Kathy ‘Wildcat’ Collins Commemorates the 30th Anniversary of Fighting in the First Women’s Boxing Match at MSG

“I felt like a star but I knew I’d be fighting for my life in there and I don’t think scared could quite cover how I felt. I knew she was more experienced, I’d never gone that distance (six rounds), and I had two weeks’ preparation,” Kathy Collins-Globuschutz tells me about her state of mind leading up to the groundbreaking August 20, 1996 matchup pitting her against Andrea DeShong at the Mecca of Boxing.

“I had a lot of weight to lose in a short period of time and was essentially the lamb being led to slaughter. But I was female, the right weight, already licensed and medicalled by the commission, I was local and a perfect match to the promoter. That was the only reason I got the call. I was the most cost-efficient option,” says Kathy. “But I’d have the money I’d need to go back to school, so I took it.”

The rest, as they say, is history, so let’s go back and retrace the steps along Kathy’s unlikely journey to MSG.

“Births have brought us richness and variety. And other births will bring us richness and variety,” wrote Walt Whitman in the epic poem “Song of Myself” from his seminal work, Leaves of Grass. “I do not call one greater and one smaller. That which fills its period and place is equal to any.” Whitman’s ties to the Long Island town of Huntington are well documented, his birthplace in the hamlet of West Hills having been preserved as a historic site and museum which is within moderate walking distance of a shopping mall and a high school both bearing the bard’s name. 

When it comes to fighters rather than writers, though the two are not always mutually exclusive, Gerry Cooney is most famously associated with calling Huntington home. But he’s not alone and, in the interest of variety and all things being equal, as affirmed above by Mr. Whitman, our mission here is to focus the spotlight on Kathy ‘Wildcat’ Collins and celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the watershed moment she shared with Andrea DeShong which significantly moved the needle used to chart the evolution of women’s boxing.

Long Island’s first female world boxing champion, Collins is a longtime resident of the Huntington area who, as part of her road work regimen, would do sprints on the track at Walt Whitman High School. Additionally, Kathy ran for distance on Oakwood Road, a three-mile stretch of moderately-trafficked pavement that connects the major artery of Jericho Turnpike to the heart of Huntington Village, and improved her endurance by scrambling up the hills of nearby Northport.

For a nursing student from suburban Long Island, it was an especially big deal to compete in the first sanctioned professional women’s boxing match at Madison Square Garden. But, as dauting an assignment as it was, the Garden’s interior was not unfamiliar terrain to Collins. Nor was making history there. And it all started with a trip to the gym just to get in shape.   

“I went to the Academy of Boxing for Women here on Long Island in 1994. I started for fun and fitness, but in ‘95 USA Boxing opened the New York Daily News Golden Gloves to women for the first time,” explains Collins. “There were over one hundred applications and twenty-four women actually competed. I was the only one who got three fights out of the tournament.”

A mere nine months after first lacing up a pair of boxing gloves, Kathy became a member of the inaugural class of women to fight in the New York Golden Gloves. She made it all the way to the finals of the 139-pound division held at Madison Square Garden’s Paramount Theater, but lost a 5-0 decision to grade school teacher Denise Lutrick in what “looked like a waterfront brawl,” according to the Daily News. 

“When it was over, that was it. No other tournaments were available. No Metros, No World Games and certainly no Olympics. I thought that was the end of it for me,” reflects Collins. “The owner of the gym, Frank Globuschutz (to whom Kathy is now married), presented the idea of turning pro three weeks later. I hesitated, not seeing a real future, but I agreed to one fight. It was a paid opportunity at the Westbury Music Fair and figured why not.”

An intimate 3,000-seat concert hall in Nassau County, the Westbury Music Fair is best known for having its stage positioned in the middle of the venue so that musicians and comedians perform “in the round” with the audience encircling them on all sides. They began hosting boxing shows in 1994, offering former short-term WBC heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick a spot as the headliner of their premiere event. Collins wound up fighting there on four occasions early in her career, debuting on August 28, 1995 with a four-round decision over Laure Bishoff and returning eight months later to outpoint Erica Schmidlin.

“Hardly enough to make it a career and not enough fights to improve as a fighter,” Collins says in regard to her first two bouts at Westbury Music Fair. “I was actively looking to return to nursing school and a more stable future. On deferment, I needed $1200 to return.” A little more than three months after her second fight, Kathy received a phone call with an offer she couldn’t refuse, one which would send her life on an altogether different trajectory.

