By the time she turned eighteen, Lydia Bayardo had earned
the hard-won reputation as a slugger on the softball field as well as in the
boxing ring.
Growing up in the coastal Los Angeles neighborhood of San
Pedro, Lydia wielded one of the hottest bats on the Pirates, routinely
responsible for hitting clutch homers and driving in go-ahead or game-winning
runs throughout the regular season and, more importantly, the playoffs when it
counted the most. The athletically gifted Bayardo was also recognized for her
proficiency on San Pedro High School’s basketball squad.
But two years prior to leading the defending champion
Pirates to their repeat City title in 1977, Lydia had already committed herself
to boxing. She couldn’t possibly have known it then, except for maybe as a
recurring vision in her wildest dreams, but Bayardo’s youthful passion for the
sweet science would manifest itself into a lifechanging, history making
endeavor.
A five-story building of Spanish Colonial Revival
architecture near the port of Los Angeles, the Harbor View House was once an
Army/Navy YMCA but had been repurposed as a temporary dwelling place for
wayward youths. San Pedro being a tough town, there were more than a few who
qualified.
Sixteen year-old Lydia was one of approximately a dozen
misfit pupils, females one and all, who would gather in the dank, roach
infested basement of the Harbor View House every Wednesday evening to skip
rope, whale away on the heavy bag, and pound out a rat-a-tat-tat staccato
rhythm on the speed bag barely illuminated by the dim glow of five 60-watt
bulbs, not to mention sharpen up on boxing fundamentals during sparring
sessions wherein footwork was especially tricky thanks to the ring’s well-worn,
spongy canvas.
The gym’s boxing program, called the San Pedro Locker
Club, was run by the matronly and aptly named Dee Knuckles. “Eventually, I’d
like to see a professional boxing circuit for women, or at least some organized
amateur competition,” professed Knuckles (which, believe it or not, was indeed
her real last name). “I have no intention of ever letting my girls get involved
in some stunt promotions where they’d have to get in the ring with a man.
That’s not the kind of boxing I want to see.”
At nineteen, Pat Pineda was not only the program’s elder,
but Dee’s standout performer and head trainer. In 1976, she would become the
first woman to be granted a professional boxing license by the state of
California with Knuckles as manager and promoter for her abbreviated, two-fight
career. Pineda and Bayardo sparred frequently at the San Pedro Locker Club, and
Lydia’s determination was hard to ignore. So too was her improvement.
Dee Knuckles would organize exhibitions and smokers for
her girls to participate in, the proceeds from which would go toward buying
uniforms and upgrading the gym’s equipment. Bayardo was featured on one such
show held on the grounds of the Long Beach VA Hospital, attended by 300
spectators consisting mostly of patients and their families. Lydia was matched
opposite Irma Torres, who was just one year younger.
They were kitted out in red gloves and matching headgear
which were donated by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Division,
otherwise Bayardo and Torres made do with Locker Club t-shirts and denim
cutoffs for ring attire. Declared a draw by the sheepish referee, both girls
were awarded trophies at the conclusion of their crowd-pleasing skirmish, two
rounds in duration.
Lydia made her pro debut before her senior year of high
school had even begun, boxing to a four-round draw against Karen Bennett of Las
Vegas on September 6, 1977 at the Hyatt Hotel in Lake Tahoe. Not bad at all for
a total novice, seeing as though Bennett, a future Nevada State bantamweight
champion, already had a handful of fights on her resume and rode a four-fight
knockout streak into the bout against Bayardo, who was now known by her ring
moniker ‘Squeaky.’
Lydia was given the nickname because of her propensity
for squealing whenever she was hugged tight. She would enter the ring wearing a
t-shirt with SQUEAKY spelled out in black iron-on letters across the
front, and THE BEST written from shoulder to shoulder on the back.
Bennett and Bayardo would square off again three months
later. Same venue. Different outcome. Squeaky’s rematch with Karen Bennett was
one of four female bouts comprising the undercard to the main event pitting
Robbie Epps opposite Henry Walker in a super-welterweight dustup. The card was
assembled by matchmaker Bill Dickson who confirmed for the press that this was
the very first time more than two women’s fights occurred on the same bill.
Shirley ‘Zebra Girl’ Tucker took a four-round decision from Fonda Gayden and,
similarly, Toni Lear Rodriguez outpointed Tansy ‘Baby Bear’ James, whereas
Julie Mullen notched a first-round KO over Rochelle Johnson.
Squeaky made a favorable impression on the Tahoe fight
fans by overpowering and stopping Bennett in the fourth and final stanza.
Heavyweight Greg Page, still in the early stages of his amateur career with a
Golden Gloves title soon to come and a brief stint as WBA world champion to
materialize later, was obviously far more impressed by Bayardo then his U.S.
Boxing brethren in attendance. Brandishing a Polaroid camera, Page
enthusiastically ran up to Bayardo and requested to take a picture with her.
“That was a damn good fight,” he exclaimed. “You’re a fighter.”
Already being talked about as a potential title contender
after just two fights, the pragmatic eighteen-year-old preferred to keep things
in perspective. “I just want to get in there and do my best,” said Squeaky
after her win over Karen Bennett. “I’m not thinking about anything else.” Her
humility notwithstanding, a title shot was exactly what awaited Bayardo next.
