Gloves, wraps, forward punches
Strength, speed, sweat down
She stands up in the boxing ring
As a WOMAN, as a FIGHTER
Story of Professional Boxer Sandy Lam
Sandy Lam is a professional female boxer born in Hong Kong and was born in the 90s. She learned about the sport when she was 16 years old. “At that time, most Hong Kong people had no knowledge of boxing and there was only one professional boxing gym in Hong Kong that could provide training,” Sandy said. She became curious about the sport, and decided to join the gym to learn more about boxing. After just a few months, she started to participate in competitions held by the Hong Kong Boxing Association.
“Somewhat sparingly, I entered the tournament and just ended up getting beaten up,” Sandy couldn’t help but laugh when she recalls her first boxing competition.
The initial setbacks did not make Sandy lose interest in boxing, but rather motivated her to keep fighting. Boxing is a confrontational sport that requires active punching to score points. However, it was really difficult for Sandy to throw her first punch at an opponent given that she was always taught that fighting was inappropriate during her upbringing. This obstacle made it really difficult for Sandy to fight in the beginning years.
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Sandy’s Instagram post.
Sandy also faced another problem: her offense was weak because her punches were not powerful enough. In 2013, everything changed during a tournament in Taiwan. Under great mentorship from her coach and team members, Sandy finally had a sense of good punching. She was filled with power. Sandy won her first official boxing match.
In 2015, Sandy decided to pursue a career in professional boxing. She moved around Thailand, the United States and Zhejiang, China on her own to learn from professional coaches. At 26, she finally met her current coach, who is a former boxer from Qinghai Province, China. He helped Sandy organise a new training plan. She sharpened her skills and has made great progress in a short period of time.
Today, Sandy is busy preparing for an upcoming boxing tournament in July in Qinghai, China. She needs to spend more than six hours training everyday. In addition, she also works as a private coach teaching boxing to amateurs. “Many white-collar workers nowadays would regard boxing as a good way to lose weight and release pressure,” she said. “Teaching boxing is also a learning process for myself. Many times I can spot my own technical shortcomings from the mistakes of my students’ movements.”
Sandy’s daily training.
What Do You Know About Basic Boxing Techniques?
The sport is actually a combination of six basic punches. Non-combat training doesn’t need to take place in a professional venue, so let’s take a quick lesson with Sandy!
Jab
Feet parallel. Protect your eyes with your left hand and your chin with you right hand. Keep your chin down, bend your knees slightly, and exert force through the abdomen and legs. The left hand then throws a hard fist in front of the front.
Cross or Straight
Add a turn of the waist to the jab. Right hand punching.
Left Hook
Turn waist first before throwing a punch.
Elbow joint close to the body.
Right Hook
Similar to left hook. Punch with right hand.
Left Upper-cut
Move your weight forward when you throw a punch.
Right Upper-cut
Lower the hip joint and pull the elbow joint back.
Not An Easy Way
I lied to my parents that I was going to play basketball or volleyball so I wouldn’t have to explain it to them.
When Sandy was 20 years old, she first confided in her parents that she was learning boxing and that she really loved the sport. She had been hiding this from her parents for over four years. Sandy’s parents encouraged her to learn instruments when she was young, in hopes that she would be poised.
“I thought they definitely wouldn’t accept me doing boxing as they would question why I always enjoyed hitting others,” Sandy said. “So I just told them I was playing volleyball or basketball after school, because it could cause less trouble for me to say that.”
In fact, the prejudice of Sandy’s parents was only the tip of the iceberg. Sandy said that there is still a stigma against boxers, in which many people think they are odd and are covered in tattoos. The stereotypes carry further for female boxers as they are often judged for their appearance, dressing, and even personality. The bias is believed to have stemmed from boxing’s history, in which females didn’t join the Olympics for boxing until 2012, which is 108 years later than men’s boxing. In other words, most people only became aware of female boxers for about a decade. This has directly resulted in insufficient training resources for female boxers such as the number of coaches or accompanied trainers, Sandy said.
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Sandy’s coaching video on Instagram.
Can you beat me?
A question that Sandy has been asked countlessly by her male students as a method of provoking her. Some of them would even try to teach Sandy at her classes, which made her feel a bit angry. In face of such provocation, Sandy could only reply, “I can’t beat you if I have to answer the question.”
“Boxing is meaningless without the distinction between gender and weight. And it’s clear to all of us that the physical differences between males and females cannot be made up by training or talent,” Sandy said. That’s why Sandy always believes that only the boxing ring can be a fair space for fighters.
