 Layla McCarter One of the Best
By David A. Avila (November 25, 2005)
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Layla McCarter made an unflinching pilgrimage to Las Vegas, like hundreds of other boxers yearning for a professional career.
Now 26, McCarter was but 20 when she journeyed to the desert resort, despite her mother's reservations.
"It was tough, especially because I'm a woman," said McCarter. "But I wanted to be serious about being a professional."
In this age of cable television dominating the boxing scene and preferring to show boxers with undefeated records made against sub-par competition, McCarter (18-12-4) represents the small core of fighters with numerous losses but superior fighting skills.
She's one of the best in the world.
"She has so much boxing skill," said Mia St. John, who holds two lightweight world titles. "Layla McCarter is way better than her record shows."
Success didn't come quickly for McCarter, whose introduction to contact sports began through martial arts with her brother.
"I followed my brother into Karate," McCarter said. "When he left martial arts I stayed with it."
After dabbling with kickboxing she made the transition to boxing and quickly decided it was a sport she wanted to pursue professionally and saw Las Vegas as the place to do it.
"Las Vegas is the Mecca of boxing so I decided to go there," McCarter recalled.
In Las Vegas she discovered the harsh reality of a woman attempting a pro boxing career.
"I wasn't doing so well," McCarter said, adding that she lost four fights, drew once and captured one victory in her first six pro fights. "I fought Laura Serrano in only my sixth fight."
Like the title character in the Academy Award-winning film Million Dollar Baby, the young wannabe boxing champion struggled to survive in the Nevada city, a long ways from home.
"When you're a professional you're supposed to be paid well for doing whatever you do. You should be making enough to make a decent living but I wasn't," McCarter says.
Even today, though she's captured two world titles, McCarter has never made more than $7,500, while men make that much for club fights. One thing that sets her aside from other fighters is her willingness to fight from 126 pounds to 147 pounds, a span of five different boxing divisions. Her true weight is 126.
"Finding a fight is not hard, it's getting paid well that's hard to find," said Luis Tapia, who trains and manages McCarter.
Tapia met his protégé while at a fight card in Las Vegas five years ago.
McCarter was scheduled to fight but her opponent never showed. She told him she was looking for management. He invited her to the famous Johnny Tocco Boxing Gym near the strip.
"Honestly, she didn't really impress me but she really wanted to do it," said Tapia, a native of Chile whose involvement in the sport began at age seven. "That's one of the most important things in boxing: desire."
Adding his knowledge to her desire proved to be the right recipe for the Washington boxer. Within a year she was fighting for the featherweight world title against Indio's Sandra Yard and won. McCarter was 21. She also captured the WIBF-GBU junior welterweight title in 2003 against Lisa Holewyne.
Because of her deceiving record, bouts were easy to make for a short while.
Then possible opponents learned she was a ringer.
"Now it's kind of hard to find a fight," says McCarter, whose last fight was in June, in Canada, where she severely broke her arm early in a fight but continued until the end.
"It's kind of good to lose a fight because they (opponents) think you don't have it."
Only the best fighters in the world are willing to challenge McCarter.
Last year, at the Pala Casino, McCarter and Chevelle Hallback, a two-time world champion and another of the best in the world, met in a furious 10-round contest that amazed those in attendance and watching on television.
Though McCarter lost, that fight raised the consciousness and expectations of female prizefighting.
McCarter currently is nursing her broken arm that she endured against Jelena Mrdjenovich in Edmonton, Canada. Her arm was broken in the fourth round but she refused to quit. After an operation, she now has a nine-inch scar along her left arm.
"She's so tough," Tapia said of McCarter.
A rematch between the two is underway. It will be their third match. Both have victories.
"I have two world titles. Maybe I can make some money this time," McCarter said.
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