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Exclusive
Interview:
Ann "Brown Sugar" Wolfe
By Mike "Kryptonite" Altamura
of Boxingtalk.com
June 18, 2004
One of women's boxing's pound-for-pound best checks in with BoxingTalk.com!
June 18, 2004; Move over Tim Witherspoon, the boxing highlight reels have a
new timeless overhand right kayo. Most boxing pundits will have at one time
or another witnessed the 6'3" former heavyweight champ's slaying of 6'5"
Swede Giant Anders Eklund in the first round with a massive, perfectly timed
overhand right 14 years ago. In fact, Samuel L. Jackson can be seen cringing
at the sight of the once-in-a-lifetime kayo in the 1996 film, "The Great
White Hype". But last month, there was an even more eye-popping slaying of a
giant, courtesy of an overhand right. And it was delivered by a woman! That
woman was of course, one of the most feared fighters in boxing,
Ann "Brown Sugar" Wolfe.
With one sensational right, the 5'9" Austin, Texas warrior crushed
previously undefeated 6'5 ˝" "All American Girl"
Vonda Ward
inside of 70
seconds to capture the IBA light heavyweight title - her fourth title in
four weight divisions. It was a shocking, literally career-ending knockout.
Ward was unconscious before she hit the canvas. She was down for over 10
minutes, and eventually left the ring on a stretcher. She was taken to
hospital, and for precautionary purposes stayed there overnight.
What made it such a classical knockout was that it was no 'freak', or
'lucky' punch. It was a blow that was perfectly calculated by the
33-year-old Wolfe.
"I think that when the regular boxing people look at the whole one minute,
you can tell it wasn't a mistake punch, you can tell it was a set up,
perfectly placed punch," Wolfe explained to BoxingTalk.com. "The first time
I met Vonda Ward, I got up close to her - I didn't get up close to her to
size her up, look at her, stare at her, nothing. I got up close to her to
see where he chin met me at. Her chin was right over the top of my head.
That's where I knew what to throw. I drew a circle on the bag, and when I'd
crouch down I knew how high her chin was. So I wasn't fighting somebody
6'6". To me I was fighting somebody 6'3", because I'm trying to punch you in
your chin."
When she finally squared off with Ward, Wolfe says she continued to make
adjustments until she successfully landed the overhand.
"If you watch the tape, I tried to land it more than once," said Wolfe. "I
threw, I slipped on the outside, and threw, but she was so tall my punch
ended up hitting her shoulder. You know, her shoulder blocked it. So then I
said, 'I'm gonna slip a little bit, and get her off balance.' That didn't
work. Okay, so I said,' I'm gonna double jab to keep her off balance.' I did
it like three times. Then I said,' I'm gonna go to the body a little bit.'
So I hit her to the body, and then the double jab. Off the double jab, you
can't even see it on television because I tried to look for it, I feinted my
shoulder like I was gonna throw another jab. That's what she was gonna
counter. She was gonna counter off my jab, which is what she thought I was
gonna throw. So when she thought the double jab was coming, that's when I
hit her with the overhand right."
That knockout blow, the 17-1 (12) Wolfe's team claim, was initiated, in
flight, and delivered in an astonishingly quick time of 4/100s of a second.
Almost impossible to believe, coming from a light heavyweight, but Wolfe's
manager Brian Pardo insisted it is indeed true.
"It was the fastest overhand right punch I've ever witnessed and I know [the
speed] because we still-framed the pictures of the knockout," he explained.
"When Ann initiated the punch, the clock was reading 22/100s of a second. It
was in flight so to speak at 23/100s and 24/100s of a second, and at
25/100s, Ann makes contact with the point of her chin and already it starts
to turn. At 26/100s, the punch is already by her head, and her head has
already snapped. It was an extremely quick punch."
Wolfe has always been known as a heavy-handed, raw punching knockout artist,
but these revelations bring to the forefront something the boxing press has
overlooked for the duration of her career - her speed. Many of her opponents
have underestimated this quality she possesses too, oftentimes referring to
her as "slow" and "flat-footed" in pre-fight interviews, only to be
surprised inside the ropes.
"Everybody thinks I'm slow," said Wolfe. "But I'm extremely fast. I'm faster
than you can ever imagine. And I know how to move away with my feet better
than people think. I'm faster than what people think. That's part of my
secret. They don't understand, I'm faster than they think with my feet,
hands, everything. I've got more skills than people think, I've got better
footwork than what people think, but because I don't have to always use
those things, I use what I use to win the fights."
Ward's team may have made this common mistake of underestimating the
abilities of Brown Sugar going into the fight. After all, the former IBA
heavyweight champion did have another fight scheduled, and had her eyes set
on a potential showdown with Laila Ali.
"I don't think that Vonda's team gave any thought whatsoever, even to the
remotest possibly, that Vonda would lose the fight," said Pardo. "That
struck me as being odd, especially with a heavy-handed puncher like Ann."
"Vonda had already set up other stuff to do before she fought me," added
Wolfe. "She just assumed that she was gonna beat me, but see, I don't care
who you are, until you step in that ring with me, you don't know nothing
about me."
