Female Boxing in Spotlight With 'Playboy' Cover Fernando Ruano Jr. - VOXXI
go to original August 10, 2012

Mariana Juarez ‘La Barby’ poses for Playboy. (Playboy/Terra)

Female boxing makes the Olympics for the first time in history and athletes like Mariana Juarez, “La Barby,” reap the benefits of stardom with endorsement deals and covers like her August Playboy Mexico cover.

Strong, beautiful and now famous, female athletes have made it big.

The 32-year-old Mexican World Boxing Council champion boxer, whose record of 35 wins to five losses or 16 knockouts, have sent men packing.

Women boxers have undoubtedly already left their mark on the 2012 Olympics, and gained acceptance in winning the fight in making it a legitimate sport.

Just three years ago and amid some backlash from mainstream media and male professional boxers, including Brit Amir Khan, female boxing was finally accepted as an Olympic sport. Khan felt “deep down” that “women shouldn’t fight” because getting up from a knockout would be “painful.”

Chances are Khan was floored sitting ringside at the Excel Centre as he watched Nicole Adams, competing in the flyweight final today, make history after defeating five-time world champion Mary Kom.

Banned in the UK until 1996, the women have shined inside the ring, making it a definitive moment for the sport in general by spotlighting the accomplishments of athletes not too long ago seen as inferior to their male counterparts.

Led by Adams, who has brought some flair to the “Games” with her “Ali Shuffle”, and four-time world champion Katie Taylor the females have silenced doubters by displaying plenty of skill and flair. Seventeen-year-old Charessa Shields, who at press time was boxing in the middleweight gold medal bout, has delighted the crowds with lightning-quick hands and fancy foot work.

Golden or not, the accomplishments will stand on their merit for years, especially that of Houston-native Marlene Esparza, who scored a bronze medal after losing to Chinese world champion Ren Cancan, couldn’t control her emotions after the match, but was upbeat after suffering a second consecutive defeat for the first time in her career. “I did everything I could,” the 23-year-old Esparza told ABC News after the bout. “It’s time for me to walk (away).”

Esparza deflected any thoughts of coming back for the 2016 Olympic Games, instead saying she is focused on college and her sports medicine career.

And Esparza can walk around campus just like the rest of all the female boxers in London – with her head held up high.

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