Clampitt vs. Reyes

Jaime Clampitt vs. Miranda Reyes

Ballys Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort, Lincoln, USA – 24 June 2022

It’s extremely rare for a 20-year-old boxer to defeat a Hall of Fame inductee like Houston lightweight Miranda Reyes (6-1-1, 3 KOs) did this past June 24th against Jaime “Hurricane” Clampitt (23-6-2, 7 KOs), a Class of 2020 International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame (IWBHOF) inductee.

Clampitt, 46, is a 4-time World Champion who relocated to Rhode Island from Canada, where she was a National Champion, at the beginning of her professional boxing career. Last year, she came out of a 9-year retirement, winning her first two comeback fights prior to fighting Reyes at Bally’s Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

“I accepted the fight right away when it was offered,” Reyes explained, “but a lot of people kept telling me to get out of the fight. I’m not that type of person, though. I go out of my comfort zone to do new things. People kept saying I was only a B side fighter, but I knew what I was capable of doing. I did go into the fight thinking I may lose because, in my mind, you lose in this sport. I’m not afraid of losing but if I’m going to lose, I’m leaving it all in the ring, learning from the experience.”

Not only did Reyes upset a Hall of Famer, but she did also so in Clampitt’s backyard, taking an impressive 8-round unanimous decision (79-73, 78-74, 78-74). Equally remarkable is that Reyes was coming off a loss to 1-4-1 Jaica Pavilus.

“I’m really proud of myself,” Reyes said. “She’s a Hall of Famer who I really look up to. Someday I hope to be in her position. It think it’s really cool what she’s done in boxing for so long. I fought in her backyard with everybody supporting her. It was like me against all of Rhode Island. I was really confident because of all the hard work I had put in. I was supposed to fight April 30th (that fell through), so I was in camp for 3 months for this fight, pushing myself hard because I was fighting Jaime in my first 8-round fight. I didn’t put in the same effort when I lost to Jaica. I trained 9 to 3 every day for Jaime.”

Reyes is the lone female in the Fighter Locker stable, which is owned and operated by manager Ryan Roach.

“I am extremely proud of Miranda,” Roach commented. “She came up here out of her comfort zone and fought her way to a major win. That’s what makes champions. She is getting uncomfortable. I knew this was the right fight at the right time. She had a great camp with Marlen Esparza. Miranda was a completely different fighter from her last fight. We will enjoy this victory for now and decide what is best for her, but all the boxing doors are open as of now!”

“Ryan has moved me much more than I had been, arranging fights and even paying for some of them,” Reyes noted. “He has really helped my career. What I really like about Ryan is he believes in me. Before the fight, he told me I would beat Jaime.”

Reyes made a loud statement and, hopefully, it’ll start paying off soon in terms of higher profile, more lucrative fights.

“A lot of people have started recognizing me since my last fight,” Reyes concluded. “Before, I think a lot were sleeping on me. I still have a long way to go, but I’m not pushing things. I’m taking it one fight at a time. My goal is to get in the ring against big-time fighters. Again, I’m going to take it one fight at time right now. I don’t pay too much attention to goals, but I want to keep progressing, take my time, fight the best and see what happens.”

Miranda Reyes may have just pulled off the 2022 Upset of the Year in women’s professional boxing!

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Jaime Clampitt vs. Miranda Reyes

Ballys Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort, Lincoln, USA – 24 June 2022

When she made her boxing debut 22 years ago at the age of 23, Jaime Clampitt never envisioned she’d still be fighting in her mid 40s, yet here we are, just weeks shy of her 46th birthday preparing for her 32nd pro bout.

And there’s still no end in sight.

Clampitt, the highly-decorated Saskatchewan native, four-time world champion, and International Women’s Boxing Hall of Famer returns Friday, June 24 at Ballys Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort in the main event of Summer Splash, promoted by CES Boxing.

“The Hurricane” faces Texan Miranda “El Alacrana” Reyes in an eight-round lightweight bout, which, Clampitt says, is just another step in the right direction as she continues her comeback following an eight-year absence between 2013 and 2021.

Having watched the recent surge in exposure for women’s boxing – punctuated by the Amanda Serrano-Katie Taylor lightweight world championship bout in May that not only sold out Madison Square Garden, but also drew an unprecedented audience of 1.5 million watching globally on DAZN, setting a new women’s boxing viewership record – Clampitt is looking to cash on her two decades of experience in the game.

