Marine captain makes her professional boxing debut

First she turned the Marine Corps’ first feminine East Coast assault amphibian officer.

Now, Capt. Stephanie Simon has earned the title {of professional} boxer as effectively.

Simon had her first professional bout on Sept. 27 in Atlanta, in accordance a Marine Corps launch.

Her curiosity within the sport started on the U.S. Naval Academy, the place she was required to field and wrestle. Initially, she stated, she had no intention of being a boxer.

However one factor led to a different, and fairly quickly, she was preventing whereas energetic obligation, successful a Golden Gloves Nationwide Match for the II Marine Expeditionary Drive’s boxing staff.

After, as a reservist, she continued boxing and coaching for the Marine Corps.

Simon credit her boxing evolution to the grit she developed within the Corps, and in main items that weren’t used to having a lady in cost.

“The toughest a part of my Marine Corps profession can be adapting to an atmosphere the place folks round me didn’t look or suppose like me,” she stated in a Corps launch. “It was a really tough time, as a result of I used to be a minority and adjusting to a bunch of people who had been new to having a lady accountable for them. It was very tough.”

“We discuss having that psychological toughness, we discuss having that character, we discuss having that may to win, all these traits that we discovered within the Marine Corps,” she stated. “They go instantly into boxing.”

As she embarks on a brand new section of her profession, Simon stated she is proud to signify the Corps within the boxing ring.

“I’m excited to share my story and actually convey this aspect of management into the boxing neighborhood,” she stated. “I imagine that we’re in want of it, and I wish to be a superb instance for folks all around the world.”