Updated Nov 17, 2011 - 10:37 am

Monroe boxer may have to wear skirt at Olympics

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By Bill Swartz
710 ESPN Seattle

Monroe native Alex Love may have to wear a skirt in the ring. (97.3 KIRO FM/Bill Swartz)

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listen Listen: Will female boxers have to wear skirts in the Olympics?

Monroe native Alex Love may have to wear a skirt in the ring if she makes it to the London Olympics to compete in boxing.

Women's boxing makes its debut as an Olympic sport at the 2012 London Games. Alex Love hopes to represent the United States, and hopes she's not wearing a red, white, and blue skirt in the ring.

Love is a 22-year-old Monroe native who played basketball at Interlake High School in Bellevue, then Skagit Community College. Just 5 feet tall and 109 pounds, Love took up boxing to get stronger, so opponents wouldn't muscle her around the basketball floor.

In just two short years, Love has become one of the best American female boxers in the 112 pound weight class. Her dream is to win a gold medal in London next summer.

I watched Love work out on the heavy and speed bags at Ring Sports United in Bellevue. She and Seattle's Queen Underwood are preparing for the U.S. boxing trials sometime in February.

"There are eight of us girls left in three weights. We've all worked really hard to get there, and are good in our own way," Love said. "I think styles make fights, and on that day, I'm going to be ready to go."

Love's coach Deonne Hansen has not worked with a more determined and dedicated person. There are days Hansen has to force Love to stop training to give her body a rest.

My wife Connie doesn't like the idea of women punching women. She doesn't like watching guys socking guys either.

Love said, "It's not that we're trying to beat the men in anything. We just want an opportunity to box because women can fight. I used to hear guys yelling during my bouts, 'she belongs at home.' Women just want to be athletes."

Right now the male dominated Amateur International Box Association is debating a hot-button issue. Should women be required to wear skirts when they box in the Olympics? One AIBA official says they want to differentiate the men and women's competitors.

"I'm short, so a skirt might make me seem a little taller," Love quipped. "I think it's kind of a joke. They want to see the female contour because you can't already see it yet. Honestly, I don't know what they're thinking. It's ridiculous. We don't know when the Olympic trials are, but yet they're talking about skirts."

Whether she's wearing a skirt, trunks, or sweats, Love is a young woman on a mission.

"I think my will is strong. Put that together with a little confidence in the ring. I think that's a combination for winning."

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Oly80 wrote...

opposed to wearing skirt-like trunks?

November 17, 2011 6:29 am

she's right, she needs to make sure NO femininity is apparent. want people to take you more seriously? stop trying to be "just like the guys." do your sport, AND be a woman at the same time. THOSE are the females that actually succeed. not a lot of super-butch pro tennis players (maybe the williams sisters), and even our women's softball teams wore their hair in colorful pony tails. sure, there are ugly player in both of the sports i mention, but the tennis players wear skirts/skorts and they actually have to run around WAY more than a boxer does! wear whatever the olympic council decides and be happy your sport is even in the olympics... our softball girls feel NO sympathy for you, since they will be watching from home because their sport was dropped.

381073

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FormerMarineSgt wrote...

What the heck?

November 17, 2011 6:42 am

Oly80, you sound like you're promoting the very problem that she's describing. There's no reason whatsoever to 'dress them up like girls' when they're boxing. It seems like a pathetic attempt to demean them. There's nothing wrong with women boxing, dressing like she is in the picture and showing that women boxers can indeed do what men do. What are these guys afraid of? Being shown that women are just as good? Pathetic.

381076

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Oly80 wrote...

so wait...

November 17, 2011 7:58 am

women wearing clothes that women usually wear in sports is demeaning to them? how? that's all that i was arguing. MEN wear kilt-like "shorts" when they box frequently. there's no reason to think that a feminized athletic uniform would "demean" them in any way. there's nothing wrong with differentiating the genders, sarg’, they're still allowed to compete.

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HockeyMom wrote...

Huh?

November 17, 2011 11:37 am

Did I miss something? I have never seen a man or woman box in a skirt. Personally, this is a ridiculous debate.

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Oly80 wrote...

men DO wear kilt-like shorts...

November 17, 2011 12:06 pm

you obviously don't watch a lot of boxing. there's never been a stadard set, especially for the Olympics. they need to figure out what they are going to do. personally, they shouldn't be harassed for making the mens and women's uniforms different.

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Oly80 wrote...

check that

November 17, 2011 12:15 pm

personally, *i think* they shouldn't be harassed.

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Saltchucker wrote...

Make the ref wear the skirt.

November 17, 2011 8:30 am

.

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letsgetonwithit wrote...

I think

November 17, 2011 12:54 pm

she has a great attitude and I look forward to seeing her compete!!

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sghouse wrote...

next thing you know..

November 17, 2011 4:23 pm

..they'll put synchronized swimming in the Olympic games....what? oh

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Katbird_27 wrote...

speaking of equality

November 27, 2011 9:49 am

they need a mens synchronized swimming. maybe softball got nixed because the IOC discovered it wasn't baseball for girls. it was a whole different game that was made for girls. women's baseball is a sport I'd LOVE to see in the Olympics!

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dori monson fan wrote...

the problem with our society

November 17, 2011 10:41 pm

instead of feeling blessed to be talanted enough to be in the olympics, i'd rather feel mad about a frivolous uniform bicker.

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awbitf wrote...

I get the whole skirt thing

November 18, 2011 9:14 am

but after thinking about it for a second, I'd wear a red-white-blue tutu if I had the honor of representing my country in the Olympics, not to mention the $$ and endorsement deals that come from it.

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