The Greatest Action Figure of All Time: Mego’s Muhammad Ali Turns 50

 

“Pretend you’re having a championship fight. Squeeze the trigger to make them box,” prompts the narrator of a 1976 television commercial advertising the Mego Corporation’s brand new, officially licensed boxing ring playset. Two young boys engage their respective action figures in fisticuffs while their friends look on, no doubt anxiously awaiting their turn. “Pretend you’re in the champ’s corner. You can control all the boxing action. Imagine it’s a knockout and Muhammad Ali is still the champ!”

For a globally recognized personality who always put himself across as larger than life, and was perceived as being exactly that, seeing Muhammad Ali reduced down to nine inches of molded rubber and plastic might have seemed somehow lacking in the appropriate degree of splendor or integrity. And yet, toy visionary Marty Abrams and the talented team at Mego pulled out all the stops with their finely sculpted and fully articulated action figure. As to the toy line’s success, that would be left up to the whims and wallets of the general public.

It has been rightfully pointed out time and again that one of the great things about Ali is that you don’t even need to be a boxing fan to know and appreciate who he is. That’s no less true today than it was back in the mid-1970s when the recently re-crowned heavyweight champion was in the process of transcending the status of sporting legend to become not just a cultural icon, but a name brand. Needless to say, when it came to endorsement opportunities, the results were predictably hit and miss.

1975 saw the publication of his bestselling memoir called, appropriately enough, The Greatest, and three years later he lent his likeness to DC Comics where he was faithfully rendered by writer and artist extraordinaire Neal Adams in a 72-page one-shot called Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. Though they do square off against one another early in the story, the heavyweight champion and the Man of Steel later team up to save planet Earth from a hostile alien invasion.

It was at this same exact time that Ali’s image adorned aluminum cans filled with the ill-fated Mr. Champ’s Soda (which was available during its short shelf life in orange, grape, papaya, watermelon, and red raspberry flavors) and memorably appeared as a pitchman for D-Con roach repellent.

In between then, he had invested a reported $12 million in Don King’s misguided attempt at launching a record label and watched his Chicago novelty restaurant Ali’s Trolley—located in the Hyde Park neighborhood, it was shaped and decorated like a railway dining car—go under after only eighteen underwhelming months. This was his second unprofitable venture into the food business, the first being a fleeting affiliation with the Miami-based Champ Burger in 1968.

Not quite five months removed from outlasting his nemesis Smokin’ Joe Frazier in their hellish ‘Thrilla in Manila,’ Ali was sent to San Juan, Puerto Rico where he dispatched battle-tested Belgian Jean Pierre Coopman inside of five rounds. Just three days later, on February 23 to be precise, the globetrotting heavyweight champion found himself in midtown Manhattan. Dressed in a suit and tie, Ali stood behind a podium at the Fifth Avenue Club to conduct a press conference held during a special breakfast sponsored by the Mego Corporation kicking off that day’s festivities at the 1976 New York Toy Fair.

An entrepreneurial couple from Long Island, David and Madeline Abrams established a grass roots toy company in 1954 that they originally called Martin-Howard Corp. after their two sons. The Abrams’ initial goal was no more ambitious than producing “lure” merchandise designed to catch the eye and inspire impulse buys at five and dime stores. However, the Mom and Pop operation gradually began to expand along with the advertising boom and burgeoning toy industry, necessitating a family affair in which the company’s namesakes joined their parents in the manufacturing trenches.

Marty, as he was and still is affectionately known , graduated business school in 1971 and was handed the keys to the kingdom that, while still in its early days, had been rechristened after his favorite childhood expression uttered whenever he wanted to accompany his parents someplace—“me go.”

Abrams pioneered an aggressive and consumer-friendly campaign which would not just rejuvenate but totally restructure Mego while revolutionizing the entire toy business in the process. So much so that he was later bestowed the title of “the father of the modern action figure.”

It all started with Action Jackson, Mego’s answer to G.I. Joe, the military-themed Hasbro figure that made it socially acceptable for boys to play with “dolls.” The company’s first celebrity figure happened to be a real-life Joe. New York Jets Superbowl-winning quarterback Joe Namath, that is.

Marty Abrams had gained traction and currency enough by 1974 to outbid upstart competitors Azrak Hamway International at the zero hour for the exclusive rights to manufacture officially licensed Planet of the Apes action figures. This was a very big deal, owing to the popularity of the five feature films (which, by this time were being aired on networks across the country) and the live action television series then in production.

This arrangement didn’t legally preclude AHI from making Apes rack toys, nor did it keep them from releasing a line of knock-off Action Apeman figures, a clear violation which called for a cease and desist order from Mego’s copyright lawyers. Planet of the Apes was such a hot commodity that United Manufacturing got in on the simian action behind Mego’s back as well with their bootleg Astro-Apes figures.

Interestingly, when Azrak Hamway won the Universal Monsters property and produced figures of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and Creature from the Black Lagoon, Mego repaid the favor for their Apes infraction by putting out a series they called Mad Monsters that included their own alternate versions of all AHI’s creatures but the Gill-Man. Marty was not a toy man to be trifled with.

Acquiring the Star Trek license for the paltry sum of $5,000 was another massive triumph for Mego in 1974, just as the show was enjoying a revival in acclaim thanks to nationwide syndication and fan conventions in the wake of having been unceremoniously canceled after only three seasons. Kids of the 70s like myself not only enjoyed daily accessibility to the series itself, we could recreate scenes from the program in our very own living rooms courtesy of Mego action figures depicting Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, and a Klingon, of course.

Mego’s bread and butter was unquestionably their World’s Greatest Superheroes line which was initiated in 1973 and included good guys and villains from both the Marvel and DC universes. To feature the Caped Crusader and his Boy Wonder, Superman and Shazam alongside Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and the Fantastic Four was an ambitious endeavor which seems nearly incomprehensible by today’s standards whereby the two comic book publishing titans can rarely, if ever, be persuaded to play nice together.

The authentic cloth outfits (even the big, goofy-looking gloves on Batman, Robin, and Aquaman that resembled plastic oven mitts) and cool accessories (such as phasers, communicators, and tricorders for the Star Trek characters, for example) played a great part in the appeal of the Mego figures. As revealed to more than 700 industry insiders and potential buyers at Toy Fair’s 1976 Mego breakfast—in addition to Don King, who has never been known to shy away from a profitable photo opportunity—their Muhammad Ali figure would benefit from the same deluxe treatment, if not better.

Using a painted and repurposed body left over from their Big Jim toy (a generic “Space Leader and Star Commander”), Mego’s Ali action figure would come packaged on a clamshelled blister card complete with Everlast trunks, robe, boxing gloves, and sparring headgear. Also included was a trigger mechanism which would clamp around the figure’s waist and snap into its back, allowing the user to activate the champ’s punches.

In the same way that Mego produced diorama-like environments and playsets that greatly enhanced the sense of enthusiastic make-believe for children dreaming up classic or completely imaginary scenarios in which to place their Batman, Mad Monster, Planet of the Apes and Star Trek figures, consumers could similarly purchase a boxing ring for Muhammad Ali to compete in against a foe which was included at no extra cost but was also sold separately.

Identified simply as Opponent, the ancillary figure bore a purposefully uncanny resemblance to Ken Norton. Ali was seven months away, as of Toy Fair, from confronting his two-time adversary at Yankee Stadium in the rubber match of their pugilistic trilogy. Norton had famously broken Ali’s jaw en route to pounding out a split decision victory in their first bout in 1973 during George Foreman’s reign as heavyweight champion of the world. The following year, Ali rope-a-doped his way to liberating the title from the heavily-favored Foreman in spectacular fashion in the eighth round of their ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in Zaire. Mego’s boxing ring playset also came equipped with accessories like stools, water bottles, and spit buckets. “Some assembly required,” the TV commercial gently cautioned kids and adults alike.

Neil Kublan, Mego’s Vice President of Research and Development at the time, recalled Ali being “one of the most terrific and fascinating persons I ever saw.” When he was done speaking at the press conference, Ali stepped away from the podium and began playing the boxing game with Neil’s eight-year-old son Chris, a memory that will last a lifetime. Especially unforgettable to both Chris and his dad was when the champ informed the media that they would have to wait for him to pose for pictures so that he could give the boy his undivided attention and finish their game. Without question, that’s the Ali we all know and love. “He was on time, professional, a gentleman,” said the elder Kublan.

Another remarkable feature of the Mego action figures was the attention to detail given to the graphic design elements of the packaging, notably the vibrant and awe-inspiring illustrations on the panels of their superhero, Planet of the Apes and Star Trek blister cards and window boxes. They went for a unique approach when it came to the Ali figure.

Then-Product Design Manager Vincent Baiera explained the story behind the photo shoot involved in creating a background which would simulate the look of the Ali figure standing in the center of a boxing ring, its right arm raised in apparent victory. “We were all given a half day off and were told to report to the conference room,” Baiera remembers. “They set up the shot with the ropes and the background was stripped in afterwards. It took real talent to do that then before computer graphics and digital imaging. Those were the days.”

The Mego employees were situated in such a way as to stand in for the would-be crowd cheering on the champ for his big title fight, and Marty Abrams himself makes a cameo appearance on the package as one of the ringside photographers.

Riding high on the rollout of their Wizard of Oz line the year before, Abrams divulged during the New York Toy Fair breakfast that the Muhammad Ali figure and playset would be available to retailers by that Bicentennial summer, more or less around the time Ali would be squaring off against Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki in their mixed match in Tokyo. The other major announcement came in the form of Mego’s Sonny and Cher figures, which prompted the mismatched pair to bring their variety show before an invitation-only gathering at Toy Fair. A subsequent trade ad run by Mego boasted “We’ve Got the Vamp and the Champ” above a picture of the Cher and Ali toys side by side.

Given Ali’s immense renown and social relevance, it seems inconceivable in hindsight that his action figures would be anything but a huge hit. To everyone’s surprise and regret, it didn’t take long for the Ali figures to wear out their welcome on store shelves. Forlornly dangling from j-pegs unsold, they were subject to drastic price reductions as the holidays approached in a desperate attempt to get them off the racks and into customers’ homes. “I think it had a lot to do with the times,” Neil Kublan offered in a sobering speculation. “White people then did not buy Black dolls.”

Founded in 1968 and operating out of South Central Los Angeles until 1983, the Shindana Toy Company was popular for their line of African American creations, designed specifically for the Black community by Black toy makers. Shindana offered original action figures such as a secret agent called Slade and an African American businesswoman known as Career Girl Wanda, baby dolls that had names like Zuri, Little Soft Janie, and Nancy Ponytail, as well as renderings of Redd Foxx, Flip Wilson, Jimmy ‘Dyn-O-Mite’ Walker, ‘Dr. J’ Julius Erving, and O.J. Simpson.

For what it’s worth, Marty Abrams had made a special point of including the Enterprise’s African American Communications Officer, Lt. Nyota Uhura, in Mego’s series of Star Trek figures, not just to capitalize on its Barbie-like marketability but because of what a groundbreaking character Gene Roddenberry had cultivated for Nichelle Nichols to breathe unique life into on the program. Likewise, Mego had previously manufactured an action figure based on Marvel’s Black superhero Falcon, who was being given equal billing in a shared monthly title with Captain America at the time.

34-year-old Muhammad Ali successfully defended his world heavyweight championship against Ken Norton in Yankee Stadium that September, albeit by a controversially threadbare decision. In all honesty, it was the opinion of almost everyone watching that Norton had been robbed of certain victory. Nevertheless, hopes were high that repackaging and rereleasing the Mego figure in 1977, as well as throwing a life-size Ali punching bag into the mix, would garner renewed interest.

Sadly, Abrams’ faith would not be rewarded by consumers, and plans to introduce three new opponents into the Ali toy line were scrapped. Therefore, the only look we will ever get at The Carrot Kid, Battling Ben, or Lightning Lefty is an existing photo teasing the figures’ prototypes which shows the baldheaded Lefty to be none other than Superman’s archenemy Lex Luthor in boxing trunks.

The failure of their Muhammad Ali figure was not the lone disappointment for Mego. In both the figurative and literal sense, the company’s fortunes had begun a slow decline which would only gather momentum in the years ahead. “Star Wars put a dagger in our heart,” related Marty Abrams during the Star Trek episode of the Netflix documentary series The Toys That Made Us, which chronicled Mego’s rise and fall.

Because they had established such a harmonious working relationship with 20th Century Fox dating back to the negotiation of their mutually beneficial Planet of the Apes deal, the movie studio gave Mego the rights to first refusal with regard to their new sci-fi offering from the imagination of George Lucas. In a rare moment of shortsightedness that seems astonishing in retrospect, refusal was the exact response that Fox received from Mego. Rather, Abrams and company opted to go all-in on the development and distribution of their Micronauts line.

What began as an in-house interpretation and expansion of the Microman toys from Takara out of Japan, Micronauts proved to be popular with U.S. fans over the next four years for Mego. However, when you contrast the Micronauts modest success against the tens of billions of dollars that Kenner has raked in from the Star Wars franchise (toy sales are believed to be twice the amount of the films’ already staggering box office receipts), you can understand why Marty Abrams finished his earlier thought by lamenting, “We just couldn’t figure out a way to pull the dagger out and heal ourselves.”

If Star Wars was a dagger through Mego’s heart, bankruptcy proceedings and corporate malfeasance were the final nails in its coffin. Declining sales put Mego’s financial books into the red by more than $44 million for the combined years 1980 and ‘81. Worse than that, though, was the disclosure that those very books were being cooked. Charges of misappropriation of funds, defrauding stockholders, and bribery were levied against Marty Abrams, as well as Mego’s former General Counsel, Leonard Siegal.

In September 1982, Abrams was convicted by a jury serving the United States District Court in Manhattan on fifteen counts of wire fraud, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of filing false federal corporate tax returns. Each count carried a separate five-year maximum sentence. Abrams, who declined to testify on his own behalf, summarily remained free on bail, appealed the decision, had the obstruction charge dropped, and served just four months in prison on the remaining counts.

Not counting the 18-inch specialty doll put out by Effanbee in 1986, it took twenty years for Muhammad Ali to reappear in brick and mortar toy stores, this time courtesy of Kenner, Mego’s old Star Wars foil, which produced a series of Ali action figures under its Starting Lineup banner in the late 1990s. A decided improvement over Kenner’s two different four-inch Timeless Legends figures were the trio of window-boxed toys that stood a foot tall. One of these was a great two-pack that had Ali engaged in a side-profile stare down opposite Joe Frazier as the archrivals touch gloves before going into battle. The NECA toy company released its own two-pack of window-boxed action figures recreating Neal Adams’ cover for the Superman vs. Muhammad Ali comic book from 1978. 

