Women Boxers Get Ready for Golden Gloves Championships

By the time the sun comes up Sunday morning, Downers Grove could be the home of two women's boxing champs.

Maureeca Lambert, 26, and Katie Poplawski, 29, both Downers Grove residents and boxers who train out of the Warrior Boxing gym on Chase Ave, will fight for their respective championships this weekend at the 2012 Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament at Gordon Tech College Prep in Chicago. For Lambert, it will be her first fight, and only the third fight for Poplawski.

All told, Team Fist Law Boxing Club—the not-for-profit boxing club run out of Warrior Boxing—will send 16 boxers to the tournament's championships this weekend. Eight of those boxers are women, a statistic Head Coach Bob Miller is proud of.

“These are strong women who work really hard and deserve the respect men get,” Miller said. “The girls have to fight harder to get the same respect.”

The Chicago Golden Gloves Tournament dates back eighty years and counts among its past winners boxers like Joe Louis, Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston. The tournament features two overall divisions—Novice and Open, with the winners of the Open division championships possibly earning a spot on the national Golden Gloves team. Novice fighters need at least ten fights under their belt to step up into the Open division.

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Lambert, who works in finance and competes in the 114 lb division, started training at Warrior Boxing in December after her boyfriend stumbled across a Groupon. A runner for most of her life, Lambert found herself constantly injured and was looking for something new. She quickly took to boxing, and has been training five to six days a week for an hour or two each day to get in shape for her Friday night fight.

“I like boxing because it's diverse and you get a full workout,” Lambert said. “Boxing is keeping me in great shape.”

Heading into her fight, Lambert said she's feeling nervous, anxious and excited. The hardest part for Lambert is not knowing what to expect.

“It's nerve-wracking not knowing how [her opponent] is going to fight,” Lambert said. “I'm used to sparring but I don't know this girl.”

Poplawski, a clinical technician and often Lambert's sparring partner, admitted to feeling a similar cocktail of emotions heading into her Saturday fight, but with having a couple of fights under her belt, she's more confident than she was when she was in Lambert's position.

“I have a little more confidence going in,” she said. “I know what to expect now and I have more training, skill and confidence than I did [in previous fights].”

Poplawski started boxing in October after being encouraged by her boyfriend—also a boxer—to try it out. Similar to Lambert, Poplawski was looking for a new way to stay athletic after being a basketball and soccer player in high school. Poplawski, who will fight in the 119 lb division, maintains a training schedule similar to Lambert's, working out six days a week. And, according to Miller, both women have developed quickly as a result of the work they put in.

“As far as athleticism and ability, they've come up quicker than a lot of my other boxers,” Miller said. “They're new, but they compete at a higher level. They have an ability to get up and compete.”

The women boxers representing Team Fist Law at the championships this weekend are: Kristin Carlson (Chicago), Teresa Trinidad (Westmont), Heather Drury (Glen Ellyn), Laurie McNielly (Wheaton), Katie Poplawski (Downers Grove), Jamie Jacobsen (Wheaton), Maureeca Lambert (Downers Grove), Kelly Ricci (Glen Ellyn).