WBAN’S MARCH 2003
FIGHTER OF THE MONTH
Amateur Boxer Naquana “Ziggy” Smalls, is one of many women in the sport that are the new wave of the future of this sport…..Smalls, 19 years old, with over 10 plus amateur fights, boxes in the 132 lbs. division. Small is currently ranked #1 with USA Boxing in that weight class. Naquana trains at the Wisconsin’s Peshtigo Boxing Club, with trainers Willy Price and father Clement Smalls. After some encouragement from her mother, Naquana started boxing in March, 2002, entering and winning her first bout three weeks after entering Willy Price’s gym. Five months later she competed in her first Pro-Am at Israel Acosta’s UCC gym in Milwaukee, WI. and won. The next week, her first National Women’s boxing title at Scranton, PA.
Three weeks later Naquana made it to the semi-finals of the Women’s National Golden Gloves Championship in Chicago, IL where a neck injury suffered in the previous bout prevented her from performing well enough to advance to the finals. She will represent the USA in the 2002 Women’s Worlds Boxing Championship in Antalya, Turkey. An excellent student on the art of boxing and is learning at an exponential rate which would explain her quick and early success. Naquana devotes two hours in the morning training with her father and two hours in the afternoon at the boxing club, five days a week. Someday Naquana aspires to become a choreographer as she makes her mark in the women’s amateur and pro boxing arena.
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