Having gone on to invent the Nintendo Power Glove, Abrams managed to amass another small fortune after his abbreviated prison stint and was content to pretty much leave his association with the decades-long defunct Mego Corporation in his rearview mirror. That all changed in recent years when a growing number of companies insisted on producing “Mego-like” action figures and brazenly advertising them as such—right down to the eight-inch scale, fourteen points of articulation, and fabric costumes. Some of them came packaged on illustrated blister cards reminiscent of Mego’s glory days. 

This was nothing new, of course, as several fledgling toy manufacturers copied Mego’s recipe for success back in the 70s and 80s. Nevertheless, Marty was persuaded by company flagbearer Paul ‘Dr. Mego’ Clarke to reclaim his brand and get back into the toy business in partnership with new President Joel Rosenzweig. Hence, in 2018, Mego rose from the dead and re-entered the marketplace with a vengeance.

To those of us now in the autumn of our lives who grew up unwrapping Mego figures on our birthdays and Christmas mornings in the 1970s, this announcement stirred up a tidal wave of nostalgia which swept us off our collective feet. I’m sure I don’t just speak for myself when pondering the fact that merely saying the word “Mego” is more than enough to bring a smile to my face. Holding one of their figures in my hand makes me absolutely giddy. The opportunity that we have been given to reconnect with a tangible callback to our childhoods by way of these weird, wonderful collectibles is something that you can’t put a price tag on. Not that retailers don’t do exactly that, of course.

Figures from recently acquired licenses such as the Universal Monsters, Married With Children, Charmed, The Brady Bunch, and Cheers were introduced to a new generation of toy collectors in the first few waves of Mego’s rebirth. Marty Abrams made sure, however, that obsessive middle-aged nerds like myself were well represented by augmenting these new properties with faces that were fondly familiar. Action Jackson returned, as did Batman, Superman, Fonzie, Spock, Kirk, and KISS, to name a few.

A Legends line was devised that would allow for contemporary celebrity likenesses of old favorites from Mego’s heyday such as Joe Namath and Farrah Fawcett. It goes without saying that no lineup of eight-inch, fully articulated Legends would be complete without what boxing historian, three-time world title challenger, current trainer, and Muhammad Ali superfan John ‘The Iceman’ Scully, refers to as “the greatest action figure of all times!” And so, Ali was redesigned for distribution by Mego two years after the sad demise of ‘The Greatest’ himself.

The 2018 Ali figure still comes with his robe and boxing gloves, in addition to a championship belt fashioned after the Ring magazine strap which is unique to this version. Limited to 10,000 pieces, a gold seal is affixed to the figure’s plastic clamshell that indicates each toy’s numerical order off the assembly line.

It is safe to assume that the poor sales performance of the original Ali in the late 70s accounts for the fact that vintage figures can be found very easily and at relatively affordable asking prices on the secondary marketplace these days. You’re likely to pay far more for a first printing, or even the modern reprint, of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali regardless of its condition. Though Mego’s boxing ring and rare Ken Norton “Opponent” figure will cost you a pretty penny, a mint on card Ali will in no way deliver a knockout blow to your bank account. Nevertheless, they remain preciously sought-after mementos of simpler, more carefree times that have long since passed us by.

Sources:

Daniel Bates. How Soft Touch Muhammad Ali's $80 Million Fortune Was Depleted (Daily Mail UK, May 26, 2021)

Marilyn Beck. Muhammad Ali, Inc. (San Francisco Examiner, June 10, 1976)

Chicago Film Archives. Muhammad Ali Restaurant 12/8/10/75 (accessed at http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/13248)

Joseph P. Fried. Head of Troubled Mego Is Convicted of Fraud (New York Times, September 2, 1982)

Peter Romeo. Muhammad Ali, Restaurateur (Restaurant Business, June 13, 2016)

Anita Shelton. Toy Makers Aren't Kidding in Their Marketing Approach (Bradenton Herald, June 6, 1976)

United States of America, Appellee, v. Leonard S. Siegel and Martin B. Abrams, Defendants-appellants, 717 F.2d 9.2d Cir. 1983 (accessed at https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/717/9/74734)

1976 Muhammad Ali Toy Commercial (1976, accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hexAqEpaWU)

The Toys That Made Us: Star Trek (Netflix, original airdate May 25, 2018)

boxrec.com

megomuseum.com

twomorrows.com/media/MegoPreview

Belinda Laracuente, The Puerto Rican Road Warrior Who Dished Out Brown Sugar By the Fistful

Anyone. Anytime. Anywhere.

More than a motto or a mindset, these three simple yet meaningful words comprised Belinda Laracuente’s mission statement. No fight or flight test was too daunting for the Puerto Rican sensation who competed in fifty-eight professional bouts spanning a sixteen-year pugilistic tour of duty throughout which she collected passport stamps in eight foreign nations.

For Laracuente, it was not even up for debate that the importance of consistently challenging the cream of the crop, and thus developing herself in the process, took precedence over a misleadingly eye-catching record padded by risk-averse walkovers. No adversary was taken lightly and a title shot, she believed, should be hard-earned rather than taken for granted. “Styles make fights,” said Laracuente. “It’s a little heavy for me, but I see it this way: Always be smart and focus on your opponent.”

Whenever opportunity came knocking, Belinda was already waiting by the door with her suitcase packed, pen clicked open to sign the contract with one hand, plane ticket and boarding pass clutched in the other, prepared to head off on her next adventure. Win, lose, or draw, Laracuente always gave the sport nothing less than her very best, and yet her enthusiastic dedication to boxing was not always properly acknowledged or repaid in kind. She was unfairly rewarded for her willingness to travel to hostile territory by repeatedly finding herself on the business end of hometown screwjobs favorable to her hosts. To help put things into their proper context, what follows is the hard luck story of the happy-go-lucky woman who called herself ‘Brown Sugar.’

Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut but having grown up in Puerto Rico’s municipality of Mayaguez, which translates literally to “Land of the Clear Waters,” the athletically-inclined Laracuente was the only girl on her little league team, and later played women’s baseball and basketball. A long-distance runner who competed in 26-mile marathons alongside her father and brothers, Belinda won a national cross-country championship. Although she had done some modeling and shown an inclination toward running a funeral home, twelve year-old Belinda would routinely follow her brother Laureano to the gym where he trained as a boxer and it didn’t take long before she was entranced by the idea of becoming a fighter herself. She shifted her focus to learning the craft of boxing rather than embalming, racking up a 22-2 record as a title-winning amateur. With the blessing and support of her entire family, Laracuente left Mayaguez for Miami, Florida to pursue her dream of being a world champion prizefighter.

An admirer of her celebrated countryman Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad, Laracuente was trained in the stylistic manner of another Puerto Rican legend, Wilfred Benitez, whose defensive prowess and precise counterpunching she sought to emulate. Debuting successfully with a four-round majority decision over Karen Nye on February 13, 1997, Laracuente established a breakneck work ethic by fighting eight times in her rookie year. Belinda’s first setback came in her third bout when boxing’s past and present clashed inside the squared circle and Laracuente came out on the short end of a unanimous decision against Cora Webber, who was fresh off an eleven year hiatus but boasted a resume that included victories over fellow 1970’s female trailblazers the likes of Lilly Rodriguez, Carlotta Lee, Toni Lear Rodriguez, and Lady Tyger.

