Orlando – By night one way, by day another. So is the life of Laura Ramsey.
When she’s not teaching middle school kids how to solve math problems, Ramsey spends her time training for upcoming boxing matches, the most important of which takes place on Nov. 7.
The fight will have the 46-year-old flying over to California with the hopes of defeating Martha “the Shadow” Salazar and becoming the World Boxing Council’s female heavyweight champion.
Participating in sports was the norm for Ramsey growing up. She delved into volleyball, basketball, softball and a slew of others, moving from one to the other with ease.
Ironically, boxing was one of the last sports Ramsey started practicing in, having only started in 1996. The realm of gloved hands and ring corners was foreign to her until she attended a party in Jacksonville, at which many attendees where watching a Mike Tyson fight.
“All of the people that were watching the fight, they were like, ‘We know someone that looks like a boxer, walks like a boxer, talks like a boxer, acts like a boxer,’ and they pointed to me,” Ramsey says. “I never looked back after that time.”
She’s even gained a boxing nickname along the way – Lady Ram. The original version came from power lifter James “Hollywood” Henderson nicknaming her The Ram, stemming from her last name and inspired by her strength. Wanting to express her femininity, Ramsey upgraded it to her current title.
The sport hasn’t come easy to her either, unlike her previous physical endeavors.
“All of the other sports, I didn’t have to practice,” Ramsey says. “With boxing, it’s almost like you can’t perfect it, no matter what. It’s just a matter of trying to just be better.”
Ramsey is a woman of determination. During an unintentional five-year hiatus, sparked by health issues and not being able to land a fight, she never thought about leaving the game.
Ramsey rose up in the professional sphere ranking No. 8 in her division, according to the World Boxing Council website. This ranking was originally higher until a controversial decision in a recent match led to a loss.
One of Ramsey’s most enthusiastic supporters is her girlfriend of three months, Gwendolyn Blake, who admires her tenacity.
“Just watching her getting ready for a fight, her determination, it’s very inspiring,” Blake says. “Watching her drive and her energy, it’s amazing to me. I’m very proud of her.”
Blake is thrilled to watch the upcoming match with Salazar.
“I’ve never seen her fight in person, so I don’t know how I’m going to handle that,” Blake says. “I’m excited for her and excited to watch it, to be there and be part of it. I pray she wins.”
Many of her students at the Bill Duncan Opportunity Center know about her athletic endeavors, but it’s not something she discusses too much during school hours. When she does, however, it’s to push her class to excel.
“I teach them, look, if you have an anger management issue or something, boxing has helped me,” Ramsey says. “I try to use it as [an educational] tool for anger management or stress reduction, not to learn how to fight or to take it back to the streets or to the school.”
With the match of a lifetime approaching, her weekday training has become intense with warm-ups taking up an hour and training sometimes taking up to three hours.
It’ll be a busy few weeks until the big fight, but win or lose, Lady Ram plans to continue charging on.