Wolfe, as the latter comment indicates, is starting to grow frustrated. She
has stood aside and listened to past and future foes trash-talk her,
downplay her talents, and give their insights of how they're going to
dispose of her. The most frequent and latest of perpetrators is Ali.
"They're starting to piss me off," revealed Wolfe. "At first I was a pretty
much humble fighter, you know, I'm still a humble fighter, but don't start
talking crazy about me. About how you're gonna whoop me. Like I was telling
them, they said that Laila said she's gonna knock me out... I'm starting to
take this to heart. Don't say what you're gonna do to me... I can say that
Laila is overrated, but I'm not gonna know until I step in the ring with her
what she really is about. So don't you say nothing about me until you step
in the ring with me, and know what I'm really about. And when you're gonna
look in my eyes and see that I'm a natural predator, and I don't mind
hurting you, you gonna find I don't mind destroying you."
Sometimes these sorts of candid remarks may project the image of Wolfe as an
abrasive person, but rest assured, she is everything but that. She is a
compassionate, caring person.
"I'm the sweetest person you ever want to meet," Wolfe said. "If I have
something and I see a hungry person, a hungry kid, I give it to them. I want
to be touchable person. I love people, I love older people, I love kids, I
love helping people trying to do something, you know, if I can help them,
that's what I want to do. That's who I am."
Evidence of this compassion can be seen daily at the Ann Wolfe Boxing Gym, a
non-profit boxing gym based out of her hometown, which Wolfe and her team
established in August 2003. Wolfe, who has overcome homelessness and a
trouble past herself, has an estimated 40-50 inner city kids, many from
broken homes, training at the gym.
"Ann doesn't make any money off the gym, and all the kids have to do is
bring a report card every six weeks, show they're in school and making
passing grades, and they can train in her gym," explained Pardo. "Many of
these kids wouldn't have a place to be if it wasn't for her."
The six-year veteran thrives on working with street kids, directing
misguided souls towards a path where there is a future. Wolfe is fulfilled
in this role, knowing that her mother who passed away when she was 18 didn't
die in vain.
"My life has meaning. My mother always told me, she said, right before she
died, 'Ann, live your life where you're gonna have some meaning. I'm 44
years old and I'm gonna die. And nobody is gonna know nothing about me.' And
I told my mother, I said, 'You know what, through me, in some kind of way,
I'm gonna make sure people know you got some meaning. You had me. I'm gonna
make sure. I'm gonna make sure that your life is not lived in vain. You
raised me to be who I am.' And so that's what I fight for."
Fame, fortune, that doesn't mean anything to the dreadlocked fighter. "I
don't want fame and fortune," she asserted. "I don't give a damn. I really
don't give a damn about no belt either. What I'm gonna do with that? I'm not
fighting for any of that."
Although only sixth grade educated, Wolfe is actually quite articulate -
albeit in a different way to most. No, she's not book smart. But many of her
cruel life experiences have shaped her into a streetwise, and life smart
person. Unlike a substantial amount of world champions in the boxing
business, she is very prudent with her purses. She has never been tempted by
a high maintenance lifestyle.
"I thought I was dumb, or you know, not as smart, because I wasn't highly
educated, but I found out a long time ago you can be educated and not
smart," explained Wolfe. "And you can also be smart and not educated."
"She is not just smart in the ring," said Wolfe's PR Representative Dana
Yarbrough. "You know, she might not have an education but she's highly
intelligent... if you were to meet Ann in person, you would know exactly
what I mean."
Wolfe's next fight, at this present time, is uncertain. BoxingTalk.com has
been informed that there are talks going on between the Wolfe and Ali camps
to promote the bout nearly all women's boxing enthusiasts have been calling
for two years. The two were supposed to meet last February, however Ali's
camp breached the contract by taking a January fight in Nigeria (which never
eventuated). Subsequent negotiations fell flat, with on one occasion team
Ali demanding an absurd purse of $2 million. Hopefully negotiations are more
successful this time around.
Another fight that beckons for Wolfe is a battle with talented super
middleweight, Erin Toughill. She was scheduled to meet Toughill in February,
but a battle with the flu, which resulted in fever blisters on her lips,
kept Wolfe from fighting. Pardo says they will be pursuing an outing with
Toughill.
"She's got a respectable, growing record, and she thinks she ought to be
able to fight Ann at super middleweight," he said. "We told her that we'd
give her a chance, so I'm gonna look to get Erin Toughill into a fight with
Ann if we can work it out next, probably mid-summer."
Wolfe expresses little concern about her next adversary, declaring, "It
don't matter." Whoever it is, she won't be taking them lightly.
"There ain't somebody that I just take for granted or take lightly," she
said. "'Cause you know why? I did it to a lot of people. When they didn't
know who I was, I was knocking their asses out. Until they knew who I was,
then they could try to prepare for me. And you can tell when they prepared
for me, and they got their soul and heart ready, a few girls went the
distance. But the ones that took me lightly, any girl that ever took me
lightly, that didn't take me as the fight of their life, got knocked out."
Comments/Questions: icemanalt@aol.com
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