Lisa “Blondie” Pederson, 5’6″, born June 9, 1975, moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, 2 1/2 years ago to pursue her dream in boxing.
Lisa trained in Vegas for a year without any success in securing fights. Lisa then walked into the Absoloot Boxing gym, which was owned at the time to Johnny “Yahya” McClain, and it is where she met her present trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick told WBAN, “We got to talking about her goals and what it is she wanted out of boxing, and so I agreed to give her a tryout to see if she was willing to work as hard as she said she would.” Fitzpatrick added, “She hasn’t let me down since that day.”
Lisa trains as hard as any of the male boxers that Fitzpatrick trains, and that is what her trainer expects of her. Fitzpatrick said, “there’s no reason why she should be treated any differently.”
| Lisa made her pro debut on November 8, 2002, on the undercard of the Laila Ali – Valerie Mahfood card, that took place at the Stratosphere Hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada. She fought to a hard-fought draw against Crystal Hoy. WBAN was fortunate to be able to be ringside for Lisa’s pro debut. |
Lisa then went up to Tacoma, Washington, at the Emerald Queen Casino, and fought Carla Wilcox. Fitzgerald said, “Blondie dominated the pace and action for four rounds only to have the judges calling it a unanimous decision for Wilcox. Greg Haugen was in attendance that night and let his feelings be known just as loudly as the rest of the crowd about what everybody but the judges saw as a robbery.”
Lisa had two fights after the Wilcox fight and has won both fights by a unanimous decision.
Fitzgerald said, “She’s still training hard waiting for her next opportunity to fight but as of yet there have been no calls for her at 122lb. It seems the girls tend to fight between three and sometimes more weight divisions, which I’m not going to allow her to do. If her best weight to fight is 122 lb., a fight at 126 lb., is understandable but why fight any higher than that when she’ll be giving away so much advantage.”
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