Ginny Fuchs: “I’d love to fight Ebanie Bridges, that would be a good fight.”

Ginny Fuchs: “I’d love to fight Ebanie Bridges, that would be a good fight.”

It was supposed to be fight week for Ginny Fuchs. But it was another case of what could have been. A planned fight earlier this fight fell by the wayside when in touching distance and more time lost to a career that has stalled since she turned pro not long after Fuchs represented America in the Tokyo Olympics. It shouldn’t be like this. Fuchs has talent. And plenty of it. A decorated amateur, National titles, and a bronze medal in the World Amateur Championships in 2018, among her accolades in the unpaid ranks. Fuchs had much to be optimistic about when she joined the paid ranks after a wafer-thin points defeat in Tokyo. But things haven’t panned out the way Fuchs would have expected and wanted. But there is some light, the former Houston Hall of Fame fighter Maurice ‘Termite’ Watkins, who ironically had over 60 fights in his long career, has started on his journey into the boxing promotional business and has offered Fuchs a glimmer of hope that things are beginning to change for her:

“Maurice has started his own promotional company in Houston,” Fuchs told me over Zoom. “I think he has done two or three cards and he has reached out to me and wants to put me on his cards. He wants to put on six shows this year, his next one is in March, so hopefully, I will get to fight in March.”

Women’s boxing has had many dark days and too long in the shadows, but times are changing and fast. But for Fuchs, not fast enough. Multiple promoters in the UK are signing up female fighters almost daily and most big cards on the major platforms feature at least one women’s bout. But in America, it is a completely different story. The widespread mainstream investment just isn’t there, certainly not in comparison to the UK market. Top Rank only has two female fighters on their roster, the rest are in truth not much better. Only Matchroom seem interested, but they can’t sign everyone. We might even have to rely on one Jake Paul to change things.

The limited market hits fighters hard, and even former Olympians and genuine world-class fighters struggle to find a place to call home and gain meaningful work. Fuchs understands this better than most:

“Women’s boxing is getting there but it is still not the same as it is the men’s side of the sport especially here in America. You have to remember we are competing with the NFL, NBA and all that, so women’s boxing isn’t the same over here as it is in the UK. We don’t get the same support. I think that is one reason these promoters don’t want to invest in the women over here because it isn’t as popular here as it is over there in the UK. Top Rank has just signed Seniesa Estrada, but she is a world champion they are reluctant to invest in women nobody has yet seen fight because they don’t have that fanbase yet.

“It’s frustrating to me because I thought I was going to get signed right after the Olympics. It’s been years since the Olympics and I have only had two fights and I didn’t expect that. I didn’t plan for this which is frustrating, I probably should have just planned for any situation. So it’s kind of a struggle right now, back to the days of hustling because I haven’t been making the money that I thought I would. But I am learning to be patient knowing that it will come.”

Fuchs at the time of writing is still waiting for her third professional fight, but her last appearance was in London on the big all-female card headlined by Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshal, with Fuchs’s best friend Mikaela Mayer also on the sold-out Boxxer show at the O2 Arena. Fuchs impressed with a dominating points victory over the tough Gemma Ruegg, the American enjoyed her London despite some frustrations the stoppage she wanted didn’t come:

“I was happy with my performance, of course, I was hoping to stop her, but Gemma is tough I’ll give her that. But I think I dominated the fight but there are things I always want to work on after a fight. I should have thrown more body shots which would probably have led to the stoppage. But overall I am pretty happy with my performance. I think it showed that I am ready to step it up and fight more talented fighters. I don’t need ten fights before a world title shot, just move me quickly. If you don’t want to invest much in me then move me quickly.”

Despite the lack of opportunities so far, Fuchs can operate in a number of weight divisions ranging from flyweight and up to bantamweight, which is a division laced with talent. And opportunities. Fuchs has eyes on old amateur rivals at flyweight including Marlen Esparza the current WBC and WBA world flyweight champion, but she also has eyes on the current IBF bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges:

“I’d love to fight Ebanie Bridges, that would be a good fight. I could fight at bantamweight. The fight I was supposed to have was supposed to be at super-bantamweight, but she wanted too much money that I couldn’t afford. My plan was to start at 112, take the belts off Marlen Esparaza because we have always been rivals and then move up to bantamweight because there are more girls and more competition at that weight class.”

The win over Ruegg in London was reduced to an afterthought several hours later when her friend Mayer lost a close and hotly-disputed loss to her heated rival Alycia Baumgardner in the co-main event. It was a devastating setback for Mayer who lost her unbeaten record and her unified world super-featherweight titles to her fellow American. It left Mayer distraught having to process the defeat, especially when she was and still is convinced that she didn’t lose. It left Fuchs switching from fighter to friend and consoling Mayer in her ‘grief’ as she labelled her emotions:

“At that moment I wasn’t even thinking about my fight I was thinking about Mikaela, she is my best friend and it was a huge fight for her. I just wanted to be there for her. We went back to the hotel, had a good meal and just talked. I thought she won the fight, it sucked but this is boxing. That had happened to me in the amateurs in fights that I clearly won but they gave it the other way. It just sucks, that’s what I hate about the sport. It’s about all I could say to her, there was nothing else I could say that would make her feel better.”

Fuchs has suffered with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) for most of her life, and has described boxing has her therapy previously. But the frustrations of her boxing career of late, has seen her sport become part of the problem with her ongoing battle with OCD:

“Recently my OCD has got kind of worse. Part of that could be my life, financially I am struggling. I don’t know where my boxing career is going right now, it’s not moving like I thought it would and I hate waiting around. That could be part of why my OCD can get worse just the stress of life. And I haven’t been going to therapy because I can’t afford therapy right now. That’s why it hasn’t got better because I haven’t been working on it. And that’s frustrating because the longer you go without therapy and working on it, the worse it gets. I am just trying to stay positive, but it has been a really hard week for me. In these circumstances I just go to my parents, and they help me feel better or I will call Mikaela and tell her I’m struggling and she will give me some positive words.”

Fuchs 34, hasn’t lost hope. With a busy year in 2023, Fuchs could very quickly advance her career and start delivering on all the promise she when she first turned over after Tokyo. Fuchs wants to make up for lost time in the next 12 months:

“If I can get on all Termite’s cards I could have six fights this year I would then be ready for a world title fight. I could then start calling people out.”

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer