S8 | SPORTS OTHE GLOBE AND MAIL | SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,2020
Y
vette Raposo believes box-
ing is the perfect blend of
beauty and brutality.
“The beauty we see, for those
of us in boxing, is its art form – the
strategy, the dancing, the foot-
work, the exchange between two
bodies, the reaction, because for
every action there’s a reaction,”
said Raposo, who is a vocal advo-
cate for the benefits of boxing as a
lifestyle.
The boxing ring has been Ra-
poso’s virtual home for the past
22 years. And it’s now the plat-
form for a varied career she’s chi-
selled out as a female pioneer in
the sport. The former boxer-turn-
ed-trainer is now also Canada’s
only female ring announcer, a
role once reserved for rumbling-
voiced men. She’ll be on the mic
Saturday for a United Boxing Pro-
motions pro event in Brampton,
Ont.
“I’ll be the opening ring an-
nouncer which is amazing, be-
cause it’s giving me the platform,
it’s giving me the exposure,” Ra-
poso said.
The 43-year-old Raposo discov-
ered boxing when she was work-
ing as a personal trainer. Compet-
itive opportunities were limited
back then – women’s boxing
wasn’t added to the Olympic pro-
gram until 2012. She turned to
training and started a business
teaching boxing for fitness.
About five years ago, Raposo
ran into her former coach Everton
McEwan, who’s also a promoter,
and he asked her to be his ring
announcer for a coming event.
Combat sports are unique in
that announcers are sometimes
bigger stars than the athletes. Mi-
chael Buffer’s famous catch-
phrase, “Let’s get ready to rum-
ble!” has transcended the sport.
The ring is their stage.
“But I had no theatre training,
no stage training, no background.
What I did have going for me is
that I felt comfortable in the
ring,” Raposo said. “Otherwise I
was incredibly nervous, probably
even more so than I was when I
fought back in the day.”She signed up for improv class-
es, storytelling courses and voice
lessons, and learned to develop
her own style.
And in a sport where female
role models are few and far be-
tween, she likes David Diamante,
who’s famous for his long drea-
dlocks and repetition of sur-
names. She calls Montreal’s
Pierre Bernier a mentor and “in-
credible source for me to tap in-
to.” And American Jeremiah Gal-
legos “is doing amazing work on
the circuit.”
Amy Hayes, who started as a
“ring card girl,” is now the most
notable woman in the business.
Known as “Lady of the Ring,”Hayes was recently inducted into
the National Boxing Hall of Fame
in the United States.
“If you Google, there are some
women doing some amateur
shows,” said Raposo, whose
mother, Fernanda, a fashion de-
signer, helps design her outfits.
“But I’m always looking, and I’ve
asked my network if anybody
knows of any other women doing
this – nope.”
Raposo is also thrilled to be an-
nouncing Fight Club Social on
April 23, featuring Toronto’s first
all-female boxing card.
But Raposo’s love for the sport
stretches beyond the competitive
ring. Sitting ringside at the UnitedBoxing Club in west Toronto, the
well-muscled Mississauga native
listed off the benefits of boxing,
circling back to the beauty of the
sport.
“What’s beautiful to me is to
see somebody feel empowered, is
for somebody to break down
emotional barriers, mental
blocks, and when they can tap in-
to what’s inside of them,” Raposo
said. “I see on an everyday basis,
the alignment happening with
my clients where they come to
me for physical reasons, but they
leave with better alignment in
self.”
A good fighter, she said, is al-
ways fight-ready.
“So I step out of my front door
as if I’m stepping into a boxing
ring. Because life is like a boxing
match. And you never know who
your opponent is going to be.
Sometimes our worst opponent
is ourselves and the stories that
we tell ourselves. Boxing helps to
align that because when you’re
training in boxing, you’re focused
on that second, in that moment,
and it’s a very personal experi-
ence.”
Moving the body has proven
mental health benefits and box-
ing is no different. There’s an
amazing stress release that hap-
pens when the body connects
with the bag.
“And boxing as a sport might
turn people off because it looks
brutal, because it looks violent,”
she said. “But if you speak to any
boxer, or athletes who practises
boxing training, we are the most
calm, humble and confident peo-
ple you will meet.”
