step forward. 396 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,720 I was training, and Dee comes. 397 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:05,800 She says, "I want you to hear this," 398 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:08,880 because this woman in Nevada had been licenced. 399 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,320 "Oh shit, I'm not alone. Thank you, Jesus." 400 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,640 Nobody's beat my record, nobody's knocked me out. 401 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,680 INTERVIEWER: How many fights? I've had one. (LAUGHS) 402 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,720 But Nevada has always been an anything goes kind of place. 403 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:24,960 Everything's legal. 404 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,640 Because we couldn't get licenced in the state of New York, 405 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,600 what we needed was a real big state, like California. 406 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,360 So, Dee and I agreed, 407 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,960 the gameplan is to go to Nevada, 408 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:43,720 to get a licence. 409 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:45,680 Come back to California. 410 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,520 Once you go pro, you can't go amateur no more. 411 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,720 So, then I would say, "I want my licence in California." 412 00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,480 So, they had to let me get my licence. 413 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,480 Dee Knuckles found an opponent for me, and her name was Kim Maybee. 414 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:09,200 I was happy, I was excited. 415 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,840 But the public, they don't want woman boxing. 416 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,680 Women boxing? 417 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:20,400 Ah, it's like a comedy thing. I mean, it's very embarrassing. 418 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,080 Women ain't made to be hit in the breast or the face like that. 419 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:26,880 Their body's not made to be punched. 420 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,440 A woman could never be a good boxer. 421 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:36,320 How could any woman who, just by her daily existence, waits on men, 422 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:39,480 how could they possibly go in the ring and start throwing punches? 423 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,440 Women think that they can really be doing the things that men can do. 424 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:48,600 I don't really think so. 425 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,560 I don't think it's a sport for women, 426 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,400 cos they're not physically constituted to be boxers. 427 00:26:58,440 --> 00:26:59,840 It's just not a sport for 'em. 428 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,960 The morning the day before the fight, I get a call from Dee. 429 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:08,640 She said that the gym... 430 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,560 had been burned. 431 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:16,760 They didn't burn the whole gym. 432 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,120 It was the area where my stuff was at. 433 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:21,280 And the policemen had to come. 434 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:25,960 Dee told them, "She's had a lot of death threats." 435 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,480 And I was like, "What death threats?" 436 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,440 "They wanna hurt you, Pat." 437 00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:35,120 She hands me the letters. 438 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:41,200 They're predominantly males being vicious and mean. 439 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,120 Things they would like to do. 440 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,000 And who sends all these letters, threatening? 441 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,480 Who wants to hurt me and my children when I didn't do anything to nobody? 442 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,600 All I wanted to do was box. 443 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:55,320 For crying out loud, what the fuck? Can somebody give me a break? 444 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,520 Dee kept the letters from me, because she thought that 445 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,400 if I had any inclination of this stuff, I would stop boxing. 446 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,280 But, you know what, all the rage, the hate, the (ROARS) 447 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:09,960 you guys are not gonna stop me. 448 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,280 You can't. You can't. This is something I want. 449 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:13,640 I'm ready for it. 450 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,000 REPORTER: For the first time in California boxing history, 451 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,200 two women squared off in the ring tonight. 452 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:33,600 (CROWD JEERING) 453 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,360 There was 10,000 people there. 454 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,560 The had the police escort me into the ring, 455 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,560 because they were afraid that somebody was gonna shoot me. 456 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:48,680 You get in the ring and you got the crowd... 457 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,560 (CROWD JEERING AND BOOING) 458 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,200 ..that doesn't like what you're doing, 459 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,400 so you really heard that hate. 460 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:56,920 (BOOING) 461 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,160 You actually really heard it from more of the women. 462 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,960 You know, "These fucking broads. 463 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,320 Check them out, they think they can fucking fight, 464 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,400 and they're nothing but a bunch of little bitches." 465 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,000 I'm only 20 years old. 466 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:18,440 Scared shitless. 467 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,000 And if things weren't already complicated enough, 468 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:25,160 I was carrying a secret that nobody knew. 469 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:31,920 I got a routine physical from my physician, 470 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:34,760 who gave me a clean bill of health. 471 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,320 But indicated that I was pregnant. 472 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,520 And then he said, "So, you can't box." 473 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,360 I don't want the baby to get hurt, but, at the same time, 474 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,480 I know that I have to do this. It was about becoming somebody. 475 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:01,920 So, I said, "You have to change this. I wanna fight." 476 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,760 Poor guy, he didn't know whether to trust me or not. 477 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,200 But he said, "OK." 478 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:12,920 I told Dee that I was pregnant. 479 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,480 Dee was like, "So, are you gonna fight?" 480 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,120 I said, "Well, hell yeah, I'm gonna fight." 481 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:20,360 Showtime. 482 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:23,440 (CROWD BOOS) 483 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,200 There's Kim Maybee. Oh, my god. 484 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,280 I was 5'4", she was 6'1". 485 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,320 I'm, like, little, looking up at her like, 486 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,400 "Oh shit, I'm gonna get killed." 487 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,440 It's a mismatch, but I wasn't gonna let it stop me. 488 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,280 Then, all of a sudden, I started hearing the different, 489 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,200 you know, the changing of the minds, the tone in their voices, you know. 490 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,760 (CROWD CHEERS) 491 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,520 Like, "Wow, I think they enjoyed it." 492 00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,360 But, all of a sudden, she went for my stomach. 493 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,960 The reality kicked in, the baby, and it was like, "Oh shit." 494 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,640 So, then I start covering up more. 495 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:08,200 She clocked me. 496 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,680 And it was like, "Whoa." 497 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:21,560 And then the referee's in front of me like going like this, "Pat, Pat." 498 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:24,480 The fight was over. 499 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:29,080 She ended up winning, but I didn't care, because I did it, 500 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:30,200 and I was ecstatic. 