Mary Spencer: \u201cI want to fight Claressa Shields.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Spencer is a former Olympian and a three-time world amateur champion. Fighting, in some way, shape, or form, has been a constant for the Canadian. But her manner hides it well. Thoughtful and precise with her words. A calming demeanour that hides plenty. <\/p>\n
\u201cI always like fighting,\u201d Spencer told me over Zoom. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spencer wanted to fight from an incredibly early age. However, she was made to wait a little before the itch was finally scratched. \u201cBoxing entered my life when I was sixteen. But I was fighting long before that. When I was about ten years old, I asked my dad to take me to the boxing club. But he said no, it isn\u2019t for girls. Girls don\u2019t box. I waited a few years, and when I was sixteen, I made my way to the boxing gym. I knew my dad was wrong when he said it because I fought boys all the time. After school, I fought a boy all the time, and I beat his ass. But I couldn\u2019t tell my dad. I went on and did some other sports, but I came back to boxing and found my way to a gym. I was able to turn that love for boxing into something positive, and I needed it at the time. My coach forced me to train hard when I got kicked out of school for fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThinking back to how this kind of happened. He didn\u2019t even ask me if I wanted to train. I just showed up at the gym, and he told me he would pick me up the next day. It was great, and it was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spencer paused somewhat when I asked her what the attraction of her sport was. \u201cI just think it is something that is in my veins for wanting to fight,\u201d was her measured reply. \u201cIt\u2019s just part of who I am. I am not an aggressive person. I\u2019m not like that. Maybe I would be if I weren\u2019t boxing. It\u2019s something that makes me feel alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The amateur career was beyond successful. Three world titles and a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games highlight her quality. But when she was viewed as a dead cert for a medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Spencer went out at the quarter-final stage. \u201cEveryone wants to succeed on the biggest stage, and that is obviously the Olympics, and I wanted that success there,\u201d a reflective Spencer told me. \u201cFor a long time, I was hard on myself. I took it really harshly. But my weight category didn\u2019t go to the Olympics. I was a 141lb Canadian champion when we went to the Olympics. I was told I could either fight at 132, which wasn\u2019t possible, or fight at 165. I am pretty sure I was the only fighter at those Olympics who made that jump. While I didn\u2019t have the success at the Olympics, I can still look at it as something to be proud of. The timing wasn\u2019t there for my weight category. I did what I could.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mary Spencer turned professional in 2021, and the 40-year-old quickly built up a reputation for her fights ending inside the distance. But after winning her first seven fights, Spencer lost two straight fights to Femke Hermans. But the Canadian recovered her career with three wins on the bounce, including getting her hands on the WBA super-welterweight title. But rather surprisingly, she views having that title a little differently than what many might suspect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that important if I am being completely honest,\u201d Spencer says. \u201cI turned pro to have some fun, exciting fights with the girls I knew from the amateurs. All of my fights so far have been stepping stones. I had fun because I liked fighting. But the motivation for preparing those fights isn\u2019t the same as it will be for my next fight. At times, it was a struggle, but I think the best of me is yet to be seen. You don\u2019t go from fighting in the Olympics and winning three world championships, thinking it\u2019s cool to fight the girls I have fought in my last twelve fights. Even when the belts were on the line, it\u2019s hard for me to look at that as a big deal. I\u2019m only really interested in the fun, exciting fights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Spencer will have some fight news dropping within the next week or so, but despite the challenge that awaits her in just a few short months, Spencer has eyes on rekindling an old amateur rivalry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to fight Claressa Shields. That\u2019s what I want. I want to fight her because this girl came up at a point in my career when I was the world champion at 165, but she never got to see me at my best. People don\u2019t know this, but my lifelong amateur coach was Charlie Stewart; he took me from my very first fight to the Olympic Games. At the end of 2011, he had an accident, and he was in the hospital with a brain injury. My training took a serious toll because of that, and when I fought Claressa, I didn\u2019t have my coach there. Everything fell apart because we were a tight-knit team. I had a hard time finding myself after losing him. I recently went back to Kara Ro, who was Charlie\u2019s assistant. Kara coached me for my last fight, and she will be coaching me for the rest of my career. I really struggled to find myself as a fighter since I lost my coach, so my two experiences with Claressa Shields were ones where she didn\u2019t get the best of me. We also sparred a lot of rounds together, and she knows it would be a good fight. I would love to have that fight, I don\u2019t even care about the money or the prestige. I just want to give my best in a training camp and prepare properly and then fight her with my best foot forward.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tPublished by FightPost: MMA & Boxing News\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n