“Brown Sugar’s” sour taste of the Sweet Science

Story and photos by Chris Cozzone

Feeling underpaid and overused, Belinda “Brown Sugar” Laracuente has a sour taste in her mouth when it comes to the business side of the Sweet Science.

“Sometimes, I feel like quitting,” says Laracuente, ten-year veteran of the sport who has, since 1997, fought 46 times, against the biggest and best names in women’s boxing.

“But I love the sport so much. It’s in my blood. I might have given up on the business of boxing, but I haven’t given up fighting.”

Win, lose or draw, Laracuente is determined to continue fighting, never mind that, having won but a single fight in two-and-a-half years, she has turned into a virtual opponent spanning five weight divisions.

“It bothers me a lot,” says the Puerto Rican-born, New York fighter. “But I don’t have a promoter or manager, so I know I’m never going to get the right fights. I continue doing this because I love to fight—and I will fight anyone. I’ll fight the best out there, mismatch on paper, or not.”

Having never been stopped, Laracuente is a “live” opponent—a durable one promoters can count on to accept a bout against anyone, regardless of disadvantages that may be stacked against her.

“They say my record is bad, but what can you do?” muses Laracuente. “What bothers me worse than that, are the decisions you should have gotten, because they gave it to the hometown girl.”

It may be cliché, but Laracuente has uttered “I wuz robbed” on more than one occasion.

In her last outing, Laracuente lost a split verdict in Africa against the hometown girl, Esther Phiri.

“What the hell was that about?” vents Laracuente. “What fight were they watching? It was crazy.

In 2006, Laracuente lost back-to-back title fights in France to undefeated Myriam Lamare.

“That, at least, should’ve been a draw.”

Then there was her fight with Melissa Fiorentino:

“She beat me the first time, but the second one? Gosh, she was bleeding everywhere. She couldn’t touch me in that fight.

“No, I’ve given up on the judges, on the people running the sport,” says Laracuente. “Boxing is like a show. They pay the judges and referees—everyone but the fighters.”

Regardless of her discontent, and the obstacles she has faced, from controversial decisions to differences in size and weight, there are two reasons Laracuente refuses to quit:

“I’m no quitter, and I love to fight. I’ll fight anybody.”

Case in point, is Laracuente’s next fight. On Feb. 7, at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula, Calif., promoted by Roy Englebrecht Productions and televised on FOX Sports one night later, Laracuente, with a record of 23-19-3, 9 KOs, will fight the main event title bout against Albuquerque’s Holly Holm.

Holm, 20-1-2, 6 KOs, undefeated since a fluke injury loss in 2004, has rolled through all opposition, from 140 to 154, unifying all four major belts at welterweight and picking up several others, between three divisions. She was also Ring magazine’s Female Fighter of the Year in 2006.

Holm will be defending her IFBA title on Thursday night—at welterweight.

For Laracuente, who scales the ladder of weight loss and gain, between featherweight and super lightweight, it will be the heaviest fight of her career. One year ago, Laracuente stepped on the scales at 128. In 2004, she was as low as 124. Yet, at Wednesday’s weigh-in, she will, somehow, weigh in at 147 against Holm.

Laracuente says she is not surprised that the California State Athletic Commission, known, lately, for their necessarily stringent suspensions from failed drug tests, is approving the bout.

“There are no good opponents in women’s boxing,” says Laracuente. “So, when they called me to take the fight, I guess, they had no choice. They said I have a bad record. I said, ‘Alright, I’ll take it.’ I’m used to it.”

Unlike many of her fights, taken on a week, a few days, or 24 hours notice, the offer to fight Holm gave her a record month-and-a-half months to prepare . . . or to gain weight.

“They can call this a mismatch,” says Laracuente. “But I see my experience coming into play. I saw one of her fights. I know she’s tall and left-handed, and that she runs a lot. But I’ll just do a lot of rushing. I’ll just do what I always do, and that’s to give a good fight.

“I know she’ll be bigger. And stronger. I know I’ll feel it when she lands, but I’m prepared for a fight.”

Even more surprising to Laracuente than the weight and size difference in this fight, will be the pay scale:

“I don’t even know what title this is for, but even if I win it, I’m not going to get any more money. I’ll still be broke Belinda. But it does say a lot about women’s boxing, what I’m getting paid. This is a TV fight—the main event on FOX Sports. But all I’m getting is $4,500. That says it all.

“Paulie Malignaggi got a million bucks to be an opponent for Miguel Cotto. But in women’s boxing, are we even seeing $50 thousand or $10 thousand? Not even five.

“You think I can live on that? Most women won’t talk about their money, but I got no problem telling it like it is. They treat us like prostitutes.”

The pay scale in women’s boxing is just one of several problems Laracuente sees for a sport that has, in her ten years’ involvement, come along away physically, but very little, in regard to respect and public acceptance.

“We used to brawl, but now we’re fighting like guys,” says Laracuente. “Now we pick our shots, now we box. Everyone wants to see women fight—you don’t know how often I hear, ‘That bitch could fight!’ The girls put on a better show than the guys.

“But it has a long way to go. They treat us like a piece of meat. Most promoters, they say, ‘Ah, let’s throw in a girl fight,’ when most of them don’t even like women’s boxing. And then they pick the prissy women—the ones who come with lipstick.

“Holly—she’s prissy, too, but she comes and fights. She’s a fighter. But those like Mia St. John? There are too many like her.”

Worse than the glamour aspects of women’s boxing, says Laracuente, is the pay and lack of respect:

“They pay us pennies to fight, and we get no respect.”

When she isn’t preparing for a fight, Laracuente spends her time training other fighters in Brooklyn.

“I train ten women, from Ann Marie [Saccurato] and Melissa Hernandez, to upcoming fighters, both pro and amateur. It’s my goal to be a top trainer for women’s boxing, and that’s part of what keeps me fighting.

“I don’t want them to see a quitter. I want to be a mentor for them. I don’t want them to go through what I go through.”

On the same card next week, also televised, Laracuente’s pupil, Melissa Hernandez, 7-1-1, 2 KOs, will take on Chevelle Hallback, 26-5-1, 11 KOs, for the vacant IFBA lightweight belt.

“Melissa will be going on right before me, which will be hard,” says Laracuente. “Maybe as hard as the fight, we’ll see.

“I have a little hope for next week, though. This isn’t going to be fought in Albuquerque where Holly’s from, so maybe the judges will be, at least, a little neutral. Everyone’s going for Holly, everyone knows Belinda is the foe, but it gives me just a little hope.

“And that’s enough, that’s very good, for me.”