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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 26, 2002
Professional boxer Brenda Vickers-Dudney, 36, of Tampa trains daily with her husband, Jeff Dudney. A left-hander, she lost her first world title bout in November 2000 in a split decision. Now 4-4 for her career, she is hoping for another shot. She fights in the 125-pound (featherweight) class.
Training is hard. We're not playing around here.
But the training's well worth it. You're going to need it when you get in the ring. You need a hard body when you get hit. You always have an ache, you always have a pain, but it's well worth it. When I train I'm in a fight. There's an opponent in front of me. I'm putting myself in that fight. You think about that belt, that recognition.
When people hear you're a fighter they treat you different. You get respect, which I really appreciate. I can be a woman, be a married woman, be a mother and be a fighter. After a fight I put my pink skirt and my high heels on, I do my hair and go out with my husband. I'm proud to be a woman and I love my man . . . and he's da man.
At my fights I try to wear cute little outfits. Flashy, shiny, a little bow in my hair. It's not like two guys fighting. About an hour before the fight I'll put on my outfit, put on some eyeliner. I can only use eyeliner because I'm going to have my face greased. Maybe just a little lipstick. I give the crowd a little cutesy-cutesy. You get the whistles, the cat calls. I can do all that. Then win the fight.
Winning is great. You get to a peak in a fight when you know you've won. It's a great feeling; you know your opponent and you know you're going to beat them. You can know it in the third round of a 10-round fight. It's hard to describe, especially if it's someone with a title or who has more fights than you.
Then there's fights where you lose something. You lose the will, and no matter how hard you try you can't get it back. It's in your heart to, you want to get it back, but you can't. You're concentrating more that you're losing than on the fight. If you have heart you just keep on going and hope you'll get a lucky punch that'll knock her out.
To be a fighter means to be a warrior. Being a warrior to me is someone who can stand up and take the challenge, won't back down. That's in life and in boxing. If there's a challenge you take the challenge, if there's a problem you take the problem, you don't give it to someone else. That's a warrior . . . and you do it with pride.
When you're hardest hit, don't you quit. That's a poem I have in my room. I saw it in a magazine maybe two months ago. My hardest hit was when I had my daughter (Taren Vickers, 16) and took care of her myself, and I didn't quit. Now I'm very proud of her. She's an honor roll student. I've instilled education in her. Getting your homework done. School, school and more school. That's what I've instilled in her. I didn't go to college; she will.
First I want to win a few belts, be a part of this history. It's exciting to know one day people will look back and talk about me as one of the first female fighters. Right now it's all about the moment when you get that belt. There's always people who don't think you can do it, or won't do it. Then I can say I did it.
- My Dream is a feature in which people discuss their goals and aspirations. It appears Saturdays in Floridian.