New York City’s Toughest Women Capture the National Spotlight

by Warren Rosenberg - MetroSports Magazine August 15, 2021

August 14, 2021, is the day that three women with roots in New York City captured the 2021 Golden Gloves National Boxing Championship in their respective weight divisions in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Two others took home Bronze medals. It is also the day that another New York City woman was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada.

After capturing wins in the New York Boxing Championship series, sponsored by USA Boxing Metro, and held at venues throughout the New York metropolitan region during the month of July, two women who prevailed in those contests and qualified for the Golden Gloves National Championship competed through preliminary bouts, the semi-finals and, ultimately, the Championship finals to come out as Gold Medal winning National Champions. They are Sabrina Slattery (Unattached, Brooklyn), fighting in the 106 lb weight class (left), and Trudy Li (Sweatbox, Brooklyn), fighting in the 141 lb weight class (below). Also battling her way to a Gold Medal National Championship was former New Yorker and Gleason’s Gym trained boxer, Kathreen Sterling, now fighting out of Florida’s Title Boxing and a member of the 2020 Olympic Women’s Boxing Team of Haiti. MetroSports Magazine had previously featured Sabrina and Kathreen, respectively, in our March-April 2019 and July-August 2020 issues.

Also coming home with medals were New York boxers Yana Tolmacheva (Underground Boxing, Brooklyn) and Lina Vezzani-Katano (South Speed Fitness, Manhattan), both of whom took home Bronze Medals after qualifying wins in the New York Boxing Championships. Shown below is a photo from the MetroSports coverage of the 2018 Ring Masters Champioship with Lina in her bout against Kathreen.

Separate from the August 14, 2021 Golden Gloves National Championship Finals, August 14, 2021 was also the day that Alicia “Slick” Ashley was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame. Alicia, who trains and coaches at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, holds six World Championship Titles, is a three time Guinness World Record holder, and has recently been conducting training sessions in China at the UFC Performance Training Institute, home of the Chinese Olympic Boxing Training Facility.

And…since we’re talking about New York’s tough women, let’s not forget Kathreen’s Title Boxing teammate, Olivia Blechschmidt, who also honed her boxing skills in New York and whom we’d previously covered in the USA Boxing Metro’s Ring Master Championships. Olivia was also a qualifier for, and competitor in the 2021 Golden Gloves National Championships and helped her Florida team to a second place finish.

Look for more detailed coverage in the upcoming issue of MetroSports Magazine.