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POSTED: Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008

Poyner moves forward after historic bout

Heather Poyner never thought her 15 minutes of fame would last 15 years, but there's rarely a month that goes by when at least someone doesn't ask her about her historic boxing match with Dallas Malloy.

"It comes up quite often," Poyner says. "At least once a month somebody asks me about it or they recognize the name and ask if I'm that Heather Poyner."

Poyner, now a 36-year-old paraeducator and transportation worker with Lummi Nation School, remembers the bout and the time leading up to it with mixed emotions. The attention both boxers received was overwhelming, she says. Poyner was even hesitant to take the fight in the first place because her primary experience was as a kickboxer.

"It was chaos," Poyner says. "It was such a whirlwind back then. We were both so young and there was so much interest in it."

When Poyner finally did agree to the bout she did so more with an eye toward winning than toward making history. She spent several months preparing for the bout, working with Malloy's trainer James Ferguson for a short time, among others, and felt ready when the fight rolled around.

That Malloy won the bout by decision is something that still disappoints Poyner. She keeps her boxing gloves from the bout in a bag in her closet along with the other mementos she collected from that important occasion.

"I've kept it all," Poyner says. "Most it is just at the bottom of my closet. I don't display it or anything. I didn't win, and that was hard for me. I really wanted to win that fight. I was trained to win that fight, and I didn't do it."

The bout was the first and last of Poyner's career. She stopping training shortly after to have a family and moved on with her life. If she had it all to do over again there are some things she might have done differently and some things she would have done the same.

"I'm not disappointed at all that Dallas received most of the attention," Poyner says. "I'm not the one that went through the legal battles and fought to make it happen. I never wanted the publicity to begin with."

Poyner also isn't interested in catching up with Malloy any time soon. They haven't spoken since the fight and were never close before the bout. The two will be forever linked because of the fight, and for now Poyner is content to leave it at that.

"I'm glad that I had a part in something that was historically significant for women," Poyner says. "It's nice to think that something I did helped make a difference for women."