“A six rounder, which I’d never done, against the only woman to beat Christy Martin, in two weeks. The first between two women at MSG, on the USA Tuesday Night Fights series. Another first. But the most miraculous part was the $200 a round, exactly what I needed to return to school,” Collins says. The bout was set for the Garden’s Paramount Theater, the site of Kathy’s Golden Gloves final’s appearance the year before. “I was overmatched by quite a bit in experience. But, to me, it seemed a gift from God to right my path and get back to college. Win or lose, that was the plan. The fight was designed as a showcase for Andrea, the only woman to have ever beaten Christy on a national level. They were even bringing Christy in to do the color commentating on our fight and set up a super fight between Andrea and Christy.”

A two-time Tough Woman Contest winner fighting out of Mingo Junction, Ohio, Andrea DeShong emerged onto the more or less dormant women’s boxing scene six months before Christy Martin in 1989, battling ‘The Coalminer’s Daughter’ twice prior to tangling with Kathy Collins and scoring a majority decision win over Martin in Christy’s fourth pro bout. It would be nine years before Martin lost again, to Sumya Anani in 1998, avenging her defeat to DeShong twice over along the way—by a questionable split decision five months after their first encounter, and by TKO in their rubber match on the undercard of the infamous Tyson/Holyfield ‘Bite Fight’ in 1997. DeShong arrived in Manhattan for her historic scrap against Collins sporting a record of 11-2 with 5 knockouts, fresh off an impressive shutout win over Stacy Prestage just eight weeks earlier.    

“The fights at the Garden that night was the return of boxing to the venue after the Riddick Bowe/Andrew Golota riots and (there was) a ton of press and scrutiny about the security of the arena,” Collins remembers. “Lou Savarese and Hector Camacho and Junior Jones were the main features. We were to be the opening fight on the broadcast and they were conducting a telephone poll of viewers to determine if the general population really wanted to see women box.” Additional challenges unique to the unprecedented nature of the situation had to be dealt with. “The commission was in new territory with women boxers as far as weigh-ins and dressing room privacy away from the men,” Kathy says, “but Junior graciously abdicated his private dressing room for me so I wouldn’t have to share with the guys. Always a gentleman!”

The big moment had arrived. Pre-fight jitters are to be expected. On this night, even more so.

“The knock on the door. ‘Let’s go!’ My heart dropped to my stomach. The walk down the hall, I felt like I couldn’t stand on my legs. The nerves. Then I see her over there, shadow boxing, warming up, ripping off combos. All the color drained from my face,” admits Collins. Despite the fact that she maneuvered through the passageway like a novice parachutist approaching the open hatch of the plane they’re about to freefall out of, a funny thing happened on her way to the ring and, just like that, it all turned around in her favor.

“I walked to the right and the place erupted at my entrance. She (DeShong) walked in breakdancing, having the time of her life. This was her show. We all knew it. But the crowd, they booed her,” Kathy says. “You see, it was a New York crowd and I was from New York and they wanted me to win. Then I wanted to win too. The bell went off and, the first round, I ran around a lot just trying to get my bearings. At the end of the first she caught me and it was then that I knew I couldn’t stand, take her shots, and win this fight.”

With precious little time to spare for a feeling-out process in a six-round fight, Kathy gained her composure, held her ground, bit down on her gumshield, and unleashed a heavy barrage of body blows which caught the attention of the spectators and sportswriters present. Her adversary couldn’t help but take notice too, it goes without saying. When the final bell tolled and the verdict had been read aloud, Collins had defied the odds stacked against her, pulling off the upset and defeating the far more battle-tested Andrea DeShong. A tally of 60-54 on Melvina Lathan’s scorecard and matching totals of 58-56 arrived at by both Larry Hazzard Jr. and Harold Lederman gave her a unanimous decision victory in front of 2,517 fight fans who were as partisan as they were passionate.

“She claimed (to be) surprised, unprepared for that level of competition. Which could be true, but I also had no prep time and a lot less experience. When I came out of the ring at the Garden, I felt amazed. Dennis Rapport (one half of the ‘Wacko Twins,’ as he and business partner Mike Jones were called, who co-managed fellow Long Islanders Gerry Cooney and Howard Davis Jr., among others) handed me a promotional contract. Everlast handed me an endorsement contract. And the media was lined up, wanting interviews,” recalls Collins. One newspaper headline hovering over a complimentary writeup of the fight, from The Record out of Hackensack, New Jersey, enthused Women Upstage Listless Camacho.

