Tuesday Topic, with Christine Rutter

THE WORLD has taken a dim view of women slugging it out for supremacy in the boxing ring.

Campaigners who successfully lobbied for the right females to box have been knocked out by the sting of protest.

And the blow landed harder because they believe the critics have no real foundation for their prejudices.

Welsh girls Marie Leefe and Marie Davies have made history under the cloud of controversy by becoming the first women to officially fight in Britain.

Comments that it's "not ladylike" or "women weren't made to box" could be seen as the chauvinistic views of those fighting to preserve the exclusivity of a "male sport". Fighter Lennox Lewis's coach Frank Maloney said women's boxing was "barbaric".

He claimed teenage girls should be concentrating on ballet and dancing lessons and said men would not appreciate the spectacle of their wives returning from their latest bout with battered faces.

"The reaction to the new ruling has been incredibly emotional and chauvinistic," said solicitor Judith Rollestone, chairman of the Women's Commission of the ABA of England.

Rifat Akbar, 20, of Oswaldtwistle, who is undergoing training at the Blackburn YMCA Amateur Boxing Club in a bid for a ring career, fired her own broadside into the war of words:

"Why are these people being so sexist?

"They have got to give women a chance.

"Women should not be chained to the kitchen sink. "They should have freedom.

"And as for dancing, I'm tough and hard and it doesn't suit my personality.

"My family found it funny at first but now they respect me and are happy.

"I am the only Asian boxer that I know of.

"I want to prove to Asian parents that if they give their children a bit of freedom, they can make something out of their life."

Rifat, a supervisor and sales assistant at the Late Shop, in Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, added: "People said I could get brain damage or die but in amateur boxing matches the boxer's safety is paramount.

"Women who really want to box have no fear of pain or being hurt."

"Boxing has a lot of good points.

"I can take my temper out on the punchbag, it keeps me fit, it is disciplined and I can go out at night without fear of attack.

"I can protect myself.

"The encouragement from the coaches and boxers is great and the gym atmosphere is brilliant.

"The people who will come to the sport just to watch women in shorts and a T-shirt will be disappointed.

"I wear tracksuit bottoms because of my religion."

Peter Hayes, former chairman of the North West Counties Amateur Boxing Association, is a fierce critic of women's boxing.

"It is absolutely disgraceful, barbaric," he said.

"Why do women want to box?

"I may be old fashioned but ladies should be ladies.

"Women don't want to be getting knocked about and marked, it will ruin their looks.

"Boxing is a single-sex sport.

"They will never be able to compete with men. "They will get bashed up once and leave the sport.

"They will eliminate each other."

But Judith Rollestone blasted: "Why is it not a ladies' sport?

"Women take part in rugby and kick-boxing. We won't be boxing men, for God's sake. It will be like for like.

"I have never seen a barbaric amateur match.

"They don't take unnecessary punishment.

"The days of cauliflower ears and noses spread across faces is gone.

"Women have boxed in Europe for ages.

"People who have trained boxers for years say they prefer to coach women.

"They say they exemplify what the sport is all about - self discipline and self control.

"And they say that women are better boxers technically to make up for where their strength fails."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.