501 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:35,960 I accomplished what I wanted. Which was? 502 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,080 Which was being the first female licenced in California, 503 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,680 and the first fight in California. 504 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:44,480 And I became 505 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,160 California's first pro female boxer. 506 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,600 And the baby that I had nine months later was... 507 00:31:57,960 --> 00:31:59,200 healthy as can be. 508 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,200 Tonight's fight did make boxing history. 509 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,200 Fighter and audience agree, there is a place for women in the ring. 510 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,400 Once Pat Pineda was licenced in the state of California, 511 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:15,400 it was like a domino effect. 512 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,680 Other states started issuing licences. 513 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,600 Oregon, Washington, Utah, 514 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,280 Connecticut, and the list goes on. 515 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,200 REPORTER: How much does she weigh, commissioner? 516 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:33,880 (MEN LAUGH) 517 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,920 130 lbs. Fine, very good. 518 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,320 Sharon Oldbury at the beauty parlour. 519 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:43,600 At the same time, 21-year-old Zenda Foster 520 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,280 was finishing her day at work. That night, the two women met. 521 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,840 The first professional fight between women in Washington. 522 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,360 Women are beautiful and great. (BELL DINGS) 523 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:07,960 I left New York and I did a tour, 524 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:15,120 and I was the first to fight in Canada, Pennsylvania, 525 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:16,240 Connecticut. 526 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,120 We're gonna see a film clip of the first female boxing match 527 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:23,320 in the history of Connecticut. Really? 528 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,920 Observers say there was no question the fighters 529 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:27,720 were of professional calibre. 530 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,280 They said, you know, they thought that I was crazy. 531 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:31,720 A woman wanting to box? 532 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,520 I showed them my sincerity, 533 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,760 and they saw what I could do. 534 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,360 There were other women in smaller states 535 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,240 that were getting licences to fight, 536 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,920 so Sal and I decided to just go down and apply for a licence 537 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:52,680 in New York. 538 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,040 We marched down to the commissioner's office, 539 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,880 filled out an application, 540 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,560 and I gave it to the New York Athletic Commissioner at the time, 541 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,679 and he looked me straight in the eye 542 00:34:05,719 --> 00:34:08,960 and he tore it up in front of me 543 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:10,679 and put it in the trashcan. 544 00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:13,920 What a "fuck you" moment. 545 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,120 So you don't think they should grant women their licence in New York? 546 00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:18,760 Definitely not. Not as fighters. 547 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,440 They wanna do it as wrestlers, which is an exhibition, that's fine. 548 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:24,719 But as fighters, where they can actually get hurt, 549 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:26,159 I'm very much against it. 550 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,920 Without New York on board, 551 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,400 the sport wasn't going to go anywhere. 552 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:39,159 Women needed to be able to have a licence in that state. 553 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,280 I wanted to be the first to fight in New York, 554 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:46,600 but I wouldn't have that opportunity without a licence. 555 00:34:46,639 --> 00:34:49,960 And then I got a call from a lady by the name of Dee Knuckles, 556 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,800 who said that she would manage me in California. 557 00:34:54,720 --> 00:34:57,600 My family was very sceptical about it. 558 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,760 They were saying, "You don't know this lady. 559 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,680 How do you know it's not a set-up?" 560 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:06,800 But I took a chance. I took a gamble. 561 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,680 I left and went to California. 562 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:22,160 Dee Knuckles had a gym and I met Pat Pineda there. 563 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,200 When I first met Tyger, I thought, "This bitch is crazy," 564 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:30,040 but I liked her, because I knew her heart was in the right place 565 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:31,760 and she was the real deal. 566 00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:38,480 Dee Knuckles wanted California to be the centre of boxing for women. 567 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,800 I was at the after-school programme for troubled kids, 568 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,280 and Dee Knuckles came in and said, 569 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,920 "Are you girls interested in doing any fighting?" 570 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:52,560 "Sure, I am." 571 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,840 Lydia, she was the leader of a gang at 15. 572 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,880 She actually had a killer instinct. 573 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,240 Bottom line. I had the power. 574 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:02,560 Bam! 575 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,160 Boxing, it sparked something in me. 576 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,560 It felt good to punch somebody legally, like, 577 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,520 you're not gonna go to jail. 578 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:13,160 You'd have to right to do it. 579 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,400 The women are just kind of popping up everywhere. 580 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:20,840 There was Diane Syverson, 581 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,640 Princess Redstar, and Lavonne Ludian. 582 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:26,080 The grandmother. 583 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,240 They asked my name and I thought, 584 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,640 "Oh boy, will I be able to pass an EEG?" 585 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,560 Or EKG. Which is the one that checks the heart? 586 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:36,560 But anyway, I passed it. 587 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:38,920 I just told 'em I was 29, 588 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,720 but I had to be closer to 40. 589 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:45,920 They didn't guess that I was an old lady. (LAUGHS) 590 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:47,480 And then there was me. 591 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,880 I wanted to be a police officer, 592 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:54,080 but they said I was one half-inch too short. 593 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:58,360 I used to do exercises every day trying to get up to that height. 594 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,880 But, instead, I got into women's boxing. 595 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:05,960 I wanted to be part of history. 596 00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:09,720 We had the same goal in life: 597 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:13,040 to be taken seriously as professional fighters 598 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:14,640 or professional athletes. 599 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,640 We saw the importance that we needed federations 600 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:21,240 that would rank the women, just like the males. 601 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:26,600 So, on the West Coast, they set up the WBB, the Women's Boxing Board. 602 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,880 And Lady Tyger was ranked on the top. 603 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,880 There was nobody that could compete with her. 604 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,840 ANNOUNCER: Lady Tyger Trimiar! 605 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:39,400 Blows kisses to the audience, 606 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:41,720 and shows that she's definitely a showman. 