The summer of 1997 was spent in Peru where Laracuente made the most of a working vacation, notching her second consecutive first-round knockout, of fistic novice Lusell Aaron on this occasion, and then earning a unanimous decision over winless Sue Chase, who had been assigned Christy Martin for an unenviable debut and subsequently lost to notables such as Tracy Byrd, Bonnie Canino, Mary Ortega, Ada Velez, and Mariana Juarez in the course of a 1-23-1 career. The following month, Belinda paid a homecoming visit to Puerto Rico where she stopped Hayde Nunez at the San Juan Marriott.

Six months and two victories later, Laracuente triumphantly returned to Puerto Rico once again to take part in a major card put on at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon with no fewer than four world titles being contested. Daniel Jimenez lost his WBO bantamweight belt to Jorge Eliecer Julio, Freddie Norwood claimed the vacant WBA featherweight championship with a unanimous decision over Antonio Cermeno, and successful title defenses were made by Frankie Liles and Felix Trinidad, against Andrey Shkalikov and Mahenge Zulu respectively, on the night of April 3, 1998. Belinda made quick work of her appearance in the chief support bout by putting Sharon Tiller away before the end of round one. This was the second of what would total five straight first-round knockouts for Laracuente.

A few minor speed bumps temporarily halted her forward progress, however, as Belinda would fight to a stalemate with Jeanne Martinez in New Orleans then drop a close four-round decision to former New York Golden Gloves champion Denise Moraetes at Bay St. Louis’ Casino Magic where her misfortunes were not limited to losing the bout. The 19-year-old Laracuente decided to unwind the night before the fight by trying her hand at the casino’s games of chance, but came up unlucky in more ways than one when she found herself locked up for violating Mississippi’s age restriction on gambling.

Better days were ahead for Belinda, who earned a unanimous decision over ‘Deadly’ Daniella Somers, a tough Belgian who had held world championships in two divisions (WIBF lightweight and super-lightweight) and survived a first-round knockdown to last the distance with Laracuente in a losing effort. Two months later, Belinda captured a secondary title (the WIBF Americas light-welterweight belt) by easily outpointing former heavyweight champion Tim Witherspoon’s sister-in-law Carla over ten rounds in February 1999.

Now 16-2-1, Laracuente would be back in Puerto Rico in three months’ time to outwork the hard-hitting Mitzi Jeter on the undercard of a world championship triple-header at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente headlined by Felix Trinidad, Freddie Norwood, and Leo Gomez. Belinda’s recent successes earned her a shot at the IWBF lightweight title held by Zulfia Kutdyusova, a Russian-born pressure fighter then residing in Chicago. Their bout would be the co-main event to Melissa Del Valle’s successful WIBF super-featherweight title defense against Lena Akesson in a battle of undefeated female warriors.

Unfortunately, Laracuente gave an excellent account of herself and appeared to be the more effective power puncher of the two but was denied Kutdyusova’s championship via majority decision. If this disappointment left a bad taste in Laracuente’s mouth, it would pale in comparison to the larceny she would suffer at Caesars Palace seven months later at the hands of Vegas judges who robbed her of what should have been a certain and career-defining victory over a future hall of famer.

Christy Martin had punched her way through several of boxing’s glass ceilings for more than a decade by the year 2000. She had inked a promotional deal with Don King, been featured on the undercards of pay-per-view events featuring fellow King contract players like Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez, as well as Belinda Laracuente’s idol Felix Trinidad, boasted a 38-2-2 record, and had gold hardware courtesy of the WBC and WBA and a Sports Illustrated cover story to show for her efforts. If Laracuente was intimidated by any of this, her dazzling smile and self-confident demeanor betrayed no sign of it. Belinda mugged for the cameras at the weigh-in, edging in too close for Christy’s comfort with her right fist balled up beneath Martin’s chin and the index finger of her left hand pointed skyward to show the world who she believed was numero uno.

The fight was put in potential jeopardy when Martin got into a scuffle with her rival Lucia Rijker at a public workout just days away from the March 3 Caesars Palace showdown with Laracuente, straining the tendons in two fingers on her right hand and twisting her ankle during the melee. Nevertheless, Christy made good on her obligation and was rewarded with a decision that was dubious at best. Some might say scandalous. Not surprisingly, Belinda Laracuente was one of them.

“I was certain that I had won by a wide margin, and I was already thinking of all the doors that my victory over Christy would open for me,” reflected Laracuente. “I beat up the old lady. She is a joke right now, fighting bums and making money because of her name.”

Belinda was as loose as could be during the ring introductions, dancing and shadowboxing while grinning like the cat who was about to eat the Coalminer’s Daughter’s canary. This matchup was a stark contrast in styles, and it quickly became evident that Christy was disorientated by the relative ease with which Laracuente was able to nullify her trademark charge-forward attacks with well-chosen and perfectly-timed lead rights and short left hooks. Belinda’s keen timing and kinetic energy were major factors when it came to countering off Martin’s errant, looping swings, or beating Christy to the punch altogether, then employing quick head movement and lateral motion to accelerate away from return fire before darting in again for another exchange.

Not only was Laracuente winning the fight, she was making it look shockingly effortless against the best female fighter of that era. And she was clearly getting inside Christy’s head. Early in the third round, her hair disheveled and face already showing signs of swelling, an exasperated Martin mocked Laracuente by swiveling her hips and sticking her tongue out. Furthermore, as Belinda came at her from a crouch, Martin held her down and unleashed a shot to the back of Laracuente’s head. This deliberate infraction earned Christy an admonishment from referee Jay Nady, who additionally warned Laracuente to keep her head up.

“Frankly, I was very surprised that Christy was so slow and so predictable. I was also very surprised that it was so easy to frustrate her and get her out of her game,” Belinda said. “From watching her closely in and outside of the ring, I guessed that Christy is basically a bully, who depends upon her reputation to intimidate her opponents, and who loses her temper when she can’t have her way, and my strategy was based on this. What can I say? We danced to my music.”

Another clear indication that things had gone off script for Christy came as she sat in her corner awaiting the bell to begin round number four and was overheard asking her then-husband and trainer and future attempted murderer Jim Martin with obvious concern, “Have I won a round yet?”

Laracuente confessed to getting winded in the middle rounds and, sure enough, she was exhibiting signs of fatigue, remaining stationary just long enough to get caught more often than she had prior. “Christy did manage to hit me with some pretty solid body shots, especially in the sixth round,” Belinda admitted. “But you may recall that she could barely touch me with anything for the first five rounds, and by the time she was able to connect solidly, her punches had little effect. At no point did I abandon my fight plan.”

In the eighth and final round, Martin hurled a succession of haymakers thrown with the reckless desperation of a fighter who is well aware that a knockout is needed to conjure up an otherwise improbable victory. Almost all of these were evaded by Laracuente, and she was visibly unbothered by the few glancing blows that snuck past the guard. Belinda appeared to put an exclamation point on her dominant performance by yet again landing the more accurate and effective punches, but if she was as confident of a positive outcome to the fight as the Showtime broadcast team of Steve Albert and Bobby Czyz seemed to be, they were all in for a rude awakening.

“I felt that the judges had made a joke of me in public, and that they were laughing at me,” stated Laracuente, who was mystified by the decision read out by ring announcer Jimmy Lennon, Jr. If it wasn’t questionable enough that the fight was scored even by Dave Moretti at 76 apiece, Carol Castellano and Patricia Morse Jarman gave Christy Martin the victory by way of identical 76-75 tallies. “I realized at that moment that Christy had only to finish the fight on her feet to be guaranteed the decision,” Laracuente elaborated. “It was very disheartening.”

