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HOLM MOST FEARED WOMAN BOXER?
Lucia Rijker used to be considered
the best female boxer in the world, and the most feared. But in
the last three years, that has changed. Since winning her first
World Title against “Road Warrior” Terri Blair exactly three
years to this date, here at Isleta Casino and Resort, Holm has
gone on a rampage of literally dismantling all her foes.
Now, Holm is the most feared woman
fighter. Never mind her looks, she simply wants to be known for
her God-given talent. Holm has accomplished more in three years
than most boxers only dream of ever accomplishing. She has
literally wiped out the Jr. Welterweight division, (her natural
weight division), and the Welterweight and Jr. Middleweight
divisions. Holm never questions who her next opponent will be
and she fights and believes along with her team that she is
simply the best female fighter between 135 and 154 lbs. Few can
lay claim to that.
We saw (this past weekend) Floyd
Maywether dismantle Ricky Hatton (who, by the way, fought his
second pro fight on a Fresquez/Top Rank under card at Tingley
Coliseum). Now, Fresquez Productions Inc. is proud to promote
Holm. Without a doubt, it is getting tougher and tougher to find
women willing to fight Holm. Most potential opponents seem to
have one excuse after another for not wanting to take a fight
with Holm.
Holm’s fame includes nine World
Titles and named Ring Magazine’s “Female Fighter of the
Year” in 2006. She intends on making 2008 the most memorable
year yet. Her promoter Lenny Fresquez is looking forward to
putting on the biggest female fights in U.S. history this coming
year; fights with Mary Jo Sanders and Giselle Salandy (both
undefeated fighters) are in the making.
But first, Holm must get through the
tough Mariem “Punchenella” Brakache on January 11th
at the beautiful Isleta Casino and Resort. Also on the card
will be New Mexico’s the top male contender Joe “Iron Man” Gomez
plus four other exciting bouts.
Tickets are available at Isleta Box
office, tickets.com, and Fresquez Productions at 505-884-7484.
Holly Holm the 24
year old southpaw from Sandia Heights of Albuquerque, New Mexico
was born on October 17 1981. She's a preacher's daughter
and grew up in Bosque Farms.
The Manzano High School graduate of 2000 studied for a year at
the University of New Mexico. She played soccer and tried
gymnastics, swimming and diving before getting into boxing and
kickboxing. Holly's
path to a boxing career began with aerobics. "I started aerobics
to keep in shape, saw the (kickboxing) class, thought it looked
pretty cool, so
I thought I'd try it for one fight and see what it was like,"
says Holm. Her aerobics instructor was Mike Winkeljohn, who also
taught kickboxing. Winklejohn soon saw Holm's potential. "She's
got that instinct," he says, "When she gets hit, she knows it's
time to come back. I wish I could bottle (what she has) and sell
it."(Boxing) came easier to me than I thought it
would," says Holm. "When I first started, my punches seemed real
clumsy, but Mr. Winkeljohn is a great instructor. He helped me
with my technique, and he felt ... he could work with me." Her
pro boxing debut came on January 25, 2002 at the Isleta Casino
and Resort south of Albuquerque. Holly weighed in at 141 lbs and
won by a TKO over debut fighter Martha Orozco (141¾ lbs) of
Denver, Colorado at 1:38 in the third.
On June 21, 2002 at Sky City Casino in Acoma, New Mexico, Holly
won her second pro fight by a TKO over debut fighter Terrie
Carillo at 0:24 in the first
round.
August 26, 2003 at Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, NM, Holly moved
up to 5-0 (2 Kos) by handing unbeaten" Golden Girl" Stephanie
Jaramiillo 3-1 (2 Kos) her first loss with a majority 4 round
decision.
October 3, 2003 at Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, NM, Holly (142
lbs) and Stephanie Jaramillo (139¾ lbs) battled to a six-round
(58-56 Holm, 58-56 Jaramillo, 57-57) draw in a rematch of their
August four-rounder. Holm dominated the opening round but
Jaramillo turned it around in the second, coming back with hard
counter left hooks and straight rights to keep her in the bout.
Holm used her jab well and out-landed Jaramillo in most rounds,
bloodying her mouth, but Jaramillo landed the hardest shots of
the fight and wobbled Holm in the fifth round to keep the bout a
tossup on the
scorecards. Holm remained unbeaten as a pro boxer at 5-0-1 (2
KO) while former US national amateur team member Jaramillo fell
to 3-1-1 (2 KO).
December 12, 2003 at Kiva Auditorium in Albuquerque, Holly (144
lbs) of won a six-round unanimous (59-54,59-55,59-55) decision
over Angel Martinez (142 lbs) of Dallas, Texas. Holm improved to
6-0-1 (2 KO)
while Martinez fell to 2-1-0 (1 KO).
