 No cigar for Kelsey Jeffries
Text and photo by Chris Cozzone
“When I’m done, Buddy will come to me with a cigar,” says Kelsey Jeffries of her trainer for the past four years, Buddy McGirt.
“There’ll be one for me, one for him. He won’t say it, but I know what it’ll mean—that it’s over.”
It hasn’t happened yet, “it” being the career of 31-year-old Jeffries.
“There’s too much left to do.”
Tomorrow night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on a three-title, all-women’s card presented by FOX Sports on The Best Damn Sports Show Period, the seasoned warrior from Gilroy, Calif., 36-9-1 (3 KOs), will defend her IFBA featherweight belt against fellow Californian, undefeated Rhonda “The Natural Luna, 12-0-1 (1 KO), of Rowland Heights.
“I feel too good to quit now,” says the 46-fight veteran who’s been fighting since 1999. With a record that looks like one belonging to a top male fighter, a who’s who list, A through Z, of the top female fighters from bantam to lightweight, Jeffries, a.k.a. “The Road Warrior,” has never ducked a fighter.
“I fought the best in their hometowns,” she says. “I had the best and the worst of fights. I’ve done it all and I have room for more.”
Fighting from one coast to the other, from Poland to Mexico to Germany, for every flavor of the world championship, 118 to 132, Jeffries is a no-brainer for the Women’s Boxing Hall-of-Fame, should one ever be assembled.
“She fights with balls,” says Jeffries’ manager, Bruce Anderson, who’s been with her for over three years now.
“There’s no other way to put it. What else you gonna say about her? She’s fought everyone and at any weight—big broads overseas and the toughest ones here. She’s had to weigh in with combat boots and quarters in her pockets to make weight—there’s nuthin’ she hasn’t done.
“Balls is what she’s got. Huevos.”
“Ovaries, more like,” corrects Jeffries. “But I am a big-hearted fighter. Something gave me so much heart in my blood.”
Jeffries doesn’t like to talk about it—she’s deathly afraid to be compared to other fighters who’ve built up reputations on the merit of bloodline rather than accomplishments in the ring—but big hearts run in the family. Jeffries is a relative of the great James Jeffries, former Heavyweight Champion of the World who retired undefeated in 1905, then came back to challenge Jack Johnson for his only loss five years later.
“I hate to talk about it,” says Jeffries. “I want to stand on my own two feet.”
Standing on her own two feet is what Jeffries has done since 1999, earning a rep and nickname as “The Road Warrior.”
“I never had the comfort of becoming a hometown fighter,” says Jeffries, without regret. “I never had the props or the promoter, but that’s what’s given me confidence.”
Jeffries attributes her success to trainer Buddy McGirt, who, four years ago, after Jeffries suffered a string of losses, helped turn her career around.
“I’m a lot farther along, way beyond what I’d thought I’d be at this point,” says Jeffries.
“I’ll fight anybody, I don’t care.”
Jeffries, optimally a bantamweight, routinely gives up weight for fights. Tomorrow night, she’ll, once again, be the smaller fighter in the ring against Luna—but she’ll also be the much more experienced.
“Rhonda is taking a big step, but it says a lot about her. She’s the bigger girl in the ring, but if she thinks she can get in there with me, it’s going be a good fight.”
The fight with Luna will be the fourth defense of the title she’s held since 2002, making her the longest-running champion in the sport.
“I don’t feel the effects of fighting yet,” says Jeffries. “I feel great and I’ll keep on fighting with the hunger I still feel in my heart—the hunger I can’t get rid of.
“Well, until Buddy offers me a cigar.”
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