Tonya Harding fight canceled!!!

[Leo]

Tonya Harding fight canceled

By WOODY BAIRD
Associated Press Writer

TUNICA, Miss. - Tonya Harding intends to keep boxing - even though her first professional fight was canceled.

The former figure skating star was scheduled to fight on Saturday's card in Memphis, Tenn., featuring Mike Tyson and Clifford Etienne.

But the fight was called off after Tyson displayed erratic behavior in the days leading up to the fight.

"I'm not nervous about it, but I sure hope he shows up,"
Harding said Monday before the fight was officially called off.

Harding's skating career ended in 1994 after she was linked to an assault plot to keep rival Nancy Kerrigan out of the Olympics. The plot failed, even though Kerrigan was clubbed on a knee.
Harding acknowledged hindering the attack investigation.

Now, at 32, she hopes to start a new career in the ring. "I've been trying to turn my image around to be a lady," she said. "But you know what? I can still be a lady and be a great athlete, too."
At 5-foot-1, Harding expects to fight at 120 pounds, 15 pounds more than her skating weight.

"I've gained a little weight but mostly in muscle," she said. Harding said boxing does not carry the backstage hassles she endured with figure skating.

"It doesn't matter what I look like, what I wear, how much money I have, who I know. It's all about who is the better athlete in the ring," she said.

Harding was scheduled to fight 21-year-old Samantha Browning, a first-time fighter from Mantachie.

"I'm in the best shape of my life today, even more so than when I was skating," Harding said. "I feel good about myself. I feel very confident. I am very ready to step in the ring with this girl."

Harding said she decided to pursue a boxing career after a fight on Fox TV's Celebrity Boxing last year with Paula Jones, one of President Clinton's accusers of sexual misconduct.

Harding said she contacted Prize Fight Boxing and now has a four-year promotions contract with the Nashville, Tenn., company. Prize Fight helped stage the June bout in Memphis in which Lennox Lewis beat Tyson. The company is also promoting the fights scheduled for Saturday.

Russ Young, a Prize Fight partner, said matches are expected for Harding at a Biloxi casino March 15 and in Oklahoma about the end of March.

Since the Kerrigan scandal, Harding has been convicted of assaulting a boyfriend with a hubcap and been sent to jail for drunken driving.

Browning is 5-foot-5 and 122 pounds.
"She's kind of short like me and built like me and has an attitude like I used to," Harding said. "Sometimes I used to just kind of say what was on my mind rather than thinking about what I had to say first."

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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[Leo]

Soft-spoken Browning was ready to rumble with

TUPELO — Samantha Browning of tiny Mantachie was watching a Memphis TV channel back in December when Tonya Harding appeared on the screen.

Yes, that Tonya — the infamous Tonya, the world champion figure skater, turned hoodlum, turned prizefighter.
Harding said she was going to fight in Memphis on the Mike Tyson card and all she needed was an opponent. Said Harding, "I feel sorry for whoever gets in the ring with me."
With that, Samantha Browning turned to husband, Nelson, and he knew what she was going to say before the words came out of her mouth:

"I'll fight her."

That's how shy, soft-spoken Samantha Browning, a 21-year-old country gal who normally cleans houses for a living, became a prizefighter.

Browning, who has trained diligently for two months, was supposed to fight Harding on Saturday night at The Pyramid in Memphis on the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Clifford Etienne bout. The fights were supposed to have been telecast by Showtime.

Tyson's health has caused a postponement — or even possible cancellation — of the fight.

Many boxing experts, including the renowned Bert Sugar, believe Tyson has lost his will to fight. Know this: Samantha Browning hasn't. She says she can't wait to put all she has learned to work.

Spars with hubbie

Although Samantha Browning has never boxed in a sanctioned match, that doesn't mean she has never fought. She has three older brothers, one older sister. You know how that goes.
"She learned pretty young how to take care of herself; she's always been tough," says her mother, Maxine Rooker.