Martin attempted to mask the severity of her facial damage behind a pair of sunglasses as thousands of fans assembled around the outdoors ring at Caesars Palace rained down a torrent of boos. With a very interested Lucia Rijker also in attendance, there were more than a few whispers that Christy was gifted the victory over Laracuente so as not to detract from the marquee value of the Martin/Rijker super fight that had already been hyped up in the press for quite some time and would continue to be for years after but would ultimately never occur.

“A rematch with Christy is first on my list of priorities,” vowed Belinda shortly afterward. “Call it unfinished business. You saw how she looked after she ‘won’ on March 3rd in Las Vegas. I am trying to imagine how she’ll look when she loses.” Laracuente would have to defer to her imagination, as she was passed over by Martin in favor of a safer bet in 9-1-1 Dianna Lewis for her opponent on the undercard of the first fight in the Evander Holyfield/John Ruiz trilogy. As for Laracuente, she put forth an uncharacteristically lackluster performance two months later in a 6-round loss to 3-1 Karla Redo.

It was undeniable that a disheartened Laracuente was suffering from a malaise that would result in a sabbatical from the ring that exceeded two years. “It took me awhile to get over that fight,” she confessed in reference to the lingering aftereffects from the Christy Martin fallout. “I was nobody, and sometimes boxing can be political when you are a nobody.”

Absence, as they say, makes the heart grow fonder and Belinda Laracuente rediscovered her passion for boxing during the course of her lengthy layoff. In the three and a half years since Laracuente last squared off against her, Carla Witherspoon had amassed an astonishing twenty defeats with the last three coming at the hands of Lucia Rijker, Chevelle Hallback, and Isra Girgrah. Belinda was back in fine form, taking care of business against Witherspoon in their eight-round main event at the Manchester, New Hampshire Holiday Inn on August 30, 2002. This would be Laracuente’s lone outing of 2002 and she would fight on only four occasions over the following two years (winning three and drawing with Tracy Byrd), but she was about to get much busier and more or less stay that way for the remainder of her career.

Team Laracuente’s strategy was for a succession of impressive outings to put her on the fast track toward a rematch with Christy Martin or a showdown against Lucia Rijker or, best case scenario, one after the other. Neither option would come to fruition. Belinda, with a record of 21-5-2, had hustled her way back into title contention by 2005 and was given a crack at the IBA world welterweight championship held by ‘Island Girl’ Sumya Anani, who had already earned wins over the likes of Andrea DeShong, Dora Webber, Jane Couch, Fredia Gibbs, Lisa Holewyne, and most impressive of all, Holewyne’s future spouse and Laracuente’s former opponent, Christy Martin.

A clash of heads occurred no sooner than Laracuente and Anani came toe-to-toe at center ring. It was Sumya who emerged from the collision worse for wear with a cut above her right eyebrow, but it would be treated effectively and remain inconsequential throughout the rest of the bout. A relentless stalker who threw a heavy volume of punches from unorthodox angles, Anani proved to be a tough night at the office for a more deliberate, stick-and-move counterpuncher like Laracuente and this fight was no exception. Former world champion Valerie Mahfood, immediately recognizable by her trademark purple mohawk and best known for having been the only boxer to defeat the great Ann Wolfe (and by knockout, no less), sent Sue Fox a ringside dispatch on the proceedings for WBAN, noting that Laracuente hit the deck courtesy of an apparent left hook to the body in round seven. However, referee Kenny Saintes waved off the knockdown after Belinda complained of being headbutted. The extra point Sumya was denied was not detrimental to the outcome, as Anani had built up a comfortable enough lead on the scorecards to be awarded the unanimous decision and retain her title.

Just a little over two months later, Laracuente shed twelve pounds to challenge Jessica ‘Raging’ Rakoczy for her IBA world lightweight title, with the vacant NABA strap additionally up for grabs. Belinda admitted to being somewhat unprepared for the awkward style of Rakoczy, who lost only two rounds en route to a unanimous decision. They would tangle three more times over the next four years, Rakoczy winning all but their 2006 scrap which was declared a no-contest after three rounds when Jessica was declared unfit to continue because of injuries sustained by an accidental headbutt.

After three more subsequent losses—to the criminally undervalued Mary Jo Sanders (Belinda was a late replacement for Lisa Holewyne), unbeaten Canadian Kara ‘KO’ Ro (who would retire without a loss in 2011), and soon-to-be world champion Melissa Fiorentino—it would take until August 2005 for Laracuente get back in the win column. Less than a month after being outpointed by Fiorentino, Belinda traveled to the Westchester County Center in upstate New York to edge out a narrow decision over Ann-Marie Saccurato in the backyard of the previously undefeated White Plains native. Weathering an early onslaught from the hometown favorite, Laracuente not only gave as good as she got but turned up the heat from the third round onward, much to the appreciation of both the fans and ringside judges.

Belinda closed out an extraordinarily busy calendar year by taking to the skies for a pair of tough fights, establishing a trend which would continue over the course of the next three years of competing on foreign soil more often than not. First up was a trip to the Roppongi district of Tokyo for a WIBA world super-featherweight title eliminator against former featherweight titleholder, Fujin Raika. Despite keeping her foot pressed to the accelerator from the outset and breaking Raikia’s nose with one of her punches, Laracuente was once again victimized by partisan judges. The spectators within the Velfarre dance club, which hosted the event, were respectfully silent at the rendering of the spurious decision and, whether or not it was a conciliatory good-faith gesture on the part of the WIBA, it is very telling nevertheless that the title shot being squabbled over by Laracuente and Raika wound up going to Belinda seven weeks later despite having lost the fight.

Four women’s bouts topped the bill at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on November 18, 2005 with world championships on the line in three of those contests. Jelena Mrdjenovich successfully defended her WBC and IWBF super-featherweight belts against Franchesca Alcanter, and Jeannine Garside captured gold in only her fourth professional fight by dominating WIBA super-bantamweight titleholder Lisa Brown. In the third title fight, Belinda Laracuente was unable to make good on her challenge, conceding a decision to WIBA super-featherweight champion Chevelle Hallback, another of the fight game’s unheralded female heroes, an outcome which was arrived at unanimously and non-controversially.

Tough times continued for Laracuente as 2006 began with a main event scrap with Valanna McGee in her hometown of Redding, California which was as highly-spirited as it was anti-climactic when the judges’ verdict culminated in a deadlock. France was the next stop on Belinda’s pugilistic world tour when the opportunity arose to face off with undefeated WBA world super-lightweight champion Myriam Lamare in a televised co-feature at the Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan just six weeks later. Laracuente provided Lamare with her most credible challenge to date, but still fell short on the scorecards. The judges’ wide discrepancies were not reflective of how closely contested the fight was in actuality and were even called into question by the French television commentators. Lamare not only praised Laracuente but consented to a rematch which would take place four months down the line and, yet again, on the defending champion’s home turf. Competing with an injured right hand, Belinda was outpointed by Lamare for a second straight time.