“It was a very Cinderella moment! But, also, it created a career opportunity,” Kathy continues. “It sent everyone into thinking I should be the one to fight Christy since I beat Andrea. I was not ready for that fight, I was so new, but the buzz started there in 1996.”

Sure enough, Christy Martin would take part in the first women’s bout inside Madison Square Garden’s main arena, almost one year to the day after Kathy Collins’ win over Andrea DeShong at MSG’s Paramount Theater, but Collins did not get the call for that fight. Instead, Martin dropped future world champion Isra Girgrah in the second round of an otherwise competitive scrap that could have reasonably gone either way on the scorecards. But Martin received the nod from the judges and a shower of boos from the New York crowd.

As for Collins, she ditched nursing school for the sweet science, preferring to dedicate herself to the craft of inflicting bodily harm rather than healing it. Four weeks after beating Andrea DeShong, Kathy revisited the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island where she made quick work of Angela Buchanan courtesy of a first-round knockout. A quartet of consecutive stalemates followed, including back to back confrontations with trailblazer Dora Webber in less than one weeks’ time, the second of which occurred at Collins’ stomping grounds at—you guessed it—the Westbury Music Fair.

After getting back in the win column by decisioning Leah Mellinger in Atlantic City, Kathy claimed her first world championship with a second-round TKO of Christina Berry for the IBA welterweight title. Collins added another belt to her trophy case two and a half months later by forcing Helga Risoy to quit on her stool at the end of three rounds with the IWBF world super-lightweight title at stake.

Andrea DeShong reentered Kathy’s orbit in 1998 for a rematch on an all-female card in Atlantic City. Now 13-6-1, DeShong was in the midst of an unenviable fight schedule that resulted in three straight TKO losses—to Jane Couch, Christy Martin, and Lucia Rijker. A work itinerary doesn’t get a whole lot tougher than that, and things wouldn’t get any easier. In defense of her IWBF title, Collins made it four losses in a row for the now battle-damaged DeShong by unanimous decision while taking the 2-0 advantage in their personal rivalry.

DeShong wasn’t done quite yet, but she would eventually view her boxing career through the rearview mirror after losses on points to Sumya Anani and Mitzi Jeter which, by August 1999, put her at more than a decade in the sport and two and a half years removed from her last victory. Still residing in Mingo Junction, Ohio, Andrea DeShong is the owner and operator of a massage therapy studio. (Author’s note: For the record, I also reached out to Andrea with the intention of making this story an equal collaboration between her and Kathy but didn’t receive a response.)

Kathy Collins, meanwhile, continued her winning ways by becoming a three-division world champion with a close unanimous decision over Marischa Sjauw for the WIBF lightweight title. Sandwiched between a pair of wins over Canadian warrior Olivia Gerula, Kathy suffered her first professional loss by way of split decision in a televised rematch with Leah Mellinger. Collins rebounded nicely, rattling off a three-fight win streak that began with her second victory over Gerula, after which she added the WIBA super-lightweight strap to her collection by beating Denise Moraetes. And then, finally, after defeating Cheryl Nance and running her record to 14-1-4, there came Christy Martin and a return to Madison Square Garden.

“It took five more years and four world titles, including a unification of all the belts at the time at 140 pounds, to create that super fight,” Kathy says. Also required was Collins’ signature on a promotional contract with Don King. “The first six figure payday between two women and a co-feature in the Garden at the big house in 2001.”

Kathy went toe to toe with the best in the business over ten rounds, the operative word being business. They say you can’t fight City Hall and, with Don King doing his wheeling and dealing, very few female boxers at the time were likely to fight Christy Martin and get a fair shake at coming out on top. Martin won a majority decision and was booed by the Garden faithful once again.

Neither a well-deserved rematch with Christy nor a proposed fight opposite Lucia Rijker, who sat alongside Jim Lampley and George Foreman at the broadcast table for the first few rounds of the Martin/Collins dustup at MSG, was destined to be so, with no regrets and by what she calls “God’s will,” Kathy left boxing behind to begin a family.

She is co-owner of the Academy of Boxing gym in Huntington Station with her husband Frank, Collins’ former manager and founder of the IWBF. Kathy was a 2021 inductee into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame, and a member of the Class of 2022 in both the New York State and Atlantic City Boxing Halls of Fame. 

“I feel very honored to have started and finished at Madison Square Garden,” Collins says in summation. “In quite a few of the biggest fights of that era.”