Female boxing realty show similar to the Contender
Back in early March, the headlines read, “Maureen Shea to host female boxing reality show.” Some of the media, surely not all the Boxing websites, picked up on the news to give it, its proper public notice. Well, it’s time for SportofBoxing.com to do just that.
Shea, who’s from Brooklyn, N. Y., is no stranger to the public eye, she starred in an MTV episode of “MTV: Made” where she mentored a young ballerina that had hopes of becoming a boxer. She also served as the chief sparring partner for actress Hillary Swank when Swank prepared for her Academy Award-winning role in the hit movie Million Dollar Baby.
Shea, under her own Pandora Promotions banner, promoted the first female boxing main event in New York City history when she pitted Alicia “Slick” Ashley against Crystal Hoy in January in Brooklyn. Shea is also the vice president of Global Boxing Promotions, and provided commentary on a recent fight for FoxSports. Now, she’ll be hosting a landmark reality show from Chiapas, Mexico. The show, entitled “Todas Contra Mexico,” will pit a team of female pro boxers from Mexico against an international team of female boxers.
Shea, the reigning NABF featherweight titlist, now 30, is of Mexican and Irish descent and spent considerable time during her childhood living with family in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“This is a great opportunity to connect with the fans in Mexico,” said Shea, who holds a professional record of 15-2 (9 KOs). “My Irish fans here in New York and New Jersey are very familiar with me, but it is really exciting to be able to speak in my first language (Spanish) on TV. This is a big moment for female boxing. For a long time, the public ignored female boxing but there has been a shift in recent years in the perception of the sport … the sport is gaining in popularity among females due to the women’s empowerment movement. After this show, the world will have to take notice of female boxing.”
Then yesterday, March 22, came notice from Mexico of a kick-off press conference for the all-female boxing reality show “Todas Contra Mexico” in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico. They gave the world its first glimpse into the show and all 16 of the combatants, which are comprised of eight Mexican pros and eight from around the world, dressed to the nines to field questions from the media.
The show’s hosts, female boxing star Maureen “The Real Million Dollar Baby” Shea and well-known Mexican actor Paulo Quevedo were also present to promote the show which is to be produced by MapiTV.
The team captains – Bolivian Jennifer Salinas (11-3, 4 KOs) representing the international team and Irma Garcia (0-0-1) leading the Mexican team were also announced.
“These girls inspire me,” said Shea. “There is a sense of camaraderie, but you can already see the tension here. You can feel how much each girl wants to win. I just want to be an instrument to help these women to translate what they’re feeling to the public while they focus on the task at hand.”
The winner of the show is to receive $100,000 as well as the WBC International Female featherweight title. The first matches begin Saturday, March 26, with the championship round taking place in late April.
Tomorrow we will feature an exclusive interview from Chiapas, Mexico, with super-flyweight Keisher McLeod-Wells (4-0-1) of Brooklyn, New York, one of the 16 contestants.