607 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:47,160 I sparred with her quite a few times. 608 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,440 She was hard to hit. She's a pro, and she's special. 609 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,440 It's because she always kept her head down. 610 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,720 She had strategy about her. 611 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:00,760 I'm not one to brag, 612 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,720 but I have to admit that I was pretty good. 613 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,120 Then I heard about a fighter on the East Coast. 614 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:13,480 ANNOUNCER: I see Cat Davis making her way into the ring. 615 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:15,160 (APPLAUSE) 616 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,640 In the East Coast, Sal had set up another federation, 617 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,480 the WBF, or the Women's Boxing Federation. 618 00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,960 CAT DAVIES: Sal and I decided to go around the country, 619 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,680 to these other states, outside New York. 620 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,560 ANNOUNCER: Cathy "Cat" Davis! 621 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,800 I was winning all my fights. (BELL DINGS) 622 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,840 The winner, by knockout, Cathy "Cat" Davis! 623 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:56,840 So, on the East Coast, with the WBF, we had Cat at the top. 624 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:03,720 On the West Coast, with the WBB, Tyger was ranked at the top. 625 00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:10,280 There was a rivalry there, and Tyger, she wanted to beat her ass. 626 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:13,160 I really, really wanted to fight Cat Davis, 627 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,440 because she was in my weight class. 628 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:17,480 But I never heard from her 629 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,480 or any of those people that was working with her. 630 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:23,920 Sal was involved with all the business of it. 631 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,720 He found out who I was gonna fight. 632 00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,400 So, I don't know exactly what was going on there. 633 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:32,960 But we were focused on New York. 634 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,200 Without the New York Athletic Commission on board, 635 00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:38,600 women's boxing was going nowhere fast. 636 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,520 I had to get that New York licence. 637 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:50,160 So, we decided to do this protest exhibition. 638 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,080 We'd get a lot of publicity. 639 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:58,400 The athletic commission was livid. 640 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:00,840 (SIREN WAILS) 641 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,920 WOMAN: I think she should do what she wants. She has her rights. 642 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:15,440 What difference does it make? 643 00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,200 If she wants to fight, she should be able to fight. 644 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,520 They don't have any jurisdiction over us, 645 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:27,040 because we don't have a licence. 646 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,200 So, I don't think they can do anything but lock us up 647 00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:32,080 for a misdemeanour, maybe disturbing the peace or something. 648 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,880 So, they couldn't arrest HIM, because he's a guy, 649 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,000 and it's perfect legal for him. 650 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,520 But for me, they would have to arrest me for being a woman. 651 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,000 Which was silly. 652 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:47,360 Why did the commission call the police the other day 653 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:50,800 and stop the exhibition? Well, simply because it's not legal. 654 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,040 It's not legal for a woman to box. 655 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:03,920 In California, I was really struggling to make a living. 656 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:08,720 It's a wonder I wasn't on the boulevard with a tin cup. 657 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,520 We couldn't make as much money as men. 658 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:16,680 I realised that we needed a big boxing promoter 659 00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:18,600 to get the sport going. 660 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:26,000 REPORTER: What does a boxing promoter do? He hustles and sells. 661 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:28,480 He convinces the boxers to fight, the money men 662 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,680 and television executives to invest, and the public to watch. 663 00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:34,960 In the mid-'70s, there were two major promoters, 664 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:36,440 and that was Don King... 665 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:38,560 Today I'm standing in the glory of the lord, 666 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,160 again being blessed by him who sits high and looks low. 667 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:42,520 ..and Bob Arum. 668 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,920 My name is Bob Arum, I'm the attorney for Muhammad Ali. 669 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:48,880 Both promoters operated from New York, 670 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,120 and basically they monopolised the sport. 671 00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,240 We've taken on all the big institutions, 672 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,880 such as Madison Square Garden, and all the major ones across the world. 673 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,840 Boxing is closer to showbusiness than it is 674 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,160 to any other professional sport. 675 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:06,880 If the fighter is good and he has charisma, you've got a goldmine. 676 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,400 They have to pay me 8 million that night. 677 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,320 What they pay him is their business, but they have to pay me 8. 678 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:16,920 We had to think about how women should market themselves. 679 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:21,360 We realised how important setting our image was. 680 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,000 Boxing was a man's sport. 681 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,680 It is aggressive. It's not pretty. 682 00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:31,520 But in the media, women were expected to, like, 683 00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,200 just be prim and proper. 684 00:42:34,240 --> 00:42:36,760 So, I made sure everywhere I showed up, 685 00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:39,080 I got make-up on, hair done, everything. 686 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,680 Or the men would've felt threatened. 687 00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:47,680 You have to ask yourself, what are you willing to compromise 688 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:50,200 to get where you wanna go? 689 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:53,800 Dee Knuckles, she tried to make me like a showgirl, 690 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:57,920 and someone tried to pick me up because he thought I was a hooker. 691 00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,920 I didn't understand it, 692 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,080 because I didn't really know what a hooker was. 693 00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:07,280 I was innocent. (LAUGHS) You know? 694 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,000 One fighter that didn't compromise with anything? 695 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:15,720 Tyger. 696 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:17,400 Definitely Tyger. 697 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,840 No, I didn't shave my head for boxing, 698 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:28,880 but now it's considered a trademark. 699 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,120 I like to be unique. I like to be different. 700 00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,560 That's one of the reasons I have the shaved head. 701 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:39,800 People might think that it was a masculine move, 702 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,520 but you don't have to have hair to be a woman. 703 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:48,120 For me, it was important to be an individual. 704 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,880 She was ahead of her time, 705 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,320 where we were all tunnel-visioned. 706 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:03,720 There was never any doubt in my mind who was gonna be the poster girl. 707 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:08,640 She's a 23-year-old, 5'10, 135-lbs blonde named Cathy "Cat" Davis. 