After years of waiting and watching, Mia “Killer Bee” Ellis will have to wait a little longer to face her first opponent.
Ellis, dressed in her blue, tasseled boxing uniform, had no one to fight on Saturday night. Her opponent, Michelle Jacobs of Raleigh, N.C., backed out an hour before the fight, giving Mia the East Coast Championship belt via forfeit.
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When asked how it felt to be champion Mia replied: “Good.”
But it wasn?t how the 8-year-old wanted to win her first fight.
Kenny Ellis, Mia?s dad, said Jacob?s coach called him at Upton Boxing Gym, where the fight was scheduled to take place to let him know he “had a situation.”
Jacobs? mother had viewed videos of Mia shadow boxing on YouTube, a Web site, and felt her child couldn?t handle Mia?s speed, Kenny Ellis said.
Ellis said Jacob?s mom “didn?t want her daughter to come up here and get embarrassed.”
“I?ve seenit happen in other fights but not to my baby,” Kenny Ellis said. “It?s out of my hands at this point.”
Mia still got a chance to enter the ring and receive her belt. The announcer called over the public address system: “I?m looking for the girl of the night ? her name is Killer Bee.”
The second-grader at Mount Royal Elementary basked in the opportunity to take the ring, bouncing and throwing punches before hoisting her belt above her head. Holding it to her chest to pose for pictures, the belt engulfed her small, 4-foot-4, 65-pound frame.
Mia wasn?t the only one disappointed by the forfeit.
“People were counting down the years, looking forward to seeing this [Mia?s debut],” Kenny Ellis said.
Anticipation had built up among the 250 spectators who had gathered to watch a night of fights. The announcer at the Upton Boxing Center made jokes before the other bouts began.
“I?m not wearing sunglasses because it?s sunny in here,” he said. “Mia gave me two black eyes and I?m not ashamed.”
Her father was almost as disappointed as Mia.
“I wanted to see her fight,” Kenny Ellis said. “I?d rather see her get it [the championship] by competing. But the less punches you have to throw the better.”
Kenny Ellis said he hopes Mia will get a chance to face Jacobs in August during the 2008 Ringside World Championships in Kansas City, Mo.
Mia?s debut could come sooner. Kenny Ellis said he is trying to schedule a fight in July for his daughter.
Calvin Ford, the head coach at Upton, said he sees this situation a lot with his fighters, who have opponents cancel after seeing them fight on a Web site.
“It happens so much in amateur boxing,” Ford said. “She will train harder because she is anxious for her first bout. She has been training months, years to turn 8 years old and get it on.”