She likes to tell people: Think
like a boxer, live like a champ.THECANADIANPRESSAlifeinsidethesquaredcircle
Formerboxer,turned
trainer,breaksnew
groundasCanada’sonly
femaleringannouncer
LORIEWINGTORONTO
YvetteRaposohasbeenaroundboxingforthepast22years,firstusingitforfitnesstraining,theninstructing
others,andisnowonthemicrophoneatproevents.Rapososaysboxingcanhelpimprovepeople’sphysical
andmentalhealth.COLEBURSTON/THECANADIANPRESSPlayers on the U.S. women’s na-
tional team are seeking more
than US$66-million in damages
as part their gender discrimina-
tion suit against the U.S. Soccer
Federation (USSF), part of a slew
of court papers filed Thursday
night ahead of a scheduled May
trial.
Among the dozens of docu-
ments entered into the case re-
cord in U.S. District Court in Los
Angeles were the separate collec-
tive bargaining agreements of the
U.S. men’s and women’s teams.
They showed a disparity in bo-
nuses, but also highlighted the
different structures of the deals,
including guaranteed salaries for
the women and benefits the men
do not receive from the federa-
tion.
The estimate of damages, in-
cluding interest, was provided by
Finnie Bevin Cook, an economist
from Deiter Consulting Group,
which was retained by the suing
players.
As part of the preparation for a
May 5 trial in the class-action suit,
both sides revealed parts of pre-
trial depositions.
U.S. women’s star Megan Rapi-
noe, the reigning FIFA Player of
the Year, said during a Jan. 16 dep-
osition that Russell Sawyer, an
outside lawyer for the USSF,
stated during a bargaining ses-
sion in June, 2016, that “market
realities are such that the women
do not deserve to be paid equally
to the men.”
USSF president Carlos Cordeiro
was asked during a Jan. 29 deposi-
tion about a statement he made
when campaigning that “our fe-
male players have not been treat-
ed equally.”
“I felt then and I still feel to a
degree, that the lack of opportu-
nity for our female players was re-
ally what was at the root of some
of their issues,” Cordeiro said.
“The fact that the Women’s World
Cup generates a fraction of reve-
nue and a fraction of what the
men get paid is a reflection, frank-
ly, of lack of opportunity. ... Wom-
en’s soccer outside of the UnitedStates doesn’t have the same de-
gree of respect.”
Former USSF president Sunil
Gulati, speaking during a Dec. 17
deposition, was questioned about
the different competition the
women and men face.
“One of which is the level of theopponent; two is where is the
game played; three is how many
of those opponents you have to
play against to get to a certain lev-
el; four, which is really a combina-
tion of two of those, is how many
other teams in the world are play-
ing at any level that could giveyou a competitive match,” Gulati
said.
A U.S. man who was on the ros-
ter for all 16 qualifiers during the
failed effort to reach the 2018
World Cup earned US$179,375 in
payments from the U.S. Soccer
Federation.
An American woman received
US$52,500 for being on the roster
for the five World Cup qualifiers
last year plus US$147,500 for her
time at the World Cup, including a
US$37,500 roster bonus and
US$110,000 for winning the title
in France.
The USSF in its filing pointed
out it received US$9-million from
FIFA for the men reaching the sec-
ond round of the 2014 World Cup,
but US$2-million for the women
winning in 2015 and US$4-million
for their victory in 2019.
There is parity is per diems: the
women get US$62.50 daily while
in the United States and US$75 in-
ternationally, the same as the
men received under terms of their
expired deal that covered 2015-18.THEASSOCIATEDPRESSAmericanwomensoccerplayerssuingformorethanUS$66M
RONALDBLUM
MeganRapinoeoftheUnitedStateswarmsupbeforeagameagainst
HaitiinHoustonlastmonth.U.S.women’snationalteamplayershave
filedasuitagainsttheU.S.SoccerFederation.BOBLEVEY/GETTYIMAGESFRANCE
Paris Saint-Germain hopes a test-
ing week ends with a convincing
home win against mid-table Bor-
deaux on Sunday night.
Neymar was unhappy after
Tuesday’s loss at Borussia Dort-
mund in the Champions League,
taking a swipe at the club for
over-protecting him. The star,
who cost €222-million (US$240-
million), says they should have
let him play earlier rather than
making him sit out four games as
he recovered from a rib injury.
PSG president Nasser al-Khe-
laifi was charged by Swiss federal
prosecutors on Thursday in con-
nection with a wider bribery in-
vestigation linked to FIFA and
World Cup television rights. He
maintains the charges have no
“basis whatsoever, either in fact
or law.”