Based on the different hormone levels between genders, adult women may be twice as weak as men physically, especially with reaction time, explosive force, strength and endurance, which are important elements for a boxer. As a result, female boxers have to put more effort into their training.
In addition, there are many inconveniences that never bother male boxers. The most typical one is that Sandy has to lessen the training load or even stop for one or two days during her menstrual periods, which may disrupt the training schedule. “When I was young, I didn’t stop training on my periods. But I found this would be unhealthy when I am getting older, so I told myself to take one day off,” Sandy said.
Sandy is doing her basic training in a park in Shenzhen.
Sandy’s coach is explaining the key points to her.
Sandy is dodging her coach’s punches.
Sandy with her boxing gloves.
In Mainland China, the government has a sports system to provide training and salary to athletes. Many professional athletes were selected to the national sport team at a very young age. To some extent, they have a stable job as athletes and they work for the country.
Things are different in Hong Kong. Professional athletes here do not receive a fixed salary from the government. Boxers in Hong Kong pursue this career purely out of love as there is nearly zero government-support for the boxing industry. In other words, they have to make money in other ways, such as doing a regular job or cooperating with commercial partnerships.
Though most professional boxers in Hong Kong have to deal with advertising agencies, Sandy still finds discomfort in cooperating with these companies. She is often told how to move and what to say, which she finds very uncomfortable. Sandy was once even pushed into a boxing-related modeling agency where she was forced to wear a bikini during the pre-fight weigh-in, prior to any contract signing.
“They are also not satisfied with me,” Sandy said. When she showed her anger, the advertising agency staff would tell Sandy that there would be no advertisers or audience members without these gimmicks. How can boxers make money when the competition itself is not profitable anymore? How will the upcoming competition be held?
“At that moment, I really felt like I was being objectified,” Sandy said.
“If you don’t have these spectacles you won’t get advertisers to invest and you won’t get people to buy tickets to the fights. How can boxers make money when the organizations that hold the fights can’t make money? How can the fights continue to be held?” The person from the promotion company justified to Sandy.
“At that moment, I really felt like I was being objectified.”
“I’ve never heard of a male boxer having a similar experience as mine of being inexplicably pushed into a modeling agency,” Sandy said, “because people believe that the spectators always come to men’s fight for their technical and tactical skills. But when they know two girls are in a competition, they would say ‘are they going to pull each other’s hair?’ At that time, the fight was no longer a fair competition for us.”
More than once, the lack of understanding and even cold eyes from the outside world made Sandy doubt herself. She often contemplated if boxing was really the right thing to do, and whether or not boxing would be admired as a sport to spectators.
“I felt like my professional abilities were being denied. I feel I am far from excellent. If I could Knock out my opponent in ten seconds, then the spectators would focus more on my skills and tactics. And they would no longer care about the ‘female boxer’ label when they come to watch the fights.”
Obvious muscle lines on Sandy’s arm.
A Female UFC Fighter
Ramona Pascual is a current UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) athlete based in Las Vegas. She grew up in Hong Kong, started her career here and became Hong Kong’s first and only UFC fighter. In 2021, Ramona moved to America to pursue a bigger stage.
UFC is the top MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) competition in the world. As the name suggests, MMA is a mixed combat game compared to boxing which combines different styles including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sanda, and boxing. Though each style has its own uniqueness, they all require confrontation, and the athletes refer to themselves as “fighters”.
Similar to Sandy, Ramona’s parents also had different expectations for her. “They want me to do anything that’s in the office, that’s safe.”
However, staying in the office was never on the list of a fighter’s life. “It’s easy to let the opinion of people around you, especially the people who are important to you,” Ramona said, “So you just have to realise why you’re doing it. You know that you’re doing it for yourself.”
Ramona started participating in competitions and won her first game in Thailand at the age of 22. Her win gave her feelings of strength that could be felt in her mind and body.
“My mind was racing, my heart was racing. And I just remember it being like the most intense feeling in the world. And I thought, wow, this is crazy.”
“I want to do it again.” That was the first thought that came to Ramona’s mind right after the combat. She has now been doing it for over 13 years.
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Ramona’s Instagram post.
Female Fighters Support Each Other
Undeniably, this journey is full of obstacles.
Luckily, female athletes are always supportive of each other.
At the beginning of Ramona’s fighting career, there were no female training partners. “When I was in Hong Kong, I spent a little bit of time in Korea and I also went to Thailand. But in all three of those places, I could be the only girl in one room with like 20 other guys.”