708 00:44:08,680 --> 00:44:10,720 And, of course, the logical question is, 709 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:13,720 what's a girl like you doing in a sport like boxing? 710 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:19,120 She was a beautiful-looking blonde. Really easy on the eye. 711 00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:22,760 She was in the magazines, newspapers. 712 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,880 I was the first woman on the cover of Ring Magazine. 713 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,200 It created such a controversy, 714 00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:34,960 and the people who still didn't want us to have a licence were incensed. 715 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,480 When I saw Cat Davis on the cover of Ring Magazine, 716 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,120 I thought, "OK... 717 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,360 how low can Ring Magazine go?" 718 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:48,760 Cat Davis set the benchmark for how other women should 719 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:50,760 market themselves in the sport. 720 00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:55,680 Sal wanted me to be more feminine, and he said he didn't want 721 00:44:55,720 --> 00:44:59,000 to be associated with feminists, 722 00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:02,240 with those kind of women, he said, 723 00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:07,000 so that it would be more acceptable 724 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,120 to a wider range of people. 725 00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:10,600 How many men have you hit? 726 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:12,520 Never hit a man in my life. You're kidding! 727 00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:14,960 No. I'm not a fighter outside of the ring. 728 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,920 Outside the ring you're a... I'm a pussycat. 729 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:20,960 Sal moved us into an apartment, 730 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,880 and we lived together, just the two of us. 731 00:45:25,720 --> 00:45:30,480 The arrangement was we were still manager and boxer. 732 00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:40,720 But he was trying to create a... relationship 733 00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:42,280 other than just boxing. 734 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:48,720 He actually put the rumours out that we were engaged 735 00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:50,560 and going to get married. 736 00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:53,960 But it was a lie. 737 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,360 And I would debunk that. 738 00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,440 I would say, "No, we're not engaged." 739 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:06,000 But after a while, everybody took it as the truth. 740 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:26,960 Well, there's always a lot of the boxing trainers 741 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:31,160 that wanna have sex with you, and if you didn't go with them, 742 00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:34,920 they would say that you were gay, you know. 743 00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:37,280 Dating was a little difficult. 744 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:41,560 One day a guy was walking me home 745 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,480 and then a lady in the building said "Tyger, when is your next fight?" 746 00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:47,400 and he said, "Fight? Oh you're a boxer" 747 00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:49,920 and I never saw him again. (LAUGHTER) 748 00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:57,640 I really wanted to be married and have maybe two or three kids. 749 00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:00,560 But boxing was my priority. 750 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:03,120 You know, and I had to do it while I was young. 751 00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:06,400 That was the sacrifice that I made to box. 752 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,560 Women should be able to participate in all walks of life. 753 00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,640 This is America and everything should be open to everybody. 754 00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,520 Tyger was a one-woman campaigning machine. 755 00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:21,600 She was like nonstop 24/7, out for any female that wanted to box. 756 00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:25,120 Most of my fight was outside of the ring. 757 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:26,840 Going on hunger strike. 758 00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:32,280 Picketing, commission meetings, 759 00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,200 I wrote letters, petitions, 760 00:47:35,240 --> 00:47:39,680 all of these things to promote female fighters. 761 00:47:39,720 --> 00:47:42,200 Lady Tyger did everything 762 00:47:42,240 --> 00:47:44,760 to change the minds about women's boxing. 763 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,840 I had my doubts about women boxing, but hey, 764 00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:52,760 it looks sensational to me. 765 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,000 I mean, if they got the guts to do it 766 00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:57,680 and the determination, I think they should try. 767 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:06,120 Every time Don King came to California, 768 00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:11,160 I would be right there to ask him to promote women's boxing. 769 00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:14,160 Eventually he said that he would. 770 00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:17,240 Don King, he said he promises to use women boxers, so I want 771 00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:21,000 everybody to put pressure on him because he made that promise to. 772 00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:24,120 MAN: Alright! 773 00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,640 Suddenly I'm hearing from Don King, 774 00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:34,120 Bob Arum, big promoters, 775 00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:36,520 and they wanna put me in Madison Square Garden, 776 00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:40,520 the biggest venue in town which was a big deal. 777 00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:45,040 I would be making hundreds of thousands of dollars. 778 00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:49,120 Time for a party baby! (LAUGHS) 779 00:48:57,120 --> 00:48:58,960 That's a good question. 780 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:06,400 Finally we were on the verge of getting legitimacy. 781 00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:08,000 But the one caveat 782 00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:10,480 was we had to have a licence in New York, 783 00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:12,040 which we hadn't gotten yet. 784 00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:15,120 We needed help with the fight. 785 00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:21,000 I graduated in 1974 786 00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:24,080 and the first time I went to court 787 00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:27,560 the judge looked at me and said, "When's the lawyer coming here?" 788 00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:29,720 and I said "Judge, I AM the lawyer." 789 00:49:30,720 --> 00:49:33,280 I met Cat and Sal 790 00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:34,960 and they told me 791 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:39,400 women were prohibited from getting a licence to box in New York 792 00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:42,000 and I said, "Well that doesn't sound right." 793 00:49:43,240 --> 00:49:46,320 The New York State Athletic Commission said that 794 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:51,480 women's boxing would possibly be too pornography, 795 00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:56,320 seeing two women box is, you know, everybody's fantasy. 796 00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:01,240 "This could cause irreparable harm to the image of the sport 797 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:04,480 and ultimately add to the financial detriment of those 798 00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:09,120 whose livelihoods depend upon this activity." Meaning men. 799 00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,720 I felt the denial of licences to women 800 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:16,120 was a violation of the 14th Amendment of Constitution 801 00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:20,280 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of being a woman. 802 00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:23,000 They can sue. 803 00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:25,680 REPORTER: The attractive blond boxer served papers on the 804 00:50:25,720 --> 00:50:27,680 New York State Athletic Commission today 805 00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:29,520 requiring the Commission to show cause 806 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:33,080 why she's being refused a licence to box in this state. 807 00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:35,760 Beautiful, alright. 808 00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:39,840 Now, you're gonna step in under and bring the uppercut up, right. 809 00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,960 Maybe we were moving toward getting a boxing licence, 810 00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:48,280 but behind the scenes it was- it was getting more tense. 