One of the all-time pound-for-pound greats of the female fight game, ‘Amazing’ Layla McCarter had long been advocating for three-minute rounds in women’s boxing matches. Her protests had fallen on deaf ears until late 2006 when Nevada State Athletic Commissioner Keith Kizer approved a measure whereby women’s bouts could be contested under three-minute-round rules so long as both fighters were agreeable to the provision. Layla found a ready and willing ally in Belinda Laracuente to take part in a consequential event on November 17, 2006 at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in McCarter’s hometown of Las Vegas which would be broadcast on CSI Sports and commented on with enthusiastic acclaim by Al Bernstein and Colonel Bob Sheridan.

With so many eyes trained on them this significant evening, whether with admiration or skepticism, the pressure was on McCarter and Laracuente to deliver a skirmish that was not just momentarily entertaining but historically memorable. They both rose to the occasion and accomplished exactly that. Layla wasted little time establishing a rhythm which she dictated for the majority of the fight, consistently stepping to her right to cut Laracuente off from making movements to her left, ripping hellacious body shots with the intention of immobilizing Belinda as the rounds wore on, and throwing a high volume of varied combinations while keeping her guard high to catch as many counterpunches as possible on her gloves.

An accidental clash of heads with one minute remaining in the sixth round threatened to turn the tide, if not jeopardize the remainder of the bout, as an ugly laceration beneath McCarter’s right eye immediately began gushing blood. After receiving the approval of the ringside physician to return to action, Layla came at Laracuente hot and heavy over the next sixty seconds as if wanting to finish the round strong in the event that the fight was not allowed to continue thereafter. That concern was put to rest by the diligent cut work done in McCarter’s corner by her career-long trainer Luis Tapia, who admirably kept the wound from re-opening or swelling.

Belinda emerged from her corner for the seventh with a renewed sense of purpose and had her best round by far, targeting McCarter’s vulnerable right eye and getting the better of their heated exchanges for the first time that night. This was a testament to Laracuente’s magnificent physical condition which can no doubt be attributed to her lifetime experience as a long-distance runner. If the additional minute tacked onto each of the ten rounds posed a question mark with regard to the stamina of female fighters, both Laracuente and McCarter answered those uncertainties in the affirmative with emphatic undeniability. A standing ovation at the final bell was evidence of this.

Fighting three-minute rounds was a one-time only affair for Laracuente, but the triumphant McCarter would engage in six subsequent bouts under similar conditions and win all but one of these fights—dropping a majority decision, and surrendering her GBU lightweight title, to Belinda’s protégé Melissa Hernandez the following year. At the suggestion of five-time bantamweight and super-bantamweight world titleholder Ada Velez, Laracuente attended the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to scout Hernandez and was taken with the promising Puerto Rican contender’s energy, charisma, and raw talent. So much so that Melissa was invited to live with and train under Laracuente and Velez, ultimately refining her skills to become a repeat Golden Gloves winner in 2004 and 2005 before turning pro. “A little of the Brown Sugar rubbed off on me,” said the always beguiling and rugged Hernandez, who would go on to win six world championships in five divisions.

As for Belinda, Al Bernstein pondered at the conclusion of the McCarter fight that her misleading record could perhaps be attributed to the fact that she was stuck between two gears stylistically speaking, and that it might be advantageous to Laracuente’s future success if she committed herself to being either a technical boxer or a pier-six brawler. He might have been on to something, but it was a little late in her career for Laracuente to reinvent herself even if she was inclined to do so. Her winless streak would extend into 2007 and reach double digits with frustrating losses to Rhode Islander Melissa Fiorentino in a return bout held in Providence, Canadian phenom Jelena Mrdjenovich in a main event non-title match at the Delta South Hotel in Jelena’s home province of Edmonton, and Serbian-born Brazilian ‘Diamond’ Duda Yankovich in the headliner of an all-female fight card at the Companhia Athletica Brooklyn in Sao Paolo. “Belinda came to fight,” stated Mrdjenovich. “She brought out the best in me.”

Not only did Laracuente get a much-needed victory on June 15, 2007, but she outboxed Melissa Del Valle over twelve rounds at the Orleans Hotel and Casino on the Vegas strip (site of her 3-minute-round title fight against Layla McCarter) to win the vacant GBU world super-lightweight championship. Belinda was never called upon to defend what would turn out to be her one and only world title, and 30-6-1 Del Valle called it quits after ten years following her loss to Laracuente.

Belinda once again found herself fighting on unfamiliar terrain when she took on future two-division world champion Esther Phiri at the Woodlands Stadium in the Zambian capital of Lusaka. The split decision was rendered in favor of the up-and-coming local favorite despite the fact that it was Laracuente who was assessed as the more aggressive and accurate of the two combatants. Belinda seemed to be well within her rights by openly complaining that the verdict was “very unfair.”

Laracuente had mentored a young Melissa Hernandez and now, on February 7, 2008 in Temecula, California, they would both be featured in separate co-headlining bouts on an all-women’s boxing card televised on FSN’s Best Damn Fight Night. Hernandez and Chevelle Hallback put on an instant classic for the crowd at the Pechanga Resort & Casino by slugging it out in an all-action nail-biter which ended in a ten-round stalemate with the vacant IFBA world lightweight title remaining unclaimed. By comparison, Belinda Laracuente and undisputed world welterweight champion Holly Holm engaged in a mostly cautionary chess match which saw Holm make excellent use of her height, weight, and reach advantages to impose her will on Laracuente. Holm’s IFBA belt was the only one on the line and it went home with her to New Mexico courtesy of a unanimous decision. “Holly cannot compare because she runs too much and she is getting boring,” grumbled Laracuente.

In the midst of another prolonged downturn of fortune, Belinda returned to France where super-lightweight world champion Anne Sophie Mathis put her WBA belt up for grabs against Laracuente. After getting stopped by Marischa Sjauw in her second pro fight, Mathis went on an absolute tear, knocking out 15 of her next 17 opponents and claiming her first of many world titles. Belinda put forth an honorable effort against Mathis but came up just short on the scorecards in what was an unfortunately recurring theme for the Puerto Rican road warrior.

Less than one month later, the globetrotting Laracuente found herself being done dirty by corrupt scorekeepers in the African nation of Kenya while vying for the interim WIBF world super-bantamweight title opposite Fatuma Zarika at Charter Hall in Nairobi. It was reported that the decision bestowed onto Zarika was so obviously contemptible in nature that her own supporters lifted Laracuente up onto their shoulders while chanting “USA! USA!”

Belinda went 3-3 over her final six fights, defeating Lakeysha Williams, Davrene ‘DJ’ Morrison (who would later undergo gender transition and is now known as David), and Nicole Woods, but resuming hostilities with Layla McCarter and Jelena Mrdjenovich with adverse results for Laracuente similar to their first go-arounds. Her last fight would occur in Argentina on September 12, 2013 when Belinda was stopped for the first and only time in her sixteen year career by Monica Silvina Acosta in Santa Rosa.

A 26-28-3 career record typically earns a boxer any number of derogatory monikers—journeyman (or woman), gatekeeper, bum, tomato can—take your pick from these epithets and others that are as unkind as they are unfair when it comes to evaluating a career like Laracuente’s in its totality. Numbers rarely tell the whole tale, and Belinda has a plaque to prove it. Her accomplishments were celebrated by the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame, which proudly inducted Laracuente in 2018.

“I’m the best of the best,” boasted Belinda Laracuente. “One of the pioneers of women’s boxing.” A cursory glance at the raw data may be grounds for some to immediately dismiss Laracuente’s claim. It’s not until you dig beneath the surface of these deceptive statistics, aided by an understanding and appreciation for her travel schedule and world class caliber of opposition, that it becomes much more difficult to deny Laracuente her rightful place in the annals of boxing history.

