HEATHER VS SHELLY- GAME CHANGER FIRST ON NBC!

By Jill Diamond
A pioneering  show stopping step forward weekend feat, as Heather Hardy defeated Shelly Vincent by MD to win the vacant WBC International female featherweight crown at the Coney Island Amphitheater, roared on by a packed crowd of 5000, and it was the first time women boxers were featured on NBC TV!

The late GREAT  visionary Don Jose Sulaiman sanctioned WBC Women’s Championships in 2005,and since then the WBC has worked tirelessly to get women on TV. We have always believed that talent, not gender, makes a true champion. In many countries, we have been successful. But television in the USA continued to underestimate the public’s ability to accept and appreciate  women athletes as equals to men. So what`s  just taken place on NBC TV is an historic game changer.
Heather Hardy and Shelly Vincent fought brilliantly in a dramatic thrilling fight, and how apt, as it was the first time women boxers were featured on NBC, and nationally televised.  With the courage, sheer grit and with every fibre of their being these two went to war!  Ten, electrifying rounds of action, made all the more intense, because these two women carried the hopes and the dreams of thousands of other women with them into that ring.

And then, when the final bell clanged the entire crowd as one simultaneously rose to their feet applauding, then waiting anxiously, for the score cards to be read. Heather Hardy claimed a victory by majority decision, but in truth, women athletes everywhere, won.  People cheered, applauded, wept and hugged each other, realizing they had witnessed history being created.

Maybe one day, young girls will look back at this historic ground breaking, monumental fight as the very one that opened doors for them. At least, that’s my hope. It’s not just about the moment, it’s about the future. And perhaps someday, they will say, I got my footwork from Christy, I got my power from Laila and I got my nerve from Heather.

It’s a tradition of mine to give away my credential at the end of a fight, but NOT this time. It stays with me as a significant souvenir, and will always remind me of the time that hope came with me to Coney Island and together, we watched women boxers’ change the way the World sees and views them.

A heartfelt  thank you to Dibella Promotions, PBC and our two champions, Heather and Shelly, for sharing their triumph with us. We are so proud and we continue to move forward!