811 00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:50,760 Alright, get ready. 812 00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,600 Work. Go ahead now. 813 00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,480 That's it. Sal was putting more pressure on me 814 00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:00,600 to be his wife. He was very insistent. 815 00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:05,160 Now he would kiss me and hold me, 816 00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:08,400 I realised how controlled I felt. 817 00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:17,800 I needed an escape from that. 818 00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:20,920 So I enrolled in university. 819 00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:28,400 I was teaching women's studies, 820 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:30,160 I walked into class, 821 00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:33,680 and there, halfway back, 822 00:51:33,720 --> 00:51:36,880 was this really striking woman. 823 00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:39,800 I was immediately curious about her. 824 00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:44,440 I had a woman's studies professor, 825 00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:46,960 she would talk about different things in her life 826 00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:51,760 that she was doing; rock climbing and- and travelling, 827 00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,120 and I started noticing I was envious of her. 828 00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,480 Her freedom was very alluring to me. 829 00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:02,840 I didn't know women boxed. 830 00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:05,600 She told me about the relationship 831 00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:08,640 between manager and athlete. 832 00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:11,520 This sounds like pimp and prostitute. 833 00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:15,400 No wonder this woman is uncomfortable. 834 00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,840 You know, every month we would get together and do something. 835 00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:22,800 And, one afternoon, 836 00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:25,240 we were hanging out... 837 00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,720 and she leaned over and kissed me. 838 00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:32,720 It changed my whole life. 839 00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:38,560 I knew I had been denying something. 840 00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:42,360 Only half of me... 841 00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:43,800 living. 842 00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:56,360 Being gay was a horrible thing. 843 00:52:56,400 --> 00:53:00,040 It was... 844 00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:04,320 I- It's hard to explain, 845 00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:08,880 the gravity of what happened to you 846 00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:11,400 if you came out as being gay. 847 00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:16,160 It's so senseless. You love a person, 848 00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:20,040 and you have to pay for it in such a dire way. 849 00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:25,920 A gay is not a creation of God. 850 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:27,840 There is hope for the homosexuals that, 851 00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,400 if they're willing to turn from sin 852 00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:34,680 they can be ex-homosexuals, the same as there can be an ex-murderer, 853 00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:36,680 an ex-thief or ex-anybody. 854 00:53:36,720 --> 00:53:41,160 A lot of people, male and female, are homophobic. 855 00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:44,560 And people think, "Oh, are they this or are they that?" 856 00:53:44,600 --> 00:53:48,040 Instead of, we're just women that are interested in boxing. 857 00:53:54,760 --> 00:53:58,640 Beverley and I, we couldn't see each other very often, 858 00:53:58,680 --> 00:54:00,760 so we started exchanging letters. 859 00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:04,120 One day Sal found a love letter that she had sent me. 860 00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:10,040 And he- he blew up. 861 00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:15,800 Sal said it was gonna tear women's boxing apart. 862 00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:23,320 We were doing something that upset the roles we have in society. 863 00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:28,680 If we were exposed as gay, 864 00:54:28,720 --> 00:54:32,360 it would confirm all of the nay-sayers 865 00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:34,520 that it was just a gay thing. 866 00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:40,200 Sal gave her an ultimatum; 867 00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:42,720 him or me. 868 00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:45,680 Foolish move on his part, 869 00:54:45,720 --> 00:54:49,800 cos it's pretty clear to me what she's gonna choose here. 870 00:54:56,640 --> 00:54:58,600 It was the best thing for the sport, 871 00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:02,480 for me to be straight. 872 00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:07,360 So I decided 873 00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:08,960 to break it off. 874 00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:19,680 It felt like a huge disappointment. 875 00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:24,080 Dare I say, almost betrayal. 876 00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:36,400 It was such a sacrifice. 877 00:55:36,440 --> 00:55:41,720 But I had to make it to get the licence and change history. 878 00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:51,600 I was 27 and three years out of law school, with very little experience, 879 00:55:51,640 --> 00:55:54,120 suing New York state, 880 00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:56,360 you know, a division of New York state. 881 00:55:56,400 --> 00:55:58,440 What the hell was I thinking? 882 00:56:00,160 --> 00:56:04,320 Then, I discovered Cat's licence was denied 883 00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:08,080 on the recommendation of the Medical Advisory Board. 884 00:56:09,800 --> 00:56:13,440 But I subsequently learned that the Medical Advisory Board 885 00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:15,000 had never met. 886 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:17,240 Gotcha. (LAUGHS) 887 00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:18,760 How stupid are you? 888 00:56:18,800 --> 00:56:21,440 If you're gonna do something, at least do it right 889 00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:23,560 so you don't get caught. (LAUGHS) 890 00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:32,200 Then, I received a call, and they told me that the court 891 00:56:32,240 --> 00:56:36,720 agreed that prohibiting women from being licenced to box 892 00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:41,200 in New York state was unconstitutional and discriminatory 893 00:56:41,240 --> 00:56:44,720 and that I could call Cat and say, 894 00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:46,360 "You're getting a licence." 895 00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:49,680 And it just- it was wonderful. Wow, yes! 896 00:56:49,720 --> 00:56:52,520 A recent State Supreme Court decision allowing women 897 00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:54,320 the right to fight professionally. 898 00:56:56,960 --> 00:57:02,000 Things were really rolling so I flew out to New York. 899 00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:13,240 The day finally comes. 900 00:57:13,280 --> 00:57:16,960 And I go right down to the State Athletic Commission. 901 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,520 Can't believe we finally got this form. 902 00:57:23,560 --> 00:57:27,160 Fingerprints, pictures, and they're gonna accept it all. 903 00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:37,320 They're gonna give out the boxing licence to Jackie Tonawanda, 904 00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:39,680 Cat Davis and myself. 905 00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:42,600 We have three women with us today 906 00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:44,720 who are among the first to apply 907 00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:47,160 for licences within this state. 908 00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:48,800 They gave us our licence, 909 00:57:48,840 --> 00:57:52,280 the little piece of paper that we had fought so hard for. 910 00:57:53,920 --> 00:57:55,400 And we got it. 911 00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:05,240 Oh my god, it was a big thing. 912 00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:07,240 The money was gonna come, 913 00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:09,120 everything was gonna come with it. 914 00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:11,880 The New York licence wasn't just a piece of paper, 915 00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:14,480 it was a symbol of achievement. 916 00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:20,040 New York was the final piece of the puzzle. 917 00:58:21,600 --> 00:58:23,280 This was a massive deal. 918 00:58:43,440 --> 00:58:47,680 After waiting all that time I should've been happy. 919 00:58:49,360 --> 00:58:51,680 But what they did was 920 00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:55,880 they handed Cat Davis the licence first, 921 00:58:55,920 --> 00:58:58,400 even though Jackie and I 922 00:58:58,440 --> 00:59:02,040 were the first to apply. 923 00:59:02,080 --> 00:59:06,120 You know. Everybody knew getting the licence first means a lot. 924 00:59:07,240 --> 00:59:11,080 Lady Tyger wasn't happy, and she was grumbling a bit, 925 00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:16,200 because she and Jackie had been trying for a licence before me. 926 00:59:16,240 --> 00:59:20,680 And they were a bit annoyed that the cracker got the licence first. 