Adams may not know Barbara Buttrick, but her historic feat was built on the foundations laid by this pioneer of women’s boxing, back in the sepia age.
If Adams, who became the first female to win a gold medal in Olympic boxing by beating Chinese great Ren Cancan on Thursday, has encountered suspicion on the path to glory, Buttrick was assailed with outright hostility from all sides.
“What a monstrous, degrading, disgusting idea!” wrote former BBC boxing commentator Peter Wilson in 1948, on learning of Buttrick’s “grotesque” ambitions.
“Would anyone like to go out with a girl sporting two lovely purplish black eyes? Would any sportsman, or sportswoman, relish the sight of tears, after a stiff punch on the nose, mingling with mascara?”
Now 82, Buttrick – bejewelled with little boxing-glove earrings and an International Boxing Hall of Fame ring – beams with understandable pride as she scans her scrapbook, at the torrent of weasel words that were slung her way. Victory for fellow Yorkie Adams might be considered ultimate revenge. Served cold, but better late than never.