April 10, 2004 at the Convention Center in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, a near sellout crowd of 2220 saw Holly 7-0-1 3(Kos) TKO
Janae Romero Archuleta at 1:09 in the first round of a scheduled
six rounder that was the card's co-main event. Holm came out
like a whirlwind to score an explosive victory over the usually
rugged Archuleta, who fell to 3-4 (2 KO).
May 15, 2004 at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, Colorado, Holly
Holm and Angel Martinez (2-1-1, 2 KOs) of Dallas, Texas fought
to a six-round majority draw (59-55 for Holm, but two 57-57
scorecards). Holm appeared to control and out land Martinez but
Martinez's crisp rights connected enough to win her several
rounds on the judges' scorecards. Holm moved to 7-0-2 (3 KOs)
while Martinez progressed to 2-1-1, (2 KOs)
June 27, 2004 at Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, Italian Rita
Turrisi (140 lbs) fighting out of Las Vegas, won by TKO over
Holly (140 lbs) in the fourth
round. Holm's corner threw in the towel due to a deep three-inch
cut under Holm's eye. Holm was the aggressor in the first,
landing big lefts as well as
an elbow or two at close quarters. In the second, Turrisi
started to time her shots better while Holm tried to work on the
outside. After one messy
exchange, a mouse appeared under Holm's left eye. Turrisi
won the third while Holm, now bleeding from an open gash under
her eye as well as from her nose, dominated the fourth with her
big lefts. Holm might have won the bout but the cut caused her
corner to stop the fight between the fourth and fifth rounds, so
the TKO was automatically awarded to Turrisi instead
of the bout going to the scorecards pending the referee’s
decision on what had caused the cut. Turrisi improved her record
to 3-4 while Holm dropped to 8-1-2 (3 KO).
December 10, 2004 at Isleta Resort and Casino near Albuquerque,
Holly 8-1-2 (3Kos) rebounded from her first pro boxing loss by
winning the vacant IBA women's junior welterweight title with a
ten-round unanimous (99-91,99-91,96-94) decision over Terri
Blair 5-7-1 (3 Kos) of Louisville, Kentucky.
April 15, 2005 in Albuquerque, Holly 9-1-2 won a four-round
unanimous (40-36,40-36,40-36) decision over veteran Gloria
Ramirez (143¾ lbs) of El Paso, Texas, who took the fight at
short notice. Ramirez fell to 9-14-5 (1 KO) with the loss.
June 26, 2005 at the Isleta Casino and Resort, Pueblo of Isleta,
New Mexico, Holly 10-1-2 (4 KOs) defeated a very tough Lisa
Lewis with an 8th round TKO win.
September 16, 2005 at the Isleta Casino and Resort, Pueblo of
Isleta, New Mexico, before a sellout crowd of 3000, Holly rose
to 11-1-2, (4 KOs) winning a clear 10-round unanimous
(100-92,98-92,100-92) decision over
37-year-old Christy Martin 46-4-2, (31 KOs) of Orlando, Florida
in the Main Event. According to Chris Cozzone of New Mexico
Boxing, 'Holm made it look easy; made the legendary Martin look
amateurish." The win for Holm had to be the upset of the year in
women's boxing.
December 8, 2005 at the Isleta Casino and Resort, Pueblo of
Isleta, New Mexico, before another sellout crowd of 3000, Holly
up ed her record to 12-1-2, (4 KOs) defeating another women's
boxing legend and former Playboy model Mia St. John 42-6-2, (17
KOs).
Holm is anxious to get back into the ring after her two major
wins in 2005 over women boxing icons Christy Martin and Mia St.
John and looks forward to an even better 2006. Holly was also
recently awarded New Mexico Fighter of the year award on
newmexicosportsnews.com and
newmexicoboxing.com.
On February 24, 2006 at the Isleta
Casino, Holly (139 lbs) TKO'd Shadina Pennybaker (5'5",138½ lbs)
of Pittsburgh in the seventh round defending her IBA Junior
Welterweight title. According to Chris Cozzone of New Mexico
Boxing: "Holm won the first several rounds at a distance
jabbing, but the fight started to heat up in the fourth with a
questionable knockdown of Pennybaker. The challenger took the
fight to Holm in the fifth, but Holm willingly traded and
started to make the fight one-sided from the sixth on. After two
cuts near Pennybaker’s eyes, opened by headbutts in the second
and seventh, started to pour blood in the seventh, the fight was
stopped at 0:57 and the TKO win awarded to Holm, who had a
near-shutout tally on the scorecards." Holm improved her record
to 13-1-2 (5 KOs) with the win while Pennybaker slipped to 9-5-1
(2 KOs). Trainer Mike Winklejohn said of the Pennybaker
fight: "Holly followed the game plan, we wanted to make the girl
miss and eventually catch her and knock her out."
For Full Current
Biography - Visit her website
www.hollyholm.com |