927 00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:24,520 I felt hurt for Tyger. 928 00:59:25,800 --> 00:59:28,840 It's like they shouldn't have done it that way to her. 929 00:59:30,040 --> 00:59:33,360 Cat was white, the great white hope. 930 00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:35,440 And in boxing that was a big thing. 931 00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:39,560 Although all three of them got the licence, 932 00:59:39,600 --> 00:59:42,320 it was clear that it was all about one of 'em. 933 00:59:42,360 --> 00:59:43,560 (APPLAUSE) 934 00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:46,840 Our guest's name is Cat Davis. 935 00:59:46,880 --> 00:59:48,440 (APPLAUSE) 936 00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:51,240 Cat Davis was on this TV show. 937 00:59:51,280 --> 00:59:54,360 When are you gonna fight in Madison Square Garden and could you fill it? 938 00:59:54,400 --> 00:59:57,360 Yes, definitely I could. And that TV show. 939 00:59:57,400 --> 01:00:01,200 The financial independence I have now is- 940 01:00:01,240 --> 01:00:03,720 is mainly through boxing, from boxing. 941 01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:06,880 And good management. And good management, 942 01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:09,960 and good publicity, and what else did you tell me to say? 943 01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:13,200 So now that we've got the licence, 944 01:00:13,240 --> 01:00:16,720 the deal at Madison Square Garden was gonna come through. 945 01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:20,200 I got an offer of $150,000. 946 01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:30,560 I'm a native New Yorker and I wanted to fight at Madison Square Garden. 947 01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:33,600 And I wanted to fight Cat Davis. 948 01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:35,600 But that didn't happen. 949 01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:40,680 I never- never had an opportunity to fight in New York. 950 01:00:45,120 --> 01:00:47,960 I got my licence, 951 01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:50,240 and I was never able to use it. 952 01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:58,280 I had no other choice but to go back to California. 953 01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:10,520 I was in really bad shape financially. 954 01:01:10,560 --> 01:01:15,520 And a friend of mine told me about another way of making money. 955 01:01:16,760 --> 01:01:18,760 Apartment boxing. 956 01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:20,240 Oh, my goodness. 957 01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:23,160 Shit. 958 01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:35,640 It was women that would box businessmen 959 01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:39,040 who got off on it sexually. 960 01:01:39,080 --> 01:01:41,680 That's what they wanted to spend their money on, 961 01:01:41,720 --> 01:01:44,240 was getting their ass kicked, they loved it. 962 01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:47,080 You don't get naked, you don't take off your clothes, 963 01:01:47,120 --> 01:01:48,280 nothing like that. 964 01:01:52,640 --> 01:01:57,480 But some people might call it a form of prostitution. 965 01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:03,720 It meant that I was able to pay my rent and pay my bills 966 01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:06,880 so that I could continue with my career. 967 01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:14,000 But, with women's boxing, you don't know what to expect. 968 01:02:24,200 --> 01:02:27,200 A couple of weeks after Lady Tyger and Cat Davis 969 01:02:27,240 --> 01:02:29,720 got their boxing licences, 970 01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:32,960 an article came out in The Village Voice; 971 01:02:35,000 --> 01:02:37,120 it dropped a bomb in the sport. 972 01:02:38,200 --> 01:02:40,600 "Cat Davies is a kinky media phenomenon, 973 01:02:40,640 --> 01:02:43,520 a product of the Great American Hype Machine. 974 01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:47,120 Cat is a lady boxer who is white, blonde and pretty." 975 01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:50,520 "White, pretty and not what she appears to be. 976 01:02:50,560 --> 01:02:54,760 Her manager, Sal Algieri, is a tank artist 977 01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:57,320 and accused of fight fixing." 978 01:03:04,520 --> 01:03:05,840 (SIGHS) 979 01:03:07,600 --> 01:03:11,560 Sal and Cat were known for being a little underhanded, 980 01:03:12,840 --> 01:03:17,440 I'm sorry, I- I shouldn't say bad things about people 981 01:03:17,480 --> 01:03:18,960 but... 982 01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:23,240 when they offered a fight to me, I told 'em that I was out of shape, 983 01:03:23,280 --> 01:03:26,000 that I hadn't been working out 984 01:03:26,040 --> 01:03:30,040 so I told 'em I don't think I should do it, they said, 985 01:03:30,080 --> 01:03:35,360 "Oh don't worry about it, it's just an exhibition". 986 01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:38,080 I got in the ring with Cat Davis, 987 01:03:38,120 --> 01:03:43,400 and, boy, I'm telling you, she came on like gang busters. 988 01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:45,320 (INDISTINCT COMMENTARY) 989 01:03:50,280 --> 01:03:53,200 My trainer says, "They're serious about this fight, 990 01:03:53,240 --> 01:03:54,760 they're gonna beat you up". 991 01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:07,960 My trainer, he saw how defeated I felt over the whole scenario, 992 01:04:08,000 --> 01:04:11,400 it caused me to quit and that made me sad. 993 01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:15,920 Sal Algieri and Cat Davis, 994 01:04:15,960 --> 01:04:19,840 they just were not good for the boxing picture. 995 01:04:22,440 --> 01:04:25,960 It was really shocking when this article came out. 996 01:04:28,600 --> 01:04:33,440 I don't know if she knew or had any kind of idea 997 01:04:33,480 --> 01:04:36,400 that Sal was fixing her fights. 998 01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:39,920 I don't know. 999 01:04:46,680 --> 01:04:49,760 I really can't remember... 1000 01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:57,080 any fights that look like they were fake. 1001 01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:04,560 (BELL DINGS) 1002 01:05:05,440 --> 01:05:09,680 COMMENTATOR: Cat Davis, who in 16 fights has won 15 by knockouts... 1003 01:05:11,320 --> 01:05:14,320 When somebody hits the ground with a thud, 1004 01:05:14,360 --> 01:05:16,360 that's a real knockout. 1005 01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:19,360 Nobody could say I was a fake. 1006 01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:28,400 Maybe she knew and was in on it 1007 01:05:29,880 --> 01:05:32,560 or maybe she had no idea, 1008 01:05:32,600 --> 01:05:35,240 and truly believed she was a great fighter. 1009 01:05:44,520 --> 01:05:48,240 REPORTER: I'm standing on the business end of a punching bag... (LAUGHS) 1010 01:05:48,280 --> 01:05:50,640 with Women's Lightweight Boxing Champion of the World, 1011 01:05:50,680 --> 01:05:53,800 so certified by The Women's Boxing Federation. 1012 01:05:54,840 --> 01:05:57,680 Have you ever been hurt, knocked out?No. 1013 01:05:57,720 --> 01:06:00,440 What happens when you do? I don't think that'll ever happen. 1014 01:06:00,480 --> 01:06:02,240 When do you defend your title next? 1015 01:06:02,280 --> 01:06:05,440 Well, my next fight is a non-title fight in Atlanta, Georgia. 1016 01:06:08,360 --> 01:06:11,160 Ernestine was like my daughter, 1017 01:06:11,200 --> 01:06:12,880 she was such a sweetheart 1018 01:06:12,920 --> 01:06:16,000 and she'd come down to the gym and sit there and watch the guys 1019 01:06:16,040 --> 01:06:18,720 and I started teaching her how to box a little bit, 1020 01:06:18,760 --> 01:06:21,560 she just wanted to stay in it and wanted to be a boxer. 1021 01:06:21,600 --> 01:06:25,680 So I took her to Georgia, and she met Cat Davis. 1022 01:06:25,720 --> 01:06:28,760 I heard that Sal talked with Ernestine's manager 1023 01:06:28,800 --> 01:06:32,680 before the fight and said, "Your girl got to lose, 1024 01:06:34,560 --> 01:06:38,840 she has got to lose because a black girl has no market value". 1025 01:06:40,120 --> 01:06:43,400 I thought that was just, that was just mean but it's- 1026 01:06:43,440 --> 01:06:47,120 it's reality here. It's reality. 1027 01:06:51,320 --> 01:06:54,600 Sal Algieri's under the impression that Ernestine Jones 1028 01:06:54,640 --> 01:06:56,320 was gonna get beat up, 1029 01:06:57,360 --> 01:07:01,240 but they didn't know that Ernestine wasn't coming out there 1030 01:07:01,280 --> 01:07:02,440 to play around. 1031 01:07:02,480 --> 01:07:04,520 (CHEERING) (SHUTTER CLICKS) 1032 01:07:08,240 --> 01:07:10,680 We start boxing, everything is going alright, 1033 01:07:11,800 --> 01:07:14,360 and I kept that left jab out. 1034 01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:18,440 Everybody was all around, they were waiting for Cathy to lower the boom. 1035 01:07:18,480 --> 01:07:21,680 The jab is something that everybody think that nobody can get away from. 1036 01:07:21,720 --> 01:07:24,800 Ernestine threw a right hand over the top of it, 1037 01:07:24,840 --> 01:07:29,560 and she just stifled up like a board and fell down, flat out, 1038 01:07:29,600 --> 01:07:31,840 just lay there like a canoe or something, 1039 01:07:31,880 --> 01:07:33,600 it looked like she was gonna float away. 1040 01:07:33,640 --> 01:07:35,360 I thought it was over with. 1041 01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:38,200 It was the first time I got knocked out. 1042 01:07:38,240 --> 01:07:42,080 The referee's counting, I went to the corner, 1043 01:07:42,120 --> 01:07:45,440 and I told Sal, "I can't feel my feet". 1044 01:07:47,120 --> 01:07:51,400 They stood Cathy up and Ernestine threw the same smart punch 1045 01:07:53,480 --> 01:07:56,280 and Cathy, she was laid out, 1046 01:07:57,200 --> 01:07:58,760 looked dead. 1047 01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:04,000 Algieri came up there and told me to get out the ring, 1048 01:08:04,040 --> 01:08:07,720 I don't know what for, but she hurt bad, 1049 01:08:07,760 --> 01:08:10,800 and they put the ammonium nitrate underneath her nose, 1050 01:08:11,760 --> 01:08:13,840 that wakes people up if they get knocked out. 1051 01:08:15,640 --> 01:08:18,200 I must've been in and out of consciousness. 