- Karen Bill
Karen Bill (born
October 21 ,1967 inMechanicsburg, Pennsylvania ,United States ) is a multi-sports star who has participated in theOlympic Games ' trials. She had a career, from 1999 to 2002, as a female boxer.Early life
From Mechanicsburg, Bill moved to Fairess Hills, where she would engage on
little league baseball by 1977. She was the only girl in her league, as there were no girls baseball teams in the area.As a
teenage r, Bill became interested in music, and she joined a teenaged girls' band, as adrum mer. Her band was not very successful, however; soon enough, she was involved in sports again.In 1985, she won the
Pennsylvania statehigh school championship as aTrack and field er. That year also, she became the first female in Pennsylvania sports history to become involved in the state's high school javelin,shot put anddiscus tournaments, although she did not win at any of those three events.Bill went to
Penn State , where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in health policy and administration, while embracing another sport,rugby union , and helping her track and field team win two ECAC titles.Life in the
military Karen Bill joined the
United States Army in 1992, to improve her physical strength and learnphysical therapy . While in the Army, she began to playbasketball andsoftball . Bill won aracquetball tournament, and became reacquainted with discus, javelin and shot put, breaking military records in those sports. In 1995, she earned the "athlete of the year" award at the Ft. Still military base.Bill represented the U.S. Military at the World Military Games in
Rome, Italy in 1995, and she almost qualified for the 1996 Olympics, failing to qualify at the Olympic trials held in Atlanta.Bill received an honorary discharge from the Army in 1998, and went on to open a physical therapy business in
Lawton, Oklahoma .Physical therapist
Bill conducted her therapy business from her own home, near the Lawton Army base. She enjoyed taking care of elders and people with physical challenges. Bill found encouragement from such people as
cancer patients,stroke or accident survivors, and other patients.Women's boxing careerOn
May 7 ,1999 , she made her professionalboxing career debut, when she lost byknockout in round three toCarmen Dominguez Paris at Lawton. She was not supposed to fight that night; she had bought a ticket and gone to see the fight undercard as a fan, but the boxer that was due to fight Dominguez did not show up, and Bill offered to fight her instead. Next, she lost toKisha Snow , also by knockout but in four rounds, in a fight held at Tunica,Mississippi , onSeptember 2 .Fourteen days later, she obtained her first win, defeating Genevia Buckhalter by knockout in two back at home in Lawton.
Her last fight of 1999 came on
December 17 , losing to Suzette Taylor by knockout in three rounds atLouisiana .Next was the biggest fight in Bill's career. On
April 8 , she foughtLaila Ali atDetroit, Michigan . Bill almost defeated Ali, knocking her down in the second round. Ali recovered, however, and went on to defeat Bill by knockout in the fourth round.She then lost to Monica McGowan by a knockout in ten before going on to beat
Ingemar Johansson 's granddaughter, Maria, by knockout in round two onJuly 21 . This fight represented Bill's Las Vegas debut.After defeating Buckhalter again, Bill went on a four fight losing streak, which included two losses to Dakota Stone and one to Kathy Rivers.
She made her final bout on
September 8 , 2002, when she beat Cassandra Geigger by a decision in four at Lawton.Karen Bill retired with a record of four wins and nine losses, with two wins by knockout.
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