Each year, thousands of people begin kickboxing, and - not so surprisingly -
the vast majority of these people are women. It's a great time for this sport,
reflected in the number of women of all ages who show up for training classes
at gyms throughout the country. With almost every popular woman's character
in movies in television shows exhibiting some sort of kickboxing or martial
arts prowess, the trend will probably continue for some time. In addition,
thousands more women join related classes, such as aerobox, cardio-kickboxing, Tae
Bo and the like.

Teresa, a 31-year-old legal secretary and single mother, is one of those
women. She said she started kickboxing training when she took her son to a school
in the Hazel Park area and was asked to participate herself. Teresa had
already experienced fighting as a girl streetgang leader in her teens and, according
to her, "never lost a fight" during that part of her life. So when she was
asked to train both in kickboxing and boxing, she saw it as "an almost natural
fit" and agreed because she already had a little fighting experience and it was
a good way for her to stay in shape.

However, in her first fight at the school, her opponent -- Janet, a very
attractive part-time 30-year-old Hispanic model who Teresa admitted "was in much
better shape than me" -- injured her leg during a match last month before
surprisingly knocking Teresa out.

"Janet was 5-3 and weighed just 120 lbs. I was 5-2 and a quarter and was
about 25 lbs. heavier than she was," Teresa recalled. "Both of us joined the
school at the same time and were about at the same level of expertise as far as
kickboxing goes, but I had more overall fighting experience due to my
streetfighting days. So when the school had competition for the kids, I was asked if I
would fight Janet. I knew she was in better shape than I was, but I also knew I
had the edge in fighting experience. So I agreed.

"Both of our boyfriends came to see us fight so there was an added incentive
for both of us to win to show our men we were the better one between each
other. There was a lot of pride and ego involved from the start and that only
increased when our boyfriends showed up, that's for sure. I was really proud of
myself at the beginning of the fight because I thought I was doing pretty well.
But in the end, I guess it was my pride that took the beating.

"I really thought I was going to win, but that fight didn't go anything like
I thought or hoped it would. It was a mess for me from the start. Janet kicked
me in the shin really hard early in the fight and hurt my left leg. That
threw me off for the rest of the fight. I couldn't get my feet set to punch her
because of my hurt leg. Plus, Janet could see my leg was hurt and kept kicking
at it. She wouldn't give me a moment's rest. Of course, I don't blame her for
that. I would have done the same thing. We were both trying to win so when she
saw she had hurt me, she tried to end the fight as quick as possible by going
for my weak point.

"She forced me to keep my mind on protecting my hurt leg and kept me from
thinking about hitting her. My concern for protecting my leg plus my inability to
set my feet to deliver my punches really threw me totally off kilter. I was
angry with her at being hurt and tried to fight back, but my punches were weak
because I couldn't get my feet set and use my back to put any power behind
them.

"I was able to protect my leg and stay away from her for awhile, but pretty
soon I got tired and she was able to catch up with me. I was so concerned about
my leg that I didn't even see the punch that hit my midsection. When she hit
me in the stomach, she partially knocked the wind out of me. Then she kept
kicking my left leg and hurt it worse. I was basically hopping around the ring on
one leg like `The Karate Kid' and Janet kept kicking and kicking at my leg.

"I knew I was in real trouble then. I knew I had to do something to turn the
fight around but by then I was just trying not to get hurt anymore than I was.
During that time, when everything was just one big blur, I couldn't help but
let the thought of being dominated by Janet cross my mind for an instant.

"From then on, everything went real fast. Out of nowhere she hit me in the
chin. I almost went down and I actually think I was out on my feet for a couple
of seconds. Then I felt a tremendous pain in my left leg as she kicked at it
again. I remember groaning loudly almost involuntarily in pain.

"I guess Janet smelled blood so, while I was hopping around in pain with my
bum leg, up she comes with another uppercut to my chin! I didn't go down, but I
staggered around the ring and was in an awful mess as I was nearly knocked
out of my senses and I couldn't get good footing.