Samantha has been around boxing. Her husband, an electrician, boxes on the side. He has helped train her. They have sparred, leading to some interesting results.
"She busted my nose," Nelson says. "Caught me with a left. I was bleeding everywhere."
Says, Samantha, "I don't like to spar with Nelson. I hate to see him bleed."
Nelson Browning can laugh about it now.
"I'll bet there's a lot of wives that wouldn't mind doing what she did," he says.
Don't for a second think that Samantha isn't serious about fighting Harding. She is.

That's why she's spent long hours in the gym and on the track.
"She's come a long, long way in a short time," says trainer Chet Lane, who formerly trained world cruiserweight champion LeRoy Murphy. "She's got a lot of natural ability. She can hit with both hands, and she can take a punch, too."

Both Lane and Nelson Browning, much larger than Samantha, have tagged her during sparring sessions.
"I've heard bells," Samantha says. "I've been hit mighty hard."

Says her husband, "Thing about Samantha, when you hit her, she gets mad and she gets mean and she's gonna hit you back. You can count on it."

That's why Nelson Browning thinks his wife will whip Harding if they ever do fight. He watched Harding's much-publicized fight with Paula Jones. Yes, that Paula Jones.
"Tonya never got hit in the face," Nelson Browning says. "Let's see what happens when she gets hit, because she's gonna get hit. Hard."

Gary Scott, who owns Fitness Max Gym where the Brownings train, also has helped train Samantha and believes she has a future in boxing.
"She's good and getting better," Scott says. "You tell her something once, you don't have to tell her again. I don't think Tonya has any idea what she's gotten herself into. I think Samantha's going to whip her."

Barroom brawler?

Samantha Browning will make $1,200, win or lose, whether the bout lasts the scheduled four two-minute rounds or not.

If you count all the preparation, all the training, she'll make far less than minimum wage. She says she would have done it "just for fun."
"I just like the sport," she says. "I don't know if I'll keep doing it. Right now, I'm just focusing on this fight."

She hasn't fought her first fight and already she's been part of a controversy. It wouldn't be boxing otherwise, would it?

One promoter told reporters that Samantha is a "barroom brawler" and that she planned to "dislocate Tonya Harding's jaw." The same promoter said that Samantha said Harding "couldn't whip me with a hubcap in her hand."

Samantha, smiling, says she doesn't fight in barrooms and never said any of that.
"I guess they're just trying to sell tickets," she says.
Promoters were expecting a crowd of 12,000 at
The Pyramid. Millions more would have watched on the Showtime/pay-per-view telecast. You might think all that would have intimidated a shy, 21-year-old housecleaner from Mantachie, Mississippi.

And you might be right.
"I think about it pretty much all the time," she says when asked about the crowd and the TV cameras. "It's hard to forget about, which is good, I think."

Does she worry about getting hurt?
"No," she says, shaking her head.
Does her husband worry?
"Nah, not really," Nelson Browning says. "Sam can take care of herself."

Leave it to Samantha's mother, Maxine Rooker, to do enough worrying for everyone.
"She's my baby," Maxine Rooker says, "and she's too pretty to get a broken nose."

[Leo]

Tonya Harding fight canceled after Mike Tyson pulls out

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - It looks like Tonya Harding will have to wait to start her professional boxing career.
Mike Tyson has pulled out of a comeback bout with Clifford Etienne. And Harding, the former figure skating star from Oregon, was scheduled to fight on the card in Memphis, Tennessee.

There were no immediate plans to reschedule the bout.

Tyson's handlers finally pulled the plug on the scheduled Saturday fight.
The official word was that Tyson was too sick to fight. But even before he became ill, Tyson had left his trainer waiting for him at the gym for three straight days. He had gotten a large tattoo on the left side of his face.

Harding was scheduled to fight 21-year-old Samantha Browning, a first-time fighter from Mantachie.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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