THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506040170
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
Kanicia Eley is itching for a fight.
At 13, this boxer has developed a mean straight right, a righteous left hook and some fancy footwork.
Watching Kanicia in the ring, red 10-ounce Everlast gloves laced tight, padded headgear on and mouthpiece in place, it's easy to forget she's a girl.
The problem is, there is almost no one for the 125-pound, 5-foot-9 girl to fight. She won the two bouts she fought this winter. And she holds the Virginia Golden Gloves title for her amateur weight class, but by default: she had no opponent.
At the Barraud Park Recreation Center, where she is the only girl in regular training, Kanicia fights with the boys.
``I don't ever think of her as a female,'' says 14-year-old Timothy Davis, waiting to spar with her in the ring. ``She's throws some hard punches.''
Nevertheless, boxing coach Dan Campbell limits Davis to five punches during a two-minute sparring session with Eley.
But Kanicia's loafing in there. At least that's what Campbell thinks.
When he sends in Leon Hayes - state and regional Golden Gloves titlist - to spar with Kanicia he gives the 14-year-old boy eight punches.
Kanicia comes alive.
For a split second Leon drops his guard. Big mistake. Eley pops him in the face with a solid straight right. When he gets off the mat, she immediately begins pummeling him into the ropes.
The buzzer sounds and Leon shakes his head, uncertain whether he's gotten in his eight licks, as he departs.
``I dreaded the day I'd have to coach girls,'' admits Campbell. ``And I had a few come and they'd stay a day or two. Then they'd break their nails or something and they'd leave.
``Not Kanicia, she's a natural boxer,'' he says admiringly, adjusting the toothpick in his mouth. ``She's learned faster than a lot of the guys, and she holds her form longer than most of them.''
Campbell says one of the problems with young amateur boxers is that as soon as they get hit during a fight they turn into street fighters.
Not Kanicia.
``She holds her boxing form,'' he says proudly. ``Never windmills.''
If Kanicia has a problem, it's that the boys are too easy on her.
``They treat me like I'm a baby,'' she growls. ``They don't hit hard enough. Especially the big boys. I like to spar with the little boys because they give it all they've got.''
She is not afraid of getting hit. Or of bleeding.
``I like it,'' she says, smiling. ``I kind of think it's neat when I bleed.''
Since Kanicia began boxing in November, she's gained a few pounds - deliberately. At 119 pounds she had almost no adversaries, since amateur rules allow boxers only to fight opponents within five pounds of their weight. Campbell hopes the six-pound gain will get Kanicia a few more fights.
The Azalea Gardens Middle School student says boxing has helped her at school.
``I don't get into trouble as much,'' Kanicia says, as she rummages through the multicolored diaper bag she uses as a gym bag.
Campbell is more pointed.
``Boxing is a good outlet for Kanicia,'' he says. ``Before she was fighting all the time at school. She needs boxing to let her be a normal person.''
Kanicia's mother, Yolanda Eley, says she had just one reaction when her seventh-grade daughter said she was taking up boxing.
``I said, `you aren't going to be fighting boys, now are you?' '' her mother recalls. ``She said `no,' and I've been behind her all the way.''
The Barraud Park Rec Center is housed in a weathered clapboard building in the heart of Barraud Park. The interior of the center is dominated by a blue and red boxing ring. Heavy bags are clipped into place and two speed bags and a focus bag are permanent fixtures.
It's the kind of place that gets steamy and pungent as the boxers sweat their way through workouts.
The adjustment to having a female around the all-male gym was rough at first. The guys, ages 8-32, didn't really want girls hanging around - unless they were there to admire the boxers.
``Let's face it, she has breasts,'' Campbell says. ``They didn't want to deal with a female here. But after they saw how fast she caught on, she got their respect.''
When the guys tease Kanicia and tell her she's acting like a boy, Campbell jumps in.
``No, she's not acting like a boy, she's acting like a boxer,'' he insists.
Like the other fighters, Kanicia is at the spartan gym most weeknights at about 5 o'clock. Two nights a week she weight trains, the remaining evenings are dedicated to calisthenics and sparring.
As the boys arrive, they greet Kanicia like they greet each other, with playful jabs and wisecracks.
On this weekday afternoon she's not the only girl in the gym. Several others, carefully coiffed and neatly dressed, sit primly on metal folding chairs near the entrance.
When Kanicia bounces into the ring to spar with Davis, one girl calls out: ``Don't hurt him, Kanicia.''
Does the sight of a girl boxer make these girls want to tape their hands and go a few rounds?
``No way, I don't like athletic things,'' says 16-year old Tinika Wilkins.
``Me neither,'' says Jennifer Davis, shaking her head. ``You'd never get me in there.''
Kanicia seems pleased that other girls consider her interest in boxing a bit strange.
``I always like to do things no one else does,'' she says.
Before boxing, Kanicia thought she might like to be a veterinarian someday.
No more.
``I want to be a professional boxer,'' she says with a sigh. ``If not, maybe a coach.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
Kanicia Eley is a ``natural boxer,'' says her coach, Dan Campbell.
``She's learned faster than a lot of the guys, and she holds her
form longer than most of them.''
``I kind of think it's neat when I bleed,'' sayd Eley, who won the
Virginia Golden Gloves title for her amateur weight class by
default: she had no opponent.
by CNB