Like Sandy, Ramona had to train with guys. “If I was lucky, I got another girl with me. I think it was challenging because it’s not as realistic when you compete with a guy, especially since this is a sport where a person’s size and athletic ability play crucial roles, and it necessitates close-range interaction between the opponents.”
Ramona and Sandy met in a gym by chance. “Sandy’s tough. She’s definitely a tough fighter,” Ramona said, “she’s very athletic and she is just one of those girls that I know is going to do anything it takes to reach your goal.”
Though they are not in the same sport, they have been following each other’s career path.
For Ramona, she thinks that the support between females comes naturally. “It’s always nice to support other female fighters, because I know how difficult it is for them, also because I’ve been through it.”
She Boxing Through the Male Gaze
Boxers in Hong Kong pursue this career purely out of love as there is nearly zero government-support for the boxing industry. That’s why these boxers usually have a regular job to make a living.
Jimmy Leung, the founder of Hong Kong’s Fighters Club, was a professional boxer before he started his own boxing club. He started boxing at the age of 15 and had participated in competitions for seven years. After several years of competing, Jimmy realised that the opportunities for a boxing career in Hong Kong were rather limited. As a result, he decided to transition into a boxing coach role instead.
In my opinion, boxing is a business. The market in Hong Kong is too small, so it is difficult to organise major boxing matches here so it is hard to earn money. Hong Kong boxers are already very good under this situation, and they can fight with world-class opponents,” Jimmy said.
When talking about the changes in Hong Kong’s boxing industry over the years, Jimmy said that society has become more open to female boxers.
Various of boxing gloves in Fighters Club.
“The difference between men and women in society is not so clear now. As social media plays an important role in modern society and people have started to accept different lifestyles, female boxers are getting more attention than before, but probably still not as much attention as men are getting. “
In today’s world, female professional boxers still face some of the same problems as before. One of the most obvious differences is female boxers usually earn less than male athletes. Not just boxing, but commercialised sports competitions in general face this problem. For example, according to reports, Zhang Weili, a famous Chinese female fighter, received about $667,000 bonus for her win at UFC 281,and the money belonged to the entire team. On the other hand, Zou Shiming,a famous Chinese male boxer, made $150 million for his UFC fight with Conor Anthony McGregor. Females also face unreasonable requests during promotional aspects for a match, which is something unseen among men.
“The attention will be more on the male boxers. Because as far as the spectacle of the fights, the top fights, it’s still the men who are dominating the sport,” Jimmy said.
She Boxing to Amateurs
I don’t think it’s a gender thing, it all depends on your mentality.
Now, in Jimmy’s boxing club, the percentage of female students is around 70%. More and more women are taking up boxing as a hobby. But what’s interesting is that many girls initially started learning boxing because they wanted to lose weight.
Catherine Lai is one of those girls who came to learn boxing with the intention of losing weight and then fell in love with the sport.
Catherine is a corporate lawyer and has been boxing for four years. At first, she heard that boxing could burn calories quickly, so she decided to start learning it. But now, boxing has become part of her life. As a boxing enthusiast, she goes to the gym three times a week to train after work.
Boxing ring in Fighters Club.
“Boxing has made my whole life more disciplined.”
Catherine even had the idea of competing as an amateur before, but then realized that it is really a very difficult thing to do, so she gave up. When it comes to whether women have more difficulties in boxing training, Catherine said, “I don’t think it’s a gender thing, it all depends on your mentality. Women may have an advantage in boxing, we move faster sometimes, maybe we don’t throw punches as hard as men. But I don’t think it’s anything to do with male and female challenges, it all depends on your mentality.”
Expectations for the Future
I n 2019, Sandy started to travel from Hong Kong and Shenzhen for training. She is still working hard to achieve her boxing dream. In preparation for the competition in July, she said, “I hope I can show my progress over the past few years in this competition.”
For professional athletes, Sandy hopes that boxing can be further promoted in Hong Kong so that gender bias can be eliminated within the sport. Sandy’s coach stated that in some situations, women have a natural advantage in boxing because they can tolerate pain better than men.
As for amateurs, Sandy’s coach said that very few girls joined boxing in the past, but now, a lot of young girls are enrolling in junior boxing lessons, which is a sign that the sport is becoming more popular.
Ramona is also training hard for UFC competitions. She is turning 35 this year, which is not a young age for an athlete. However, Ramona is enjoying every moment of being a fighter.
“If you pick a career in fighting, you have to dedicate your entire life to fighting,” Ramona said.
Extra Credits
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Editorial Director Hailey Yip
Multimedia Director Madeleine Mak
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Copy Editor Karin Lyu
Fact Checker Olivia Guan