PSG is 10 points clear of sec-
ond-place Marseille, which is
proving consistent under coach
André Villas-Boas in his first sea-
son with the 1993 European
champion.
Second place means automatic
entry into the Champions League
next season. Marseille, which
plays host to Nantes on Saturday,
leads third-place Rennes by nine
points with 13 matches remain-
ing.
Rennes has faltered recently
and needs to get back to winning
ways on Sunday at home to
Nimes, which is in good form af-
ter clambering out of the relega-
tion zone.
ENGLANDAfter spending almost all season
in the Premier League’s Cham-
pions League qualification spots,
Chelsea could drop out of them
completely this weekend.
Tottenham would overtake
Chelsea and move into fourth
place with a win at Stamford
Bridge in a London derby on Sat-
urday.
As a result of Manchester City
receiving a two-year ban from Eu-
ropean competitions by UEFA for
breaching financial regulations,
the team finishing fifth is now set
to qualify for the Champions
League, unless City wins an ex-
pected appeal at the Court of Ar-
bitration for Sport.
Yet Chelsea would even drop
out of the top five with a loss to
Tottenham if sixth-place Shef-
field United wins at home to
Brighton.
Chelsea has only collected 15
points from its past 14 games.
In another standout match in
the 27th round, second-place
Manchester City visits third-place
Leicester.
Liverpool, which holds a 22-
point lead and requires a maxi-
mum of five more wins to clinch
its first English league title in 30
years, is at home to West Ham on
Monday.GERMANYAfter their Champions League
wins in midweek, Dortmund and
Leipzig have to keep up the pace
in the Bundesliga title race.
Werder Bremen is the next
team in Dortmund forward Erling
Haaland’s sights after his two
goals gave Dortmund a victory
over Paris Saint-Germain on Tues-
day.
Haaland has 11 goals in seven
games for Dortmund, which is
third. Werder has lost its past four
league games and nothing about
its 3-0 capitulation to Leipzig last
week suggests the Bremen club
can withstand Dortmund’s at-
tacking power.
Leipzig is one point off Bayern
at the top of the table. Striker Ti-
mo Werner ended a five-game
scoreless streak with a penalty
that secured a 1-0 win over Tot-
tenham.
It’s a good time for Leipzig to
play Schalke on Saturday, too –
the Royal Blues may be sixth in
the table, but they’ve scored just
one goal in four league games.
Bayern plays host to last-place
Paderborn on Friday. Fourth-
place Borussia Mnchengladbach
aims for a ninth straight home-
league win against Hoffenheim
on Saturday.ITALYJuventus and Napoli warm up at
Spal and Brescia, respectively,
ahead of Champions League’s
last-16 games next week.
After a major drop in form that
cost Carlo Ancelotti his job, Na-
poli has turned things around un-
der Gennaro Gattuso and won
five of its past six matches in all
competitions.
Still only in ninth place, Napoli
needs to keep on winning to se-
cure a spot in Europe next season.
After visiting relegation-
threatened Brescia and Mario Ba-
lotelli on Friday, Napoli plays host
to Barcelona on Tuesday in a first-
leg match.
Juventus, which visits Lyon on
Wednesday, holds a one-point
lead over surprising Lazio in Serie
A entering its game at last-place
Spal on Saturday.
Lazio visits another team in
the drop zone, Genoa, on Sunday,
while third-place Inter Milan
plays host to Sampdoria.SPAINReal Madrid and Barcelona face
modest Spanish league rivals this
weekend before entering a key
phase of the season.
Madrid leads Barcelona by one
point atop the standings in Spain
before it visits Levante on Satur-
day. Barcelona also plays host to
Eibar on the same day.
The two La Liga powerhouses
will then start the knockout
rounds of the Champions league
before they square off against
each other the next weekend in a
“clasico” match.
Barcelona visits Napoli on Feb.
25 in the Champions League
round of 16, a day before Madrid
plays host to Pep Guardiola’s
Manchester City. Madrid then
plays host to Barcelona on March
1.
Also this weekend, third-place
Getafe plays host to fifth-place Se-
villa on Sunday, while fourth-
place Atletico Madrid plays at
home against sixth-place Villar-
real.THEASSOCIATEDPRESSWhattowatchinEuropeansoccerthisweekend