Hit like a girl
The increasing incidence of power-punching women
Graham Houston @fightwriterone Hall of Fame writer
TRIPLE THREAT: Fundora, Thiebault and Turhan
PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES
WOMEN’S boxing isn’t for everyone. I get that. However, we’ve been seeing an increase in hard-hitting displays and explosive finishes in women’s bouts.
So, the position held by some – that women’s fights seldom produce stoppages and therefore aren’t really suspenseful – is surely starting to erode.
In support of this notion I’ll give you what I would call the ‘triple threat’ in women’s boxing: Gabriela Fundora, Elif Nur Turhan and Tamm Thibeault. Each of these women has won impressively inside the distance this year.
Let’s look first at Fundora, the southpaw flyweight from the desert community of Coachella, California. She’s tall and rangy for her weight division — as is her big brother, Sebastian, the 154lbs champion.
‘Sweet Poison’ Gabriela stands 5ft 9ins and she towers over her opponents in the 112lbs weight class.
But Gabriela doesn’t stand back and use her height and reach to score points from the outside. Not a bit of it. She takes the fight to her opponents and she looks to hurt them.