Wilcox victorious in battle for respect of women's boxing

When Mike Tyson fought Frank Bruno on March 16, 1996, in front of a Pay-Per-View audience of more than 30 million viewers, the main event was not the main topic of conversation the next day. Christy Martin defeated Diedre Gogarty on the undercard and it marked the first time a women's bout outshone a male Pay-Per-View card in terms of action and competitiveness.

Women's boxing has been thrust into the media spotlight and the popularity has spawned four sanctioning bodies for the sport. Penn State boxer Christy Wilcox is hoping to carry the momentum into collegiate boxing.

"After fighting with guys for so long," Wilcox said, "when you get in the ring with a woman it's a different situation because you know you're equally matched."

Wilcox showed as much skill and endurance as anybody else that night and forced Oblenus into two standing-eight counts and one hard fall to the canvas.

Wilcox, a junior, wanted to take a martial arts class but did not have enough money. She knew last year Penn State had taken on its first woman boxer, so she decided to give boxing a try.

Any concerns she may have had about being the only woman on the team were cleared up quickly.

"The guys have treated me with a lot of respect," Wilcox said. "I wanted to prove myself to the guys, and I think after my fight on Friday I gained a little bit more (respect)."

Although she had never boxed before, having always been an athlete helped her pick up the sport easily.

"She learns very quickly," said coach Bill Wrable. "When she makes a mistake, she adapts. I don't change anything for her."

She spent six months training for regionals, watching her teammates put their skills to the test against opponents from other schools. Since her only scheduled bout was the regional fight, she spent the season sparring with the other guys on the team.

"It's given me a lot of character and taught me how to work hard, because I never once this year wanted to quit even though I got beaten up plenty of times," Wilcox said. "I never once wanted to give up because I thought, 'I'm here for the long run. I'm going to prove myself.' "

One of Wilcox's sparring partners was 147-pound Doug Bayly, who also qualified for nationals over the weekend. Bayly said Wilcox is considered to be just another one of Penn State's boxers.

"She's one of us," he said. "We don't treat her any different than any of our other teammates."

After proving herself at regionals, some of the other coaches came up to her and said they wanted to start getting more female boxers on their teams.

They realized, as Wilcox said, "It's not fair that I'm working my butt off all year and I only get one fight."

Soon after regionals, she found out that this would not be her only bout all year. She will go to nationals and face Lock Haven's Karen Thrapp, who won the other women's contest at regionals. This will be the first time women will get to fight at nationals.

"I think that once they see us fight at nationals and see that we can fight just as tough as the guys that we'll have a better chance to be included at nationals in the future," Wilcox said.

Now Wilcox will get a chance to be one of the trailblazers in bringing the success that women's professional boxing has attained to the collegiate level.