1052 01:08:18,240 --> 01:08:19,560 (RINGING) 1053 01:08:21,439 --> 01:08:23,560 They started the fight back up 1054 01:08:23,600 --> 01:08:26,720 and this time Cathy didn't even throw a punch. 1055 01:08:30,479 --> 01:08:32,439 She's laying there a third time, I said, 1056 01:08:32,479 --> 01:08:34,040 "That's it, the fight's over." 1057 01:08:34,080 --> 01:08:36,399 I said, "This girl is gonna have brain damage, 1058 01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:39,359 you can't knock a person out three times in one night". 1059 01:08:42,960 --> 01:08:44,520 Yeah, she was out cold. 1060 01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:48,439 They carried her out, took her to a hospital. 1061 01:08:49,520 --> 01:08:51,800 Ernestine had a purpose, 1062 01:08:51,840 --> 01:08:53,960 and it wasn't to make the money, 1063 01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:57,760 it was knock the air out of Sal Algieri's dream 1064 01:08:59,240 --> 01:09:00,680 and that's what happened. 1065 01:09:02,000 --> 01:09:04,760 But Sal called it a no contest, 1066 01:09:07,680 --> 01:09:09,479 there was nothing we could do. 1067 01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:16,200 Well, I kind of struggle with memory 1068 01:09:16,240 --> 01:09:18,720 because my brain isn't quite together, 1069 01:09:18,760 --> 01:09:21,800 I had a stroke seven years ago 1070 01:09:21,840 --> 01:09:26,080 but I'm not stupid, I can still carry on. (CHUCKLES) 1071 01:09:26,120 --> 01:09:29,680 it's just that I can't... you know, there are blank spaces. 1072 01:09:31,279 --> 01:09:36,279 The article on this fight was devastating for Cat 1073 01:09:36,319 --> 01:09:40,359 and for the sport of women's boxing. 1074 01:09:40,399 --> 01:09:45,720 This boxer was supposed to be the great white hope of women's boxing, 1075 01:09:47,080 --> 01:09:52,920 but... you know, all the... the potential deals dried up. 1076 01:09:54,880 --> 01:09:58,920 The corruption didn't just end there, it was also in California. 1077 01:10:00,920 --> 01:10:05,280 In the boxing world there were those that took it really seriously 1078 01:10:05,320 --> 01:10:09,560 and there was those that just did it for the money, you know? 1079 01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:12,920 Dee Knuckles scheduled for me the fight with Cora Webber, 1080 01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:16,320 I had to be on my Ps and Qs with her ass because 1081 01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:18,720 that white girl was tough, believe me. 1082 01:10:18,760 --> 01:10:21,040 But before the fight Dee Knuckles says, 1083 01:10:21,080 --> 01:10:23,320 "You don't have to do anything but drop." 1084 01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:27,320 I didn't even understand what the word drop meant 1085 01:10:27,360 --> 01:10:30,920 until I finally realised that means for me to hit the canvas. 1086 01:10:32,640 --> 01:10:35,640 You know, and Dee Knuckles is sitting there, she goes, 1087 01:10:35,680 --> 01:10:38,440 "It's just, all you gotta do is just drop, Lydia, 1088 01:10:38,480 --> 01:10:40,760 we'll pay you a little extra." 1089 01:10:45,160 --> 01:10:48,040 Cora Webber!(CHEERING) 1090 01:10:51,160 --> 01:10:53,760 Very hard for me to understand why would they do something 1091 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? 1092 01:10:57,480 --> 01:11:00,200 You know, they wanted to build up a white girl. 1093 01:11:02,880 --> 01:11:07,040 I don't think Cora Webber, I don't think she knew, 1094 01:11:07,080 --> 01:11:09,920 but Dee Knuckles, I was pissed off at that bitch. 1095 01:11:09,960 --> 01:11:12,280 Pfft. I said, "I'm not dropping". 1096 01:11:19,640 --> 01:11:22,680 And boy, did I fuckin' go nuts. 1097 01:11:32,400 --> 01:11:34,120 I'm not dropping, I'm not dropping. 1098 01:11:37,920 --> 01:11:38,920 (BELL DINGS) 1099 01:11:40,880 --> 01:11:42,400 And we had a draw. 1100 01:11:42,440 --> 01:11:44,320 A draw! (APPLAUSE) 1101 01:11:47,200 --> 01:11:50,800 I didn't know the business was so crooked like that, pfft, 1102 01:11:50,840 --> 01:11:54,560 it's not gonna get anywhere because if women are doing that 1103 01:11:54,600 --> 01:11:57,520 let it be and I'm out, you know I'm out of it so... 1104 01:12:02,000 --> 01:12:05,960 At my first fight, I thought maybe I could trust Dee, 1105 01:12:07,440 --> 01:12:11,240 but I later found out that she had bet against me at the fight. 1106 01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:18,680 She did, bitch, she did, she bet against me 1107 01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:22,640 cos she knew I was pregnant, 1108 01:12:22,680 --> 01:12:25,240 and she knew that I wasn't gonna win 1109 01:12:25,280 --> 01:12:29,480 and she did get a new car and so it, it pissed me off so bad 1110 01:12:29,520 --> 01:12:33,120 when I turned around and I just said, "You know what? Fuck you Dee". 1111 01:12:33,160 --> 01:12:35,320 After that I was done. 1112 01:12:35,360 --> 01:12:37,400 If Dee was here today, 1113 01:12:37,440 --> 01:12:39,840 shit, I'd call her on everything, I said, 1114 01:12:39,880 --> 01:12:43,160 "You know you fucked up, you know you screwed us all." 1115 01:12:44,320 --> 01:12:46,440 But I would also tell her thank you 1116 01:12:46,480 --> 01:12:48,440 because I wouldn't be Pat Pineda, 1117 01:12:48,480 --> 01:12:50,960 California's first pro female fighter, 1118 01:12:51,000 --> 01:12:53,160 if it wasn't for Dee Knuckles. 1119 01:13:04,600 --> 01:13:09,520 We were trying to build up the sport and the phony fights and all, 1120 01:13:09,560 --> 01:13:14,120 all, all the things was letting us down, 1121 01:13:14,160 --> 01:13:16,120 but I couldn't let that bother me. 1122 01:13:17,560 --> 01:13:22,640 Then someone put on an all-female fight card, 1123 01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:27,600 that's the first time that happened anywhere. 1124 01:13:29,320 --> 01:13:31,680 All females fighting. 1125 01:13:35,480 --> 01:13:37,920 I was honoured to be amongst 1126 01:13:37,960 --> 01:13:41,840 female boxing greats, and making history. 1127 01:13:49,240 --> 01:13:52,440 And I was crowned World Champion. 1128 01:13:57,880 --> 01:14:01,880 But I don't even have a trophy to prove it. 1129 01:14:03,720 --> 01:14:06,760 Once you work hard enough to get to the top of your profession, 1130 01:14:06,800 --> 01:14:10,160 the top of your sport, that you win a certain kind of respect, Tyger won 1131 01:14:10,200 --> 01:14:13,960 the World Lightweight Championship for women, how much did you make? 1132 01:14:14,000 --> 01:14:16,280 Err, about $1,500, 1133 01:14:16,320 --> 01:14:19,160 you see it's so embarrassing that I, I really don't like to, 1134 01:14:19,200 --> 01:14:22,120 you know, mention it when Hadler's making 3 million 1135 01:14:22,160 --> 01:14:25,160 and it's just a shame that Miss Piggy gets more publicity 1136 01:14:25,200 --> 01:14:27,480 than we do, you know? Really. (AUDIENCE LAUGH) 1137 01:14:27,520 --> 01:14:29,040 (APPLAUSE) We'll be right back. 1138 01:14:29,080 --> 01:14:32,200 And around this time I'm getting a little older, 1139 01:14:32,240 --> 01:14:36,000 I would like to have a nice husband. (CHUCKLES) 1140 01:14:37,640 --> 01:14:39,640 So there was a guy 1141 01:14:41,040 --> 01:14:44,960 that would come to the gym, he'd keep himself in shape 1142 01:14:45,000 --> 01:14:49,280 and he was part of a motorcycle gang called The Chosen Few. 1143 01:14:51,160 --> 01:14:54,600 they wore leather and they kind of were rough necks, 1144 01:14:54,640 --> 01:14:56,840 but I enjoyed them. 1145 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. 1146 01:15:02,360 --> 01:15:04,680 It was really a cool relationship. 1147 01:15:06,000 --> 01:15:08,280 One day we drove to Las Vegas. 1148 01:15:09,560 --> 01:15:11,200 (ENGINE REVS) 1149 01:15:16,480 --> 01:15:20,000 In Vegas they have a lot of chapels there, 1150 01:15:21,480 --> 01:15:24,800 this marriage chapel, that marriage chapel, 1151 01:15:24,840 --> 01:15:27,080 and we got married just like that. 1152 01:15:31,240 --> 01:15:34,280 Sal wanted me to continue to box 1153 01:15:34,320 --> 01:15:37,680 but I was denying this part of me that had been... 1154 01:15:39,600 --> 01:15:41,880 repressed for so many years 1155 01:15:43,360 --> 01:15:46,640 and I had to, 1156 01:15:46,680 --> 01:15:50,600 had to start living an authentic life or I was just gonna, 1157 01:15:50,640 --> 01:15:53,560 I was done with living, 1158 01:15:54,800 --> 01:15:59,120 it was, it was my, it was my time. 1159 01:15:59,160 --> 01:16:01,280 So I packed up at night 1160 01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:05,320 so Sal wouldn't know anything about it and headed west. 1161 01:16:13,200 --> 01:16:17,480 I drove three nights to get across country to California 1162 01:16:23,520 --> 01:16:27,080 and I met Beverly on my birthday 1163 01:16:28,120 --> 01:16:29,360 in Yosemite. 1164 01:16:31,240 --> 01:16:34,240 Oh, it was such an incredible feeling of freedom. 1165 01:16:39,560 --> 01:16:41,480 Finally I could be me. 1166 01:16:54,880 --> 01:16:58,440 After I got married, it got a little bit more complicated, 1167 01:16:59,440 --> 01:17:02,040 he thought that he owned me, 1168 01:17:02,080 --> 01:17:05,200 it became a disaster, he started being abusive. 1169 01:17:07,480 --> 01:17:09,920 One day I was at my apartment, 1170 01:17:10,920 --> 01:17:14,920 I got out of the shower, had a bath robe on, 1171 01:17:14,960 --> 01:17:16,920 and he said, "You're coming with me" 1172 01:17:16,960 --> 01:17:19,400 and I said, "No, I'm not going" 1173 01:17:19,440 --> 01:17:22,320 and he was pulling me, and he had a pistol, 1174 01:17:23,560 --> 01:17:27,680 he hit me in the stomach and everywhere, 1175 01:17:27,720 --> 01:17:29,120 it was pretty bad. 1176 01:17:29,880 --> 01:17:32,240 (ANNOUNCER TALKS INDISTINCTLY) 1177 01:17:36,440 --> 01:17:39,960 Everybody expects Tyger to be a Tyger, 1178 01:17:41,360 --> 01:17:43,080 you know... 1179 01:17:44,440 --> 01:17:47,720 being strong in most situations, 1180 01:17:47,760 --> 01:17:52,680 it's very difficult to- to uphold that, you know that type of thing. 1181 01:17:58,280 --> 01:18:02,760 So I went to the hospital, they said, "You know, you're pregnant, 1182 01:18:02,800 --> 01:18:06,760 you know, you're- you're pregnant" and I was like, "Wow". 