Nevada State junior-lightweight champion prior to
graduation was a distinction that very much set Lydia Bayardo apart from her
San Pedro High School classmates, one that she was able to boast by beating the
more experienced Toni Lear Rodriguez in a six-rounder at the Lake Tahoe Hyatt
in March 1978.
Squeaky made two quick return trips to her stomping
ground at Lake Tahoe, scoring knockout victories over Ginate Troy on April 4
and Mary Kudla on May 30. A right hook put an already bloodied and battered
Kudla down for the count at the 51 second mark of the third round. Because she
was experiencing trouble breathing, Mary was sent to the emergency room as a
precautionary measure. Fortunately, it was nothing more serious than a broken
nose.
Bayardo was back in Tahoe two months later, only this
time enjoying a change of scenery from the Hyatt ballroom, as she won on points
against Joann Williams at Truckee High School’s Surprise Stadium. She would,
however, make one last visit to the Hyatt that November when no fewer than four
women’s Nevada State championships would be decided.
Ginate Troy claimed possession of the flyweight title by
virtue of a first-round knockout of Laurie Ferris, Julie Mullen put Lavonne
Ludian away in the fourth of six rounds to take home the welterweight crown,
and Karen Bennett became the bantamweight champion by knocking out Bonnie
Prestwood in round two. Squeaky alone was unable to finish her opponent inside
the distance, but nevertheless acquired the Nevada State lightweight title by
decisively outmuscling registered nurse and former kickboxer Carlotta Lee in
what was thought to be the best fight on the card dubbed Ladies Night.
Los Angeles’ Hoover St. Gym, known as the Cradle of
Boxing Champions, was ahead of the curve with regard to allowing females to
train there. Other establishments in the 1970s were known to turn women away at
the door. Bayardo worked out there, sparring on a regular basis with
welterweight contender Britt VanBuskirk. Future world lightweight champion and
hall of famer Lady Tyger Trimiar was a familiar face at the Hoover St. Gym, as
was Cora Webber, one of a set of prizefighting twins (her sister Dora would step
between the ropes four years later) who was tuning up for her first fight.
Turns out, it would be against Squeaky.
No garden variety event was the super-featherweight bout
between Squeaky Bayardo and Cora Webber. They dueled to a vigorous five-round
draw on the first ever all-women’s boxing card, a set of four world title
elimination matches put on by promoter Sammy Sanders at the Hawthorne Memorial
Center on February 11, 1979. Shirley ‘Zebra Girl’ Tucker won a split decision
over Toni Lear Rodriguez (a late substitute for Ginate Troy) in a
super-bantamweight scrap, ‘Sweet’ Dulce Lucas needed only two rounds to dispatch
fellow welterweight Valerie Ganther, and Lady Tyger Trimiar outpointed Carlotta
Lee in the main event. Lady Tyger would win the world lightweight championship
seven weeks later, decisioning Sue ‘KO’ Carlson in San Antonio, Texas.
Sammy Sanders staged a second all-female fight card five
months after the first, this one held at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on July
13 and headlined by a California State Championship Triple Crown. Britt
VanBuskirk knocked out Dulce Lucas in the second round for the welterweight
title, Lily Rodriguez edged out Toni Lear Rodriguez in the featherweight
contest, and the super-featherweight championship went to Cora Webber via
unanimous decision over Carlotta Lee. Graciela Casillas upset Karen Bennett and
Lady Tyger stopped Ernestine Jones in two of the preliminary matches. Squeaky
accounted for the other.
Unfortunately, Bayardo wasn’t involved in any of the
title fights that night, but she just might have stolen the show regardless.
She celebrated her fifth-round knockout of Ginate Troy (a last-minute
replacement for Toni Bryant) by pumping her gloved fists in the air and jogging
around the ring while the theme music to Rocky played on the PA system.
Before exiting the ring, the triumphant Squeaky yanked out her mouthpiece and
tossed it into the crowd for some lucky admirer to bring home as a souvenir.
Evidently not sure what to make of such a unique occurrence of joyful abandon
exhibited by a female, one bewildered observer remarked, “I’m used to women
throwing garters from a stage.” The times, they were a-changing.
Bayardo’s October 9, 1979 points win over Yvonne Barkley,
whose kid brother Iran would go on to twice conquer Thomas Hearns and win world
titles in three weight classes, seems to have been her swan song dedicated to a
boxing career that was especially remarkable given its brevity, and in which
she became acquainted with championship renown on two occasions and not once
with defeat.
Sources:
Katie Castator. These Women Will Knock You Out (San
Bernardino County Sun, July 15, 1979)
William C. Rempel. Girls Invade Male Domain of Boxing
Ring (Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1975)
George Robeson. Feminist Fighting is the New Thing (Long
Beach Independent, September 29, 1975)
Steve Sneddon. Women Fighters Impress Top Men (Reno
Gazette-Journal, December 7, 1977)
Steve Sneddon. Bantam Bout Set (Reno Gazette-Journal, May
30, 1978)
Steve Sneddon. Bad News Betty Battles to Victory (Reno
Gazette-Journal, May 31, 1978)
Steve Sneddon. Bennett Stars on Ladies Night Fight Card
(Reno Gazette-Journal, November 22, 1978)
Lydia Bayardo Tries to Duck a Punch by Pat Pineda (San
Pedro News-Pilot, November 12, 1975)
Squeaky Bayardo Profile on WBAN
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