¡Viva, Belinda Laracuente!

Sources:

Bernie McCoy. It’s What the Number Means (WBAN, December 8, 2008)

Mary Ann Lurie Owen. Extraordinary Women of the Ring (Kirographaires, 2010)

Sharon Robb. Woman Hungry For Title (South Florida Sun Sentinel, January 17, 2003)

Warren Tasker. Mrdjenovich Wins Cat and Mouse Battle With NYC Counterpuncher (Edmonton Journal, February 11, 2007)

Rick Wright. Brown Sugar Says Holly Boring (Albuquerque Journal, February 1, 2008)

Dee Williams. Belinda Laracuente Profile (WBAN—accessed at http://www.womenboxing.com/biog/blaracuente.htm)

Belinda Laracuente Interview (WBAN, April 10, 2000)

Dee Williams. Melissa Hernandez Profile (WBAN—accessed at http://www.womenboxing.com/biog/mhernandez.htm)

Christy Martin vs. Belinda Laracuente (YouTube, uploaded April 10, 2016)

Layla McCarter vs. Belinda Laracuente (YouTube, uploaded in 5 parts March 12, 2010)

Belinda Laracuente vs. Holly Holm IFBA Championship Belt (YouTube, uploaded July 30, 2011)

boxrec.com

A Brief But Complete History of Women’s Boxing Trading Cards So Far

 

Collecting trading cards has been a favorite pastime for generations of sports and pop culture enthusiasts of all ages, a hobby that can often prove to be equal parts fun and frustrating, communal and isolating, lucrative and financially draining. Like anything else, it largely depends upon each individual’s personal approach and general mindset, whether you cherish the cards as nostalgic keepsakes or obsessively hoard them with no apparent rhyme or reason or maybe with a future profit margin in mind. There does exist a healthy, sensible middle ground where a collector can find balance between enjoyment for enjoyment’s sake and the rush derived from the thrill of the hunt.        

My, how the hobby has changed. The days of spending an entire afternoon scrutinizing the photos on the front of the card and studying the statistics on the back like you were conducting a serious research project seems to be a thing of the past, sad to say. Modern day collectors seem much more focused on—or distracted by—making endless compromises to attain glittering prizes in the form of bright, shiny cardboard bearing refracted images, celebrity and athlete autographs, or an alleged swatch of ring-worn, game-used, or personally-owned memorabilia sewn in, all of which are limited in number and, therefore, command top dollar to those ready and willing to spend it.

Things first took a turn for the worse in what is referred to as the “junk wax era” of the early 1980s through the mid-90s when the growing number of trading card companies flooded the market with product at an astounding rate in unsustainable competition with one another to gain access to the wallets of collectors who, in turn, were hoping to establish retirement funds based on the value of their slabbed and graded acquisitions. This took all the fun out of collecting cards and turned it into a soulless investment opportunity.

Remember Don West, the ranting and raving late night Shop at Home Channel lunatic who would work himself into a frenzy for hours on end hawking a seemingly endless supply of gem mint 10 Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie cards? He pretty much epitomized the state of the hobby back then.

Simplicity and sentimentality were usurped by greed and delusion. Once upon a time, kids traded cards with their friends in the schoolyard during recess. As adults, many of those same kids who were bit by the collecting bug early on in life instead took to trading one innocent, if similarly far flung, fantasy—that you might someday become a major league ball player just like the ones pictured on your well-loved cards—for the dubious pleasure of indulging in another—that you will be able to pay off your mortgage or your teenager’s college tuition by obtaining and reselling these supposedly valuable cardboard artifacts.

Whenever supply outweighs demand, the bubble will inevitably burst. And so it did in the trading card industry in the 1990s. Just like the bubbles you would blow with the gum that used to come inside every pack. Although sports cards became infamously associated with those rigid, razor-sharp sticks of gum that were as likely to crack a tooth or slice open the inside of your cheek as they were to deface your Tony Gwynn or Darryl Strawberry rookie with a sticky imprint, they were first synonymous with cigarettes.

Introduced in the late nineteenth century as a promotional gimmick employed by tobacco companies to advertise their products, images of wildlife species, historical figures, novelty acts, and athletes printed on rectangular cardboard stock were inserted into packs or boxes of cigarettes with that particular company’s name conspicuously displayed on the front and/or back. Baseball players and prizefighters, owing to the popularity of both sports, were the among the most commonly depicted personalities.

The W.S. Kimball Tobacco Company out of Rochester, New York produced a set of 50 cards in 1887 called Champions of Games and Sport which included Hattie Stewart, the vaudevillian and pugilist who not only called herself ‘The Female John L. Sullivan,’ but had actually sparred with the ‘Boston Strong Boy.’ Stewart was the first female boxer to be featured on a trading card, and nearly 110 years would recede into the past before it happened again.

Ringside Boxing appeared on the sports card market in 1996, available in foil packs of 8 which collectors would have to purchase individually or by the box to assemble the complete set of 80 (including inserts and subsets). Released in the wake of her Sports Illustrated cover story, Christy Martin was the lone women’s boxer in the Ringside set. This would also remain true for the 1997 set of Brown’s Boxing cards.     

Following a dry spell for boxing cards of more than three decades since the release of the 1948 Leaf and 1951 Topps sets, Johnny Brown from Knob Noster, Missouri took it upon himself to independently manufacture his own. What they lacked aesthetically they made up for in scarcity, as the print runs for each set Brown’s put out between 1985 and 2002 were limited to no more than 2,000. This makes some of their more desirable cards quite valuable in today’s marketplace, most notably the 1997 Floyd Mayweather, Jr. rookie.

After including only Christy Martin in 1997, the 1999 Brown’s set featured five women—if you don’t count the two ring card girls, that is—and, believe it or not, none of them was Christy Martin. Instead, Jolene Blackshear, Tracy Byrd, Fredia Gibbs, Bridgett Riley, and Melissa Salamone got cards of their own. Three years later, Brown’s doubled the number of female boxers for its 2002 set. Christy Martin returned to the lineup, as did Fredia Gibbs, in the company of seven other active fighters—Mary Ann Almager, Sumya Anani, Jamie Clampitt, Lisa Foster, Mitzi Jeter, Deborah Nichols, and Marischa Sjauw—who were all joined by 1970s trailblazer and WBAN founder and archivist Sue Fox. This would be Brown’s last set of boxing cards for a little over twenty years until they resurfaced in 2024 with a 40-card set featuring Kim Clavel, Heather Hardy, Shurretta Metcalf, Yesica Nery Plata, Samantha Worthington, and referee Sparkle Lee.

Rounding out Christy Martin’s trading card run up to the present day, she was included in the 2010 Ringside—Round One and 2024 Topps Chrome boxing sets, and was given a variety of St. Patrick’s Day-themed cards in the brand new Leaf Metal release. Not surprisingly, the only other prizefighting female who rivals Christy Martin in terms of trading card representation is Laila Ali.

Courtesy of Germany’s Bravo Magazine, Laila’s first card materialized in 2000. Domestically speaking, Ali’s rookie card appeared as part of the 2001 Sports Illustrated for Kids set, followed two years later by an All Sports Magazine card. In 2007, Laila was featured in a set by Allen & Ginter, the old tobacco company that created the first trading cards in 1880 and was resurrected as a brand by Topps in 2006 as an homage to the hobby’s origins. Allen & Ginter later included then-WBO super-bantamweight world champion Ana Julaton in its 2011 set. A trading card-sized Laila Ali sticker was released by Sports Illustrated for Kids in 2010 and she was naturally included in Leaf’s 2011 Muhammad Ali exclusive set, along with Mia St. John, whose first card was issued by Upper Deck four years earlier.           