"She kicked me in the leg again and that's all it took. She could have hit me
with a feather at that point and I probably would have gone down, I was in
such bad shape. The pain was so intense in my leg that I went down. And once I
went down, I knew I wouldn't be able to get up. So there I was, holding my left
leg and rolling around in pain on the mat as the ref counted me out -- in
front of my boyfriend!"

Teresa was immediately looked at by trainers and doctors onsite and it was
determined that her leg wasn't fractured and she was basically OK. But to this
day, she hasn't fully recovered from either the pain of the physical trauma nor
the mental and emotional pain.

"She ended up knocking me out," Teresa admitted. "I'll aways remember hearing
the count of 10 ringing in my ears and not being able to get up. I looked up
and I saw Janet gazing down at me and raising both of her hands in victory.
Yeah, it was kind of embarrassing to get knocked out in front of your husband
and kid, but she was simply the better woman that day. She was in better shape
and she deserved to beat me."

Teresa recalled how she felt during the fight. "When you're in a fight with
another woman, it can be a very scary thing when you begin to lose. It's not
just a physical thing. It's very emotional. Here's a woman bent on hurting you
badly enough to the point that she wants to knock you down and keep you down
long enough to win the fight. And at the same time, you're trying to do the same
thing to her -- but you know she's doing a better job of it than you are.

"You feel the pain as she beats you up and you wonder what your boyfriend and
kid are thinking. You wonder if they are embarrassed that you are losing the
fight. Plus, you are worried about getting hurt. Everything turns into a blur
and you are getting hit out of nowhere from places you didn't even expect to
be hit. You get hit and you black out for a couple of seconds, wondering if
you're going to lose consciousness or if you can regain your senses and continue
to fight. It's kind of scary."

Janet, who knocked Teresa out, also first got involved in kickboxing training
after bringing her daughter to the school. "I was in pretty good shape when I
got there due to my racquetball activities," Janet recalled. "But kickboxing
seemed kind of new and interesting. I always have been competitive so that's
why I joined up and that's also why I agreed to fight Teresa.

"I didn't know Teresa had that streetfighting experience, but I did know I
was in better shape and probably stronger than her," recalled Janet. "If nothing
else, I thought I'd at least be able to beat her by outlasting her. But when
I kicked her in the shin and hurt her early in the fight, I knew I had her. It
was just a matter of time. I just kept going after that leg of hers and
watched her hurt more and more. Then when she was thinking exclusively about the
leg, I came up top and nailed her once in the belly and then a couple of times
in the chin.

"Near the end, I caught her with a right uppercut to her chin and I thought
for sure she'd go down. I was surprised that she didn't, but she was really
limping and hobbling and staggering around. She was mine for the taking then, so
I went for that leg again and she just folded."

Teresa realizes she has many weaknesses she brings to the ring. "I'm a smoker
and I'm a little pudgy," admitted Teresa. "Plus, I've always had weak
forearms. If you're going to generate any hand speed in boxing or kickboxing, I'm
going to have to improve the strength in my forearms. I have a powerful back and
I've used that in the past to put power behind my punching when I fought in
the street, but when Janet hurt my leg in our fight I couldn't do that so I was
pretty much helpless. If my forearms were stronger, perhaps I would have done
better. At least maybe I wouldn't have gotten knocked out and embarrassed.

"I'm also going to have to improve my stamina. The smoking sure doesn't help
and neither does the extra weight. Janet had more stamina than me and she just
plain wore me out as well."

As for a rematch, Teresa isn't so sure. "Janet's still probably better than
me. She's certainly in better shape, that's for sure. I wouldn't say that she's
physically stronger than me, because I'm pretty strong. But as I said, I've
still got a lot of work to do. If you were to ask my boyfriend, though, he's
all for it. He really enjoyed watching me fight the first time and says he'll
enjoy it just as much the next time -- win or lose."