Fight fans at the venue admitted that more women than usual had attended and, moreover, the consensus among the paying public was that they had been entertained. Thankfully, the sport's major power brokers, the television companies, are against such contests. This is a freak show and there's no call for it. That, however, may change with the emergence of Laila Ali, who is clearly a box-office fighter. But there remain good reasons to shun mixed contests, and many women will have been sleepless in Seattle simply contemplating the endorsing of a man hitting a woman.
Statistics indicate that every nine seconds, a woman is battered in America.
McGregor knows this only too well. She was abused 10 years ago in her first marriage by her then-husband. After a heated argument, her husband battered her face beyond recognition. Women's boxing is a fledgling sport, and a minority of women will always want to box. We now have the great Archie Moore's daughter fighting, Ali's daughter beginning her career, and Joe Frazier's niece, Diane Clark, is a licensed professional.