Lifestyle - Lifestyle Feature

POSTED: Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008

Bellingham's Dallas Malloy opts to retire from sport she fought to enter

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 9, 1994

BELLINGHAM -- Dallas Malloy's historic march into the boxing ring was accompanies by much attention and hoopla.

Now, quietly and without fanfare, the Bellingham resident said she has decided to leave the sport for good.

Malloy is vague about her reasons for giving up an amateur boxing career that lasted 14 months — and only one fight — but

she's specific that her decision to retire is final.

"I did that and it's done," Malloy, 17, said. "I go through phases of things. There's so many things to do. I just get bored

with things fast. I did that. It was a thrill. It was great. I got a lot out of it."

Malloy's retirement means she's abandoning her previous goal of boxing in the Olympics. But she continues to pursue the

possibility of making a movie about her fight to get into the ring.

James Ferguson, Malloy's former trainer and manager, said he was not surprised by Malloy's decision.

"She told me she quit back in January," Ferguson said. "She said making a movie and trying to box would take up too much

time. I trained her to become the first woman boxer to compete in the Olympics, not just to make a damn movie."

With the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union, Malloy took on the U.S. Amateur Boxing Association – and won. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein of Seattle granted a preliminary injunction in the ACLU lawsuit, ruling that a U.S.

Amateur Boxing Inc. bylaw barring female boxers violated Washington state anti-discrimination laws.

Then on Oct. 30, 1993, Malloy beat 21-year-old Heather Poyner of Ferndale in the first sanctioned amateur boxing match

between two women in the United States.

A crowd of about 1,200 turned out at the Edmonds Community College gymnasium. Malloy entered the ring wrapped in an American

flag.

The bout consisted of three 2-minute rounds. Malloy hit Poyner so often in the second round that the referee signaled a

standing eight-count.

Did Malloy's decision to retire disappoint the ACLU?

"Oh, gosh, no, I'm not disappointed Dallas isn't going to fight again," ACLU lawyer Suzanne Thomas, of Seattle, said. "To me,

Dallas is a champ in every way you can look at it. She helped bring gender discrimination to the national forefront. I'm

nothing but delighted with her."

At the time — Malloy was 16 — she said that her future was in boxing. Malloy trained for 12 months for her fight. She trained

two months after.

"I thought I'd fight again," she said. "But after that I kind of lost interest. There was so much buildup to the fight. I

said, ‘What more can I do?'"

Later, Malloy decided to give up the ring. She didn't have a good reason but she decided she didn't need one, either. "There's no reason really," she said. "It's like people want to hear some big explanation. Well, the real truth is there's no

reason. It's just that that time is over."

Malloy dropped out of Sehome High School after her sophomore year. She's now working and taking some classes at Whatcom

Community College.

"You know, it's really weird," Malloy said. "I was thinking about the fight the other day when I went back to the gym to get

my stuff. I was thinking like, ‘It's not real.' It's kind of hard to believe. I just can't believe it."

After the Poyner bout, she said she wanted to continue her career and some day box in the Olympic Games. But there's no

women's boxing at the Olympics. In order for women boxers to fight in the Olympics, more battles have to be fought on the

international level.

But some day women will fight for medals at the Olympic Games just like men boxers, Thomas said.

"I think we've gotten 50 to 60 calls from young women who are interested in picking up were Dallas left off," Thomas said.

"What Dallas did was open the door and people's eyes to the discrimination that still continues."