Women Referees in boxing: Patricia Flores and Abigail Pérez

The third person singular in the ring is the Referee, who has such an important job in controlling the action, applying the rules and insuring the action flows. 

We talked with Patricia Flores and Abigail Pérez: two Mexican Referees who told us their story, their points of view about women’s boxing, and introduced us to their own world in this demanding and exacting profession.

Abigail, who is the first woman professional Referee in the history of boxing from Mexico City, agrees with Patricia, also a pioneer as a professional Referee in Mexico) in the fact that boxing means everything to them. Both feel this sport as a dedication in which a large family with numerous values is formed and that for them it is not just a job, but a passion that they have carried and held, since they were children. 

When asked what is the preparation that they have before a fight. Both watch videos prior to the fights, in order to know the boxers better and thus check their styles and be prepared for the fight.

Paty adds that she also reviews the videos after fights with the aim of seeing and discussing her performance with colleagues . “Reading and knowing the regulations is also very important”, Paty commented.

We ask them if they have faced obstacles and sexist comments throughout their careers. Comments, envy and shouts inside and outside the ring, which they managed to cope with and used as motivation plus inspiration to get ahead and stand out.

 As Referees, we must be very attentive that the boxers are in optimal condition to continue the fight; two lives are at stake and it is very important to prioritize their well-being.

 “Mainly we must take care that we have a clean fight. We need to avoid cuts by head butts to happen, and assess the condition of each boxer, because as the fight progresses they get hurt more, so we must take care of the stability of each one and reflexes; see what their answers are and determine at what point we should stop a fight. If it is a 4-round fight and in the third round we see that fighter is no longer going to win because there is no good answer, we have to stop them; we must have a lot of criteria; because even if someone is losing, but we see that he continues to respond, we should not stop him, since sometimes the one who is losing can do things well and win the fight, even by knockout.

When stopping the fight there are times when they obviously get angry in the corners as they think they can continue, but the first thing is health; I prefer that they leave angry, but in good condition and not on a stretcher, “explained Abigail Pérez.

Finally, we ask them for some advice for young women who are not sure about doing a job where men predominate.

Paty Flores mentioned: “I recommend that you never give up; we will all face difficult things on the road and bad comments, but if you want something in life, you must fight for what you want. Do not stop dreaming, as dreams are the last thing that die. Dreams are the most important thing in life.

 “I, for example, have a two-year-old baby at home and sometimes it’s hard to leave her when I have a fight, but we have to fight for what we want.”

Abigail pointed out: “each of us sets the limits with what are they going to say. What happens if it goes wrong? Never regret anything, if it doesn’t work out, nothing happens. We try again and you have to take risks and never regret it. People are going to talk whether you do it or not and it is worse to regret not doing something than to do it. Live it and seek to do things better and better.”