1183 01:18:10,840 --> 01:18:14,440 If I had stayed there in California, 1184 01:18:14,480 --> 01:18:19,560 I knew I would've either killed him 1185 01:18:19,600 --> 01:18:21,960 or he would've killed me, 1186 01:18:22,000 --> 01:18:26,400 it was, it was no, nothing else, no ands, ifs or buts 1187 01:18:26,440 --> 01:18:28,640 so I had to get out. 1188 01:18:37,360 --> 01:18:42,520 I decided to leave California permanently 1189 01:18:42,560 --> 01:18:46,120 which also meant that was the end of my boxing career 1190 01:18:48,200 --> 01:18:51,440 and I had to start a life all over with my son. 1191 01:18:59,680 --> 01:19:04,280 I thought that through boxing I would be able to buy a house 1192 01:19:04,320 --> 01:19:08,760 for my family and get out of the ghetto, 1193 01:19:08,800 --> 01:19:12,000 but it didn't work for me. 1194 01:19:13,000 --> 01:19:16,840 I'm ready to leave, let me put everything in place for you.Mm-mm. 1195 01:19:16,880 --> 01:19:19,200 Let me put this. A-ha. Oh yeah. 1196 01:19:20,680 --> 01:19:22,000 Get out this. 1197 01:19:23,320 --> 01:19:24,800 (UNCLEAR) 1198 01:19:24,840 --> 01:19:26,200 My eyedrops. 1199 01:19:26,240 --> 01:19:29,480 I put the eyedrops on the afternoon, remember? 1200 01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:30,920 Don't worry for this. 1201 01:19:32,000 --> 01:19:37,200 Yeah. OK. So (KISSES).OK. 1202 01:19:37,240 --> 01:19:39,720 OK, thank you so much, Carmen! 1203 01:19:39,760 --> 01:19:41,920 See you tomorrow, Big Mama. OK. 1204 01:19:45,120 --> 01:19:46,360 Goodnight. 1205 01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:49,920 Have a good night! Goodnight. 1206 01:19:49,960 --> 01:19:51,400 I'm gonna lock the door. 1207 01:19:53,640 --> 01:19:54,640 (DOOR CLOSES) 1208 01:20:32,640 --> 01:20:33,840 Cat! 1209 01:20:35,520 --> 01:20:37,960 How you doing, Cat? Is this the Tyger? 1210 01:20:38,000 --> 01:20:39,600 Yes! Oh my god! 1211 01:20:39,640 --> 01:20:41,880 (LAUGHS) Here! Give me a hug. 1212 01:20:41,920 --> 01:20:44,160 I want a hug! I want a hug.Oh! 1213 01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:46,560 Oh you're in a wheelchair too? I'm in a chair. 1214 01:20:46,600 --> 01:20:49,240 Oh gosh I, I walk like I should be. 1215 01:20:49,280 --> 01:20:52,560 Mwah.How are you, sweetheart? Oh how are you, how are you? 1216 01:20:52,600 --> 01:20:54,640 We looking pretty good for old girls! 1217 01:20:54,680 --> 01:20:56,840 Oh my god, we are old, aren't we? Yeah, yeah. 1218 01:20:56,880 --> 01:20:58,640 I want you to have a seat. 1219 01:20:58,680 --> 01:21:00,400 Wow. 1220 01:21:02,600 --> 01:21:03,600 Oh... 1221 01:21:04,920 --> 01:21:06,840 When you think about those days, 1222 01:21:06,880 --> 01:21:10,120 I still can't believe how badly we were hated and how much 1223 01:21:10,160 --> 01:21:13,760 we were- how badly we were treated. Oh. Yeah, yeah. 1224 01:21:13,800 --> 01:21:15,880 It's so mixed up in my mind. Mm-mm. 1225 01:21:15,920 --> 01:21:19,800 What happened. Yeah, so, why did Sal, you know, 1226 01:21:19,840 --> 01:21:22,920 did you know that Sal was doing all this crooked stuff? 1227 01:21:22,960 --> 01:21:25,280 No clue.Wow. I, I was- 1228 01:21:25,320 --> 01:21:28,640 You were innocent in all this? I was just this golden girl. 1229 01:21:28,680 --> 01:21:29,880 Right, right. 1230 01:21:29,920 --> 01:21:34,480 And I think that was the whole pitch that he put forward 1231 01:21:34,520 --> 01:21:37,840 and I just, I didn't like it because it was a lie. 1232 01:21:37,880 --> 01:21:39,000 Exactly. 1233 01:21:39,040 --> 01:21:41,920 And he wasn't a bad man. 1234 01:21:41,960 --> 01:21:46,160 He was just a hustler so that was what he was. 1235 01:21:46,200 --> 01:21:47,920 Was he your boyfriend or what? No- 1236 01:21:47,960 --> 01:21:50,000 But he was- He wanted to be my boyfriend. 1237 01:21:50,040 --> 01:21:52,240 And he wanted to be married- Get out of here! 1238 01:21:52,280 --> 01:21:55,760 Yeah! (LAUGHS) But also, I was trying to figure out 1239 01:21:55,800 --> 01:21:59,120 who I was sexually, I ended up being gay. 1240 01:21:59,160 --> 01:22:00,320 Wow. 1241 01:22:00,360 --> 01:22:03,840 But that was a big turmoil for me, yeah, I was... 1242 01:22:03,880 --> 01:22:06,320 Yeah, it must've been hard being gay 1243 01:22:06,360 --> 01:22:10,040 and not being able to express that part of your life. 1244 01:22:10,080 --> 01:22:13,760 Well, it was but at that point I wasn't even admitting it to myself. 1245 01:22:13,800 --> 01:22:16,040 Wow, but let me ask you something, 1246 01:22:16,080 --> 01:22:19,440 I wanna know, OK, when, when we were all licenced 1247 01:22:19,480 --> 01:22:21,840 you were given your licence first. Mm-mm. 1248 01:22:21,880 --> 01:22:24,360 Did you think it was fair, I would like to know- 1249 01:22:24,400 --> 01:22:27,280 I didn't actually know this, I, I wasn't that in tune, 1250 01:22:27,320 --> 01:22:29,680 I wasn't that... 1251 01:22:29,720 --> 01:22:32,240 politicised at that time... 1252 01:22:32,280 --> 01:22:34,920 But it didn't dawn on you that you were getting 1253 01:22:34,960 --> 01:22:36,480 a lot of publicity then? 1254 01:22:36,520 --> 01:22:39,000 Oh yeah, that dawned on me because it was obvious. 1255 01:22:39,040 --> 01:22:41,280 Mm-mm, yeah it was obvious. That was obvious. 1256 01:22:41,320 --> 01:22:45,160 I heard a lot, then it was because it was so unfair- 1257 01:22:45,200 --> 01:22:46,480 And it was so unjust. 1258 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. 1259 01:22:52,240 --> 01:22:56,640 You were my adversary, you know Sal made you out to be, 1260 01:22:56,680 --> 01:23:01,280 you know, this person I didn't wanna have any contact with... 1261 01:23:01,320 --> 01:23:04,200 Wow...so, he wouldn't let me interact with you, 1262 01:23:04,240 --> 01:23:06,840 or any of the other gals. That's not nice. 1263 01:23:06,880 --> 01:23:09,120 I didn't, I didn't know any of them. OK. 1264 01:23:10,760 --> 01:23:12,560 I think we would have been great friends. 1265 01:23:12,600 --> 01:23:14,680 I think so too.Yeah. 1266 01:23:14,720 --> 01:23:18,600 Look who's coming, that looks like Pat, Pat Pineda! 1267 01:23:18,640 --> 01:23:22,400 Oh my god, Tyger! No, hug honey, hug. 1268 01:23:22,440 --> 01:23:26,240 I wanna hug. Oh my god. Oh, she is wonderful to hug. 1269 01:23:26,280 --> 01:23:28,840 How are you? You look skinny, how d'you do that? 1270 01:23:28,880 --> 01:23:30,680 You don't wanna know. (LAUGHS) 1271 01:23:30,720 --> 01:23:34,040 Cat. Cat, oh my God, nice to meet you. 1272 01:23:34,080 --> 01:23:36,800 Oh yeah, I don't think I've ever met you, have I? 1273 01:23:36,840 --> 01:23:38,320 No, you've never met me. Oh gosh... 1274 01:23:38,360 --> 01:23:42,400 Oh my god.No! (LAUGHS) 1275 01:23:42,440 --> 01:23:45,400 Sue, Sue Fox. How you doing, Sue? 1276 01:23:45,440 --> 01:23:47,720 Wait a minute, I don't think I've ever met you, 1277 01:23:47,760 --> 01:23:50,920 but I've talked to you on the phone, haven't I?Yes, you have. 1278 01:23:50,960 --> 01:23:55,000 Oh, my God, it's awesome. And me and Sue go way back. 1279 01:23:55,040 --> 01:23:59,280 How are you?I'm so angry we never became friends. 1280 01:24:00,800 --> 01:24:04,600 You know, I know we've maybe had horror stories and everything. 1281 01:24:04,640 --> 01:24:07,600 I know I've had my share. And it was hard. 1282 01:24:07,640 --> 01:24:10,880 The suffering was unbearable, I mean, come on, I had two kids, 1283 01:24:10,920 --> 01:24:14,400 I was getting out of the marriage. You had it tough. 1284 01:24:14,440 --> 01:24:17,240 Trying to get babysitters, trying to get to the gym. 1285 01:24:17,280 --> 01:24:20,920 You know, it took me years to understand what we had done. 1286 01:24:20,960 --> 01:24:22,920 I, I didn't realise it at the time. 1287 01:24:22,960 --> 01:24:25,480 I just thought we were something everybody hated. 1288 01:24:25,520 --> 01:24:29,480 (LAUGHTER) Well, we didn't get accepted. 1289 01:24:29,520 --> 01:24:33,200 We need this documented. This is our story. 1290 01:24:34,720 --> 01:24:37,120 When I look back at the sport, 1291 01:24:37,160 --> 01:24:41,080 we were not erased from the record books because of controversy 1292 01:24:41,120 --> 01:24:42,560 or corruption, 1293 01:24:42,600 --> 01:24:45,520 or because no-one cares about women's boxing. 1294 01:24:46,480 --> 01:24:48,280 We were written out of history 1295 01:24:48,320 --> 01:24:51,960 because it's men who have always written the history of boxing 1296 01:24:53,120 --> 01:24:56,720 and they didn't think our story was worth telling. 1297 01:24:56,760 --> 01:24:59,680 Well, we're determined to set the record straight. 1298 01:25:01,080 --> 01:25:04,600 They can't take that away from us. Yeah.And we were erased. 1299 01:25:04,640 --> 01:25:08,600 We're not erased now. This is why I'm getting emotional. 1300 01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:14,640 I'm gonna start crying, I'm so happy to be with all you guys.Exactly! 1301 01:25:14,680 --> 01:25:21,160 It's wonderful.It is healing, it's, um, it's amazing. 1302 01:25:21,200 --> 01:25:24,160 We're all here. Let's make a circle of power. 1303 01:25:24,200 --> 01:25:29,360 You better believe it, and I love all you guys; I really do. 1304 01:25:29,400 --> 01:25:33,240 Nobody can take what we did, in history, away. 1305 01:25:33,280 --> 01:25:35,440 We're free again. 1306 01:25:35,480 --> 01:25:38,680 We're actually free at last. At last.Yeah. 1307 01:25:45,840 --> 01:25:50,480 While none of us made millions or fought at Madison Square Garden, 1308 01:25:50,520 --> 01:25:54,800 we were the spark that started a fire, that's burning brightly today. 1309 01:25:56,440 --> 01:25:58,040 (CHEERING) 1310 01:27:19,800 --> 01:27:21,160 (APPLAUSE) (CHEERING) 1311 01:27:21,200 --> 01:27:22,360 Lady Tyger! 1312 01:27:24,160 --> 01:27:28,400 In September 1978, she was one of the first women granted licences, 1313 01:27:28,440 --> 01:27:31,600 tireless advocate for women in the sport, 1314 01:27:31,640 --> 01:27:34,360 Marian "Lady Tyger" Trimiar. 1315 01:27:34,400 --> 01:27:37,640 I love you, love you, love you. 1316 01:27:37,680 --> 01:27:41,440 It was always Lady Tyger's goal to have a belt. 1317 01:27:41,480 --> 01:27:43,400 She was a trailblazer. 1318 01:27:43,440 --> 01:27:46,080 Lady Tyger now has a belt. 1319 01:27:46,120 --> 01:27:49,040 Oh, thank you! Thank you! 1320 01:27:49,080 --> 01:27:51,880 Thank you! Oh! 1321 01:27:51,920 --> 01:27:54,240 Oh! 1322 01:27:54,280 --> 01:27:59,240 Oh, thank you! 1323 01:28:00,160 --> 01:28:03,040 Thank you all! 1324 01:28:03,080 --> 01:28:06,440 Bless you all! 1325 01:28:06,480 --> 01:28:09,600 Thank you! Oh! 1326 01:28:09,640 --> 01:28:11,600 Oh, my God. 1327 01:28:11,640 --> 01:28:14,840 Oh, thank you! 1328 01:28:14,880 --> 01:28:16,480 (CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) 1329 01:28:22,640 --> 01:28:24,480 (SHUTTER CLICKS) 1330 01:28:39,120 --> 01:28:42,120 AccessibleCustomerService@sky.uk 106908

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