The timing couldn’t be better. As Clampitt reflects on the 15-year anniversary of her groundbreaking win over female boxing icon Mia St. John in 2007, she’s cognizant of the six- and seven-figure purses promoters are now dishing out for female fighters, which hasn’t always been the case in the battle for equal pay in professional boxing.

“Even when I was at the top of my game, females weren’t getting paid close to what they deserve,” said Clampitt, who now lives in Warwick, RI, where she co-owns co-owner of On the Ropes Boxing and Fitness.

“That is one of the reasons I’m coming back. The Serrano-Taylor fight was incredible, and I think I deserve that. I’ve been around the sport a while. I’m a pioneer in boxing. The pay for females is a lot better now, and I think you will see more females coming out of retirement for that reason.”

Tickets for Summer Splash are available at CESFights.com. In addition to the Clampitt-Reyes bout, the card features the Ballys debut of unbeaten super middleweight and 6-foot-2 southpaw Francis Hogan of Weymouth, MA; and the long-awaited return of hard-hitting Sicilian heavyweight Juiseppe Cusumano.

Clampitt, per usual, continues to generate industry buzz following her February victory over Kim Wabik, her first win since 2013. While athletes competing into their mid-40s isn’t as earth-shattering as it might’ve been 20 years ago (see Tom Brady, for example), Clampitt’s comeback seemingly came out of nowhere. She had been retired for nearly a decade, launched her own business, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020 before the desire to compete lured her back into the ring.

Conditioning was never an issue. As the owner of a boxing gym who teaches classes on a regular basis, Clampitt is always in shape, plus she switched to a vegan diet 10 years ago, which helped her deal with muscle inflammation and recovery. The only question was whether she could still compete at the level she had grown accustomed to during her Hall of Fame career. In her first fight in nearly a decade, she faced a tall order against fellow Canadian and 39-fight vet Olivia Gerula on June 19 in Rhode Island, fighting to a six-round draw.

When asked if there’s a way to tell midway through a fight that it’s perhaps time to hang up the gloves for good, Clampitt said, “Honestly, I don’t know – it hasn’t happened yet.”

“The first time I went back out there last summer, I was like, ‘Can I still do this?’ Having that kind of layoff, I didn’t know what to expect,” she continued. “A fighter can get old at any time. And I was fighting someone pretty tough for my first fight back. All things considered, I was pretty happy with it.

“As long as I wake up each day feeling the way I do, I’ll keep going.”

Clampitt is living proof dreams can come true at any age. She recalls turning pro in 2000 and telling her coach she one day wanted to box St. John, who at the time was climbing the ranks under the guidance of Top Rank Boxing (she was 14-0 when Clampitt made her debut) and receiving additional press outside the ring from her pictorial in Playboy magazine.

“He said to me, ‘That will likely never happen,’” Clampitt recalled.

Analysts were critical of St. John’s résumé and often balked at the idea she could compete with top-level talent. In 2002, St. John fought Christy Martin, one of the sport’s most accomplished champions, and went toe-to-toe with the “Coalminer’s Daughter” despite many predicting she wouldn’t make it past the first few rounds. Five years later, Clampitt earned her dream match with St. John at the Convention Center in Providence and won convincingly by unanimous decision to capture the IWBF world lightweight title. In 2012, St. John beat Martin in a rematch at 154 pounds to capture the WBC world super welterweight title, ending Martin’s career after 59 bouts. St. John eventually retired in 2016, winning 49 of her 64 bouts over the span of 19 years.

“When I finally got the opportunity to fight her thanks to [promoter] Jimmy Burchfield and CES, it was such a huge moment for me,” Clampitt said. “I really wanted to fight someone with a big name in the sport.

“A lot of people in the beginning had a lot of negative things to say about Mia, but she fought all the best fighters and deserves a lot of credit. People eventually started to see that. By the time I fought her, she had [52] fights under her belt.

“Jimmy has always supported female boxing,” Clampitt continued. “He had no problem booking me as the main event multiple times, and I was always grateful for that.”

Years later, nothing’s changed. Clampitt is once again headlining a CES event under Burchfield’s guidance. The only difference is now she’s a bit older and a lot wiser, living out a dream even she didn’t think would be possible at this stage in her career.

“Athletes in general are just in a different place now,” she said. “We’re learning more, we’re more educated, and we train differently. For me, to prove I can do this and, hopefully, inspire others to continue with their goals, is enough to keep me going.”

Full fight details for Summer Splash are available online. For more information, follow CES Boxing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @CESBOXING.

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