»Boxing: Man vs. Woman«

On October 15, 2005 Ann Wolfe will enter the ring against Bo Skipper in the first ever sanctioned inter-gender bout in professional boxing history.

Wolfe 22-1 (15 KO's), having no other direction to go with her career due to Laila Ali's failure to make the fight, will step out of the realms of female prize fighting and attempt to do battle with a man.

"This isn't about Bo Skipper. This is about me fighting an opponent of equal skill level to myself. I have never said I can beat all the men out there," stated Wolfe at the press conference in Biloxi, MS on August 22nd.

"I'm coming to knock Ann Wolfe out. I am coming to prove that no woman belongs in the ring with a man in a professional boxing event. I've never hit a woman in my life, my daddy would have kicked my tail if I would have. But it is different in the ring. In the ring she is not a woman or a man...she is a boxer," stated a confident Bo Skipper after the press conference Monday.

This has been done in sports from tennis, to golf and cart racing but never in a sport that requires one on one combat such as boxing. The only rule change for the 8 round bout will be that there will be 2 1/2 minute rounds rather than the typical 3 minutes in a men's fight and 2 minutes in a woman's fight. This fight has been sanctioned by the Mississippi Atheletic Commisssion .

"I would not have put Bo in this fight if I did not think he can win. This will be a legitimate event and may the best person win," stated the promoter Brian Young.

Ann Wolfe's managers and promoters have tried and tried again to make the fight between Wolfe and the undefeated Ali. Ali was offered unprecedented dollars and pay per view percentages but would not sign to fight Wolfe. With Wolfe having defeated all of the woman other than Ali, even doubling and tripling up on a few of them, there is no other direction for her to go with her professional boxing career.

"I have a lot of fight left in me. What am I suppose to do sit back and watch everyone else make money in this sport? I won't do that. This is about me continuing my career by any means necessary," an angry Wolfe stated at the press conference.

No Ann vs. Man: Female super middleweight star Ann Wolfe (22-1, 15 KOs) has had so much trouble finding a worthy female opponent -- Laila Ali refuses to fight her -- that she agreed to face male fighter Bo Skipper (11-3-2, 7 KOs) in Biloxi, Miss., on Oct. 15 in an eight-round bout dubbed "Ann vs. Man."

However, with the massive damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina to the Gulf Coast, including hard-hit Biloxi and the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, where the controversial bout was to have been held, Brian Young of Prize Fight Promotions told ESPN.com that he is canceling the pay-per-view card and not considering moving it to another location.

"There is so much damage there and so many things going on, I'm just going to cancel it," he said. "I'm just not going to do it. They're using the arena as a shelter. It's really bad. There are more important things than a fight."