Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 1, 1993 TAG: 9311010069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNNWOOD, WASH. LENGTH: Medium
The 16-year-old high school dropout from Bellingham won the first sanctioned female boxing match in the United States on Saturday night.
Malloy relentlessly chased Heather Poyner, 21, of Ferndale, around the ring for three two-minute rounds to win a unanimous decision.
Malloy staggered Poyner with an overhand right to the head in the second round. Poyner was given a standing eight count by the referee.
Malloy said she wanted to knock out Poyner, a former high school cheerleader.
"I expected to win," Malloy said. "I wanted to knock her out because that's the best thing in boxing. That's the ultimate thing to do. That's the ultimate high."
Malloy, who weighed 144 pounds, wants to go to the 1996 Olympics as a boxer.
She pounded her 143-pound opponent with flurries of lefts and rights to the head in the first round. Poyner tried and failed to keep her away, mostly with left jabs.
Malloy staggered Poyner in the middle of the second round, then chased her into a neutral corner and battered her until the bell rang.
Poyner said she was not hurt.
"I didn't feel anything," Poyner said. "When I got that eight count, I said `What?' But I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow."
Poyner got a big cheer from men and women wearing "Poyner Power" T-shirts as the third round began. But she could do little to keep Malloy from hitting her at will.
Malloy's trainer, James Ferguson, wept after the bout.
"In my 27 years of coaching boxing, I've never cried before," Ferguson said. "But for her first amateur fight, you couldn't have done better."
The two fought at the Edmonds Community College gymnasium before a sellout crowd of 1,189. They got their chance because Malloy, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, successfully sued U.S. Amateur Boxing Inc. over its ban on female boxers.
by CNB