Cindy says she’s always had a reputation as a bit of a “badass”, and was one of the most “aggressive” players on her school’s basketball team. While studying at Michigan State she, on a lark, entered a “tough man” semi-pro women’s boxing match. She won her first fight and enjoyed it enough to be talked into training to become a professional. Currently she’s a graduate student at APU in Oita, but commutes to Fukuoka every weekend to train at the Sugar Ray Gym in Nagahama. She hopes to re-start her boxing career there. There are less than 200 female boxers in all of Japan, and most are much smaller than Cindy, so her first step will be to lose a few kilos so she can qualify as a lightweight. Feel like sparring a round? Sugar Ray Gym, Tel: 761-3096.
Hometown: Detroit, USA
Time in Japan: Less than a year
Identity: Boxer
Originally published in Fukuoka Now magazine (fn86, Feb. 2006)
