A spring blizzard couldn't stop the throng of people who rushed through the doors at the Cochrane Lions Event Centre on April 27 for Rival Boxing Gym's Boxing Beauties charity event. The night was used as a way to raise money for Big Hill Haven Women’s Shelter.
Fourteen fighters of all ages stepped into the ring for three rounds with another member of the group and show off the skills they've learned over the past few months in front of hundreds of spectators. The winner of each match was awarded a championship belt.
While the event was mostly a fundraiser for the Big Hill Haven Women’s Shelter, the group also has a slogan of ‘Women Fights for Women Rights’ which is is geared to empower women to do anything they put their minds to.
“It was not a long time ago that women had not been allowed to engage in sports and I think boxing is one of the sports where women have more opportunity now than they did before,” organizer Anne Garrido said in an interview prior about the event. They have the chance to train, compete and why not do it for another cause that is important for women? That’s the idea … to have women engage in sports and have them get the same opportunity as men, the same exposure and all that while helping other women get out of difficult situations in their lives.”
Rival has done many formal and charity events in the past such as the Rumble at the Ranche which as included both men and women, but this event is the first event where the roster of boxers were all female. Even with the awful weather, the event sold out which was something Garrido said was very important as it brought energy to the fights.
"It was great ... it was amazing. We got lucky that the snow started a little bit later so people were already here," Garrido said. "Except for a few people from Calgary who called me and said they weren't going to be able to make it because of road closures but everyone who had a ticket showed up so it's amazing."
"I think overall that it was a very entertaining event. The girls put a lot of work and they put up a fight ... a lot of fights went the distance which is what we were hoping for and it was a great way for them to showcase all of their skills. There were fans who were very impressed with all the performances as well as on the boxing side, it was not only entertaining, the fights were actually pretty good. The girls involved only had 12 weeks of training so they showed pretty good boxing skills."
Each fighter began training in early January, with a good portion of them never stepping inside the ring before their training began. Garrido felt like every participate involve showed great improvements from early January to fight night.
"It was night and day. To see them coming from basically no background in boxing, or most of them, some of them had a few fights already so it's a little different but the very beginners they came from nothing. No knowledge, no boxing skills, no nothing and they put on some really good fights," Garrido said.
"They showed amazing progress in that training camp and it just shows that you get out what you put in. If you show up to the gym ready to train, that will show on fight day. I enjoyed the fight between Tracy (Ableson) and Kelsey (Norman). They were both maybe not super confident in their skills and they actually gave a great performance ... very good punching technique and I know they were a little unsure of themselves and they really did good."
This was the first all female event that Rival has hosted in their history and Garrido said she'd certainly like to continue having these events on a regular basis.
"We've done charity boxing events for the last three years. We had one last year and one the year before ... as for the women's only show, I want to," she said. "My biggest issue is to find the women to participate. If I have enough women join, the training is not an issue, it's not a problem organizing it ... it's the numbers. That's the main issue is finding enough women to participate. If we got a turnout like this year every year, then I would certainly do it again."
While Garrido said she doesn't have the final number of money raised, she said they raise $8,000 through donations and more than $2,500 through the silent auction.
"It was certainly one of the most successful events we've had."
