Lucia Rijker

European WIBF Boxing Champion

"The Most Dangerous Woman in the World"

Before being taken seriously as a female boxer, Rijker was already a four time World Champion Kickboxer whose record was 36-0,including 25 first round knockouts. If you met her on the street, you might think she was a model or an actress, who was also a serious hard body, but you would hardly guess that she was an undefeated boxer, which she is.

Rijker was born in Amsterdam, Holland and by the age of 6, was studying judo. A natural athlete, she was on the Dutch National Softball Team and was the Netherlands Junior Fencing Champion at age 13. Next, she began kickboxing, and at 15, she made her fighting debut with a first round KO. Subsequently, she defeated the American champion, Lily Rodriguez, turned pro and beat the reigning PKA (Professional Karate Association) champion, Cheryl Wheeler, amongst others, and left kickboxing to become a professional boxer.

Her speed and power is absolutely amazing and can't help but remind one of the great Ali. She too, "floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee," as she so aptly demonstrated while defeating WIBF (Women's International Boxing Commissions) European champ Irma Verhoef with a fourth round TKO to capture the title. On November 20,1997, she defeated Germany's Jeanette Witte with a third round TKO to become the WIBF super lightweight champion. In 1998, Rijker TKO'd Marcela Acuna to become the IBO (International Boxing Organization) women's junior welterweight champion.

Exactly what Rijker's doing now, I'm not sure. I can find no evidence of recent fights. She fought in Vegas in August of '99 and then disappeared from view until sometime in 2000 when she got into a public fist fight with fellow boxer Christy Martin. She caught my attention when she was the subject of a HBO special entitled "Shadow Boxers." Certainly, Lucia Rijker's a woman to be reckoned with.