Natasha Jonas was the first female amateur boxer pictured on a trading card, in this case by Panini for its 2012 Adrenalyn XL London Olympics set. Jonas’ teammate, flyweight Nicola Adams, who was the first ever British woman to win Olympic gold in boxing competition, would have to wait twelve years to see her own card come to fruition. Perhaps in a good faith effort to make up for lost time, Topps included Adams in both its 2024 and 2025 Team GB sets.

Topps manufactured a US Olympics set in 2016 ahead of the summer games in Rio de Janeiro where Claressa Shields would become the first American boxer, male or female, to win back to back gold medals. Shields was featured on multiple cards in the 2016 Topps set with different variants, including limited edition relics, patches, and autographs. To date, these are the only officially licensed boxing cards featuring the self-proclaimed GWOAT, though there have been a few with Shields as an MMA fighter put out by Skybox and Upper Deck.        

The year after she turned pro, 2016 Olympic quarterfinalist and current three-weight world champion Mikaela Mayer made her trading card debut in the 2018 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions set with several of the same variations mentioned above (relic cards, autographs, etc.) that the modern collector has come to expect. Mayer was also featured in the 2024 Topps Chrome release, the company’s first set of boxing cards since 1951. Besides Mayer and the aforementioned Christy Martin, the 2024 Topps set also included Erika Cruz, Rhiannon Dixon, Marlen Esparza, Seniesa Estrada, Beatriz Ferreira, Terri Harper, Skye Nicolson, Sandy Ryan, Ellie Scotney, Mia St. John, and Yokasta Valle with all the contemporary bells and whistles, including throwback variants commemorating the design of the 1951 Topps boxing cards.   

Hall of Famer Holly Holm has never gotten her own trading card as a boxer but has had plenty dedicated to her as a cage fighting competitor, including a couple of cool Topps releases in 2018 and 2019, which paid tribute to their 1983 and 1984 baseball card designs respectively. Holly’s 2017 UFC opponent Cris Cyborg was featured along with Holm in those same Topps sets, among a whole slew of others as well and has since crossed over into boxing. Quality of opposition notwithstanding, the 40-year-old Cyborg (real name Cristiane Justino) recently stopped Paulina Cardona (27-34-7 going into their bout in Brazil) in the third round to not only remain undefeated as a prizefighter (6-0, 5 KOs) but win the vacant WIBA super-welterweight title, making her the first world champion in both boxing and mixed martial arts simultaneously. Leaf featured Cyborg in boxing gear on a Hit Like a Girl insert card as part of their 2025 Women of Sport set.

While bootleg custom cards won’t factor into this conversation, it is definitely worth pointing out that Amanda and Cindy Serrano for several years now have offered a pair of self-created and authorized trading cards for sale on the merchandise page of their website. As of this writing, the Serrano Sisters card is sold out and there is limited stock left of the solo ‘Real Deal’ Amanda card, which will be autographed upon request. Hurry now while supplies last. After all, FOMO (fear of missing out) is another scourge of the modern trading card collector.

That about wraps up the story of women’s boxing trading cards for now. To be continued, no doubt…    

Was Joltin’ Joe Matisi an Inspiration for Rod Serling’s Requiem for a Heavyweight?

 

While still a student at Antioch College, Rod Serling embarked on a complimentary trip from Yellow Springs, Ohio to New York City to accept the second-place prize in a nationwide scriptwriting contest sponsored by the popular Dr. Christian radio program. His submission was called “To Live a Dream” which told the story of an old boxer dying of leukemia who was not only passing on the tricks of the trade but bequeathing his own personal legacy to the young fighter he was currently training.    

During the broadcast of the award show, Serling offered some brief remarks to host Jean Hersholt, saying that he was “fond of boxing” and making an interesting reference to having “tried my hand in the Golden Gloves.”

Before lacing up the gloves as a flyweight in the Army, Rod is said to have boxed at the Washington Street YMCA in Binghamton, presumably shoulder to shoulder with professional fighters competing in and around the Southern Tier region of upstate New York. Heavyweight hopeful Joltin’ Joe Matisi of nearby Endicott was one of the more recognizable faces in the crowd.

As an amateur, Matisi won both the New York and Inter-City Golden Gloves in 1937 and made his pro debut three years later. Emerging victorious in eight of his first nine bouts, Matisi’s second fight took place on the undercard of Joe Louis’ February 9, 1940 heavyweight title defense against Arturo Godoy at Madison Square Garden.

In September 1941, Matisi pleaded guilty of second degree assault after striking a member of the IBM personnel department during a job interview when he was allegedly told by the employee that “Guineas are not hired here.” Matisi’s blow broke the man’s nose and caused facial contusions, resulting in a potential 30 to 60 month stretch in Attica. Matisi was instead fined $1,000 and had his sentence suspended, conditional upon maintaining good behavior throughout the two and a half-year probation ordered by the judge. Joe insisted that his actions were not those of a hot-tempered tough guy but a proud Italian American protecting his heritage and standing up for his community.   

World War II interrupted his fledgling boxing career, costing Matisi four years of his physical prime which were spent, like Rod Serling, in service to the U.S. Army. Following his discharge, Matisi wasted no time returning to the boxing ring and was featured regularly on local cards hosted by Binghamton’s Kalurah Temple, Johnson Field in Johnson City, and the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

He continued his winning ways after the war, racking up a ten-fight unbeaten streak, concluding eight bouts inside the distance. Unfortunately, one of those knockout victories ended in tragedy. Dave Mason, fighting out of Cleveland, was sent to the canvas four times by Joltin’ Joe before being counted out in the third round and died of a cerebral hemorrhage the following day.

Matisi’s one brush with greatness came in 1947 when he got to go toe to toe with soon-to-be heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles in Buffalo. 47-5-1 at the time, ‘The Cincinnati Cobra,’ as Charles was known, struck down Matisi four times and cruised to a shutout decision. Five months later, Charles too would claim the life an opponent when Sam Baroudi expired from injuries sustained during their February 1948 fight at Chicago Stadium.

Following the loss to Ezzard Charles, Matisi won only one of his last five fights and retired in 1949 with a record of 22-9-2 (15 KOs). Right around the same time that Matisi hung up his gloves, Rod Serling submitted a boxing-themed script titled “Winner Take Nothing” to the radio anthology series Grand Central Station. In his rejection letter, the program’s producer and director Martin Horrell remarked that Serling’s story was “better than average” but would hardly be to the liking of the female listeners who tuned in on Saturday afternoons expecting lighter fare in the way of comedy and romance. With more than a slight trace of prophetic foresight, Horrell suggested that Serling’s effort was best suited for television rather than radio.

Rod Serling worked from a composite of former prizefighters when creating the template for the character of Mountain in the two versions of “Requiem for a Heavyweight,” played by Jack Palance and Anthony Quinn, respectively. Although Serling never specified by name any of the cauliflower-eared, hard luck boxers who served as his various muses, it’s altogether possible that Broome County fan favorite Joltin’ Joe Matisi might have been one of them.

 

This article is a supplement to my book The Twilight Rounds: Rod Serling Explores the Dark Side of Boxing, published by Jobber House Press.