A Q&A with Sumya Anani
by Jack Dunne (August 19, 2003)
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If Boxing is the "Crazy Uncle" of the sports world than what exactly does this make Women's Boxing? MaxBoxing's Jack Dunne talks with Sumya Anani about the current state of women's boxing, comparisons to the men's game, her ‘98 victory over Cristy Martin, and her take on this Saturday’s Ali-Martin contest.
Jack Dunne: You were born in Minnesota and live in Kansas today. Explain the tie-dye ring attire and the nickname "Island Girl". How did that come about?
Sumya Anani: I went on vacation to Jamaica in 1994. I was offered a job down there so I quit my job, sold my car, packed my son and me up and we lived down there for about a year. When I moved back from Jamaica my coach Barry Becker convinced me to get into boxing and "The Island Girl" just kinda' stuck.
And the tie-dye, I have always loved the colors. In Jamaica they use a lot of bright and brilliant colors. I think my experience down there had something to do with it.
JD: When my sister was in her early twenty's she was going to school and had considered getting into the salon business; in other words pretty typical aspirations of a young female. You on the other hand got into boxing. Talk about polar opposites. Not your typical female career, how did that happen?
SA: I met my trainer, Barry Becker years ago, probably sometime around 1993. Barry had been telling me for years that I should box. Barry is himself an ex-golden gloves champion, has always been around fights, he loves watching boxing and I think it has always been his dream to find someone to train.
Off and on Barry had trained people but nobody ever stuck with him so for years he kept telling me "You should do it, you should do something with those muscles" and I was like "Whatever?"
It was when I was living in Jamaica; Barry had come down with some friends to visit and he saw me wrestle with this Jamaican guy they called "The Fire Man". He does these tricks with fire and is one of these big, strong guys who performs in those fire shows on the beach. Barry saw me wrestle him and he says that was his first inkling in his mind that he knew that I could really be a world champion. Barry said, "I knew it right then".
When I came home from Jamaica, Barry came to my house and at this time I had never even put on boxing gloves before and he said "I got you a fight, three weeks from now."
JD: Oh and by the way, here are some gloves; welcome back.
SA: (laughing) Exactly! It was just like that, I think Barry knew that he had to get me a fight because I just kept putting it off. He figured that if he just got me one that I would finally get around to it.
And plus, I had just moved back from Jamaica, I didn't have any money, it was a couple hundred dollars, my son was just about ready to start Kindergarten and I could have used the money.
JD: That Kindergarten age thing is pretty rough. Getting out and throwing some gloves was probably some quality stress relief as well.
SA: Yeah! (laughing) . My son is the coolest thing in my life. He is 12 now and is getting to the point where he is a bit testy but I just feel that he is my soul mate. I know that people talk about their soul mates in terms of their husbands or wives but my son is just that.
We had the best time down in Jamaica and that is why I went there at that time, because he hadn't started school yet. I figured that if I am going to do this (go to Jamaica) I'd better do this now.
JD: Eleven fights into your career you became a name. Your victory over Christy Martin back in December of ‘98 is what thrust you onto the mainstream of women's boxing. Though you had a victory over Andrea DeShong, you were basically untested up to that point. In hindsight, your victory over Martin is certainly not an upset but at the time it was a major upset. Talk about that fight.
SA: Yeah it was an upset but Barry knew that I could beat her. He kept telling me that I could beat Martin.
I had met Martin; she had come to Kansas City four months before we fought. Christy was doing some promotional thing and I met her. Barry was like "You can beat her Sumya, you can beat her" and again I was like "Whatever". What I didn't know was that my promoter was making a fight with Martin during this time.
When I fought her (Martin) it was so weird because everything they could do to try and mess me up or play with my mind, all the mind games, they did it. They called early in the morning to tell me dumb things that I already knew just to make sure I didn't get sleep. They gave me a dressing room where I couldn't even stretch my arms out! It was so tiny and then she (Martin) stole my walk in music.
All these little things… but in my heart I knew that I was going to be OK. I believed that this was going to be a fight of good versus evil. I was just there to fight. They were just there to mess with my head.
JD: What's the matter Sumya? You should have entered the ring wearing pink.
SA: (laughing) I didn't even think about that. I like my tie-dye.
JD: The Martin victory was a breakthrough moment for you. You were hopeful of a rematch but and I quote from your web-site "even though everyone told me that she (Martin) wouldn't". Who exactly was among that group of "everyone"?
SA: My trainer (Barry Becker) other fighters, other trainers in the Kansas City area from four or five other gyms, fighters from the area, people on web-sites, people who interview me. Everyone told me "You aren't getting a rematch with her".
At that time I didn't even know how to box and I beat her. Two years of training and only eleven fights? Today I look at that tape and I think, man… They kept saying that Martin wouldn't fight me again. It was the moment after she got done fighting Daniel Sommer, Jim Grey was interviewing Martin and he asked her if she would fight a rematch against me before she moved onto Rijker and she lied. She said, "No, Sumya wants a million dollars". At that moment I knew she didn't want to fight me again.
JD: You claim Martin was lying. Tell the readers of MaxBoxing.com your side.
SA: She lied. We never asked for a million dollars. Our first fight, Christy made one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and I made fifteen. Then I found out after the fight that my promoter had to make some under the table bet with Jim Martin for five thousand dollars to get the fight! So I was only guaranteed ten.
After the fight my promoter, Jim Fulton went down to talk to Don King and King wanted to sign me to a contract for like five years where I would be stuck in this.
JD: This was prior to the Ali Reform Act. Those types of contracts are illegal today.
SA: Yeah and here I was, I had just beaten the poster girl of the sport and King was offering me this lock-in contract for like nothing. We were like "No, we can't do this".
JD: Did you ever state a dollar figure?
SA: When my promoter was talking to King he asked that we make a hundred thousand, which we thought was very fair considering that Christy had made a hundred and fifty and I just beat her.
JD: Is there any possibility that Martin could have just been fed a lie about your demands or do you believe that she was just using that as an excuse to duck you?
SA: She was using it as an excuse. She has a track record of making excuses. Look at all the excuses she made for not fighting Lucia Rijker? When I got in the sport, that was the big fight of the time. At one point Rjiker even made a winner take all offer to Martin.
I sent Martin to the hospital after that fight. She left the ring after our fight with a towel over her head and wearing sunglasses. She wines that I won by street fighting her, well that is how she has won most of her fights!
JD: Note to pot, you're black… Signed kettle.
SA: (laughing) That's cute! Yeah, I just did what I had to do. I fought her fight, I won and she's like pissed about it. She has seen me fight since then, she knows that I can box.
[In part two of Dunne’s Q&A with Anani, the writer and fighter discuss the struggling image of women’s boxing, Anani’s other life as a licensed massage therapist, spirituality and human potential (deep stuff, huh?).]
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