Florida woman sets sights on Olympics
VIDEO - She wants to be one of three U-S women to head to London next year where, for the first time, women's boxing will be an Olympic event...
A Florida boxer has her eyes set on the Summer Olympic Games next year in London. “I should be competing for the United States. That’s the plan. USA team number one!” says 32 year old Ishika “Isis” Lay.
She wants to be one of three U-S women to head to London next year where, for the first time, women’s boxing will be an Olympic event.Lay is getting ready for an October tournament in Ohio.
If she wins in her 132 pound weight class, then she’ll go to the Olympic Box-offs in February. A win there will send her to the Games.
Lay trains up to three times a day at Headstrong Gym in Jacksonville Beach. She works the heavy bag, speed bag and her sparring partners are men.
Her strategy in the ring?
“I’m going to use my athleticism. I’m gonna keep on moving. I use my strength on top of that. I’ve competed in a heavier weight class and dominated there,” she says.
Lay’s trainer, Sonny Cummings, says Lay is one of the top female boxers he knows and says she has what it takes to make it to the Olympics. “This girl can fight guys. I seen her fight the Lopez boys. They are well known Olympic quality. I’ve seen her drop them right here in this gym,” says Cummings.
Lay almost never got the chance to box. In 2002 a motorcycle accident in Jacksonville left her in a wheelchair for seven months.
Her coach and chiropractor, Linda Banister, helped her rehabilitate. “She wasn’t going to be disabled by that accident. That wasn’t in her world of possibility. So she did what she needed to do,” says Banister.
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