Fighting chance

PORTLAND, Maine -- By day, Lisa Kuronya is an environmental scientist, monitoring radiation levels at the decommissioned Maine Yankee nuclear power plant. She believes in nuclear energy and worries about global warming. At night, she drives to the glass-strewn, graffiti-covered former factory that houses the Portland Boxing Club. Here she believes in kicking butt -- usually her male sparring partner or her coach. Kuronya, a long-armed, 5-foot-11-inch, 145-pound welterweight, won both the 2006 USA Boxing Women's National Championship in Colorado Springs and the 2006 National Golden Gloves Championship in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

But she'll face her next opponent in a courtroom, not a ring. Kuronya filed suit March 1 in US District Court in Portland against US Amateur Boxing, charging gender discrimination and civil rights violations.

"Every time I think about that, I'll tell you right now, my blood begins to boil," said Kuronya, the 2006 captain of the Elite USA Women's Boxing Team. "If you took my blood pressure right now, you would know."

Kuronya earned the right to fight in the 2006 USA Boxing Championships, and the suit alleges that she and her coach, Robert Russo of the Portland Boxing Club, were not given equal treatment at the event, held at the Olympic Training Center in March 2006. The lawsuit states that male boxers were given free airline tickets, picked up at the airport, and housed and fed at the $23.8 million state-of-the-art facility. Kuronya and Russo were told to make their own arrangements at their own expense. USA Boxing operates under the auspices of the US Olympic Committee, which receives federal funding. Women's boxing is not part of Olympic boxing, although its introduction as an exhibition sport has been discussed.

"The details of her accusations are being researched to find out how accurate they are and what the rationale was for some of her charges," said John Stavros, acting executive director of USA Boxing.

Darryl Seibel, a USOC spokesman, said Kuronya's allegations are news to him. "If these allegations are true, they are completely inconsistent with what we stand for as an Olympic committee," he said.

But Arlene Samaniego, an amateur boxer from Oxnard, Calif., confirmed that she had encountered discrimination at the training center a year earlier.

"How could they not know?" Samaniego said in a telephone interview. "There was a hotel full of women staying down the road. My own experience was the same as Lisa. I had a sore back and went to see their chiropractor in the medical facility. The guy said, 'No.' He said, 'We won't treat you because you are female.' I was really, really upset."

Seibel characterized USA Boxing as "an organization in transition. Many of the people who were in decision-making are no longer in the organization."

The education of Lisa Kuronya, 32, has been more painful outside the ring than in it. She used to think the only difference between the men's and women's classes of USA Boxing is that she has to sign a release saying she is not pregnant and she has the option to wear breast protectors. But now she's in a historic fight. Kuronya said it's not a stretch to compare her plight with the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s.

"First of all, being a blonde, very Caucasian woman, it made me realize what it must have felt like for African-Americans like 60 years ago. 'Cause I really felt like a second-class citizen."

Kuronya, whose record is 26-4 with eight TKOs, said the national championships were her first big tournaments. She was excited until she got the details.

"They just said the women weren't allowed; they said it was only for the men. We were registered and told to go to the hotels that you made accommodations to. I remember seeing them with their badges sitting in the cafeteria -- a big group of them -- and remember thinking, 'Wow, that's kind of strange.' All the male boxers down there and we weren't even allowed to go in the cafeteria."

She and Russo stayed at a hotel 20 minutes from the training center.

"There were 7 a.m. weigh-ins," she said. "It was stressful. I had to keep coming back. It was such an inconvenience. I had to eat in chain restaurants, fast-food places. And being in a weight class, you had to be careful of your diet.

"All the men had the best nutrition out there. The cafeteria of the Olympic Training Center is just amazing. All the best foods -- no fried foods, and it lists the calories and carbohydrates so you know what you're eating. Access to the best nutrition. I had access to Applebee's and Ruby Tuesdays."

That irked Kuronya, who is on a strict training regimen.

"I'm up at 5 in the morning to get my running and weightlifting in," she said. "Then I go to my job, where I work 8-10 hours, and then I get here, where I work out till 8 p.m.

"It's a really big commitment and I feel like I train harder than most men. Then to go out there and feel like less of an athlete . . . it was really discouraging."

She said the men mocked her. "They acted like they were more superior," she recalled. "Like at the trial scales, they would jump on them even if I was waiting. It took away from it. Every day to go to the weigh-in and see the men laughing, eating, and watching the big-screen TV. I was embarrassed. I felt like I wasn't really an athlete despite all the time I put into it and all my success. I felt I was out there for some non-sporting hobby."

The history of women in USA Boxing is brief.

In October 1993, Dallas Malloy, a 16-year-old from Bellingham, Wash., filed a lawsuit that forced USA Boxing to allow women's boxing. There are currently 2,000 women boxers registered with USA Boxing.

In Colorado Springs, Kuronya was not the only one complaining.

"One of the other women boxers said, 'Why is it that the men are staying here and getting food and we have to stay at crappy hotels?' " said Kuronya. "And the athlete representative -- there was a lot of tension and hostility about this -- said, 'Well, you know, we're working on it. It's not an Olympic sport.' That's what they'd bait us with. They'd say in 2008 it's going to be an exhibition -- and that didn't happen -- now wait till 2012." The USOC said that has not yet been agreed to.

Kuronya said that when she returned to the Olympic Training Center in May as a member of the USA Boxing women's elite team before fighting in Argentina and India, she had full access and was picked up at the airport.

"I don't understand, why now?" she said.

Known for her relentless jab, Kuronya stumbled into boxing after graduating from West Chester University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in environmental science. Looking for something out of the ordinary to get in shape, she accidentally signed up for a contact kickboxing course. A tomboy who always mixed it up with her older brother, she liked the contact.

"I realized my height was such an advantage and having such long limbs," she said.

For the first year, she learned technique and hit the bag. Then her goal was 10 amateur fights. Then it was to be New England regional champ. She advanced through the locals and the regionals. Her coworkers were surprised at her progress.

Russ Shea, a security guard at Maine Yankee, attended one of her bouts. "She's good. She's tough. She's a nice person," Shea said.

Until she climbs into the ropes. "She's totally different. Real aggressive." Then he offers some advice: "Just be polite."

Kuronya said the lawsuit is not about money. "I want women in general to be treated equally," she said. "I want my coach to get his money back for his gym fund."

Russo said he and Kuronya incurred expenses of $5,000 for the two tournament trips.

Russo said he eventually received two checks totaling roughly $500 from USA Boxing. He said he didn't even cash a $300 check, which he called an "insult."

"She's a member of the [USA Boxing] organization, she pays the same fees. But they don't pick up the expenses that they do for males, even though she qualified the same as the males."

But Paul Morrissette, USA Boxing New England region treasurer, said Russo is "a greedy guy. The real story is that we sent boys and girls. With all the boys, the coaches spoke to me, and I, as treasurer, purchased plane tickets for these people. Mr. Russo went out on his own and bought himself and his girl plane tickets, which was several hundred dollars more than if I had bought them. He just flew off with his girl and spent money, and then sent me a pile of receipts asking me to be reimbursed. And I said, 'No, we don't do it. We didn't do it for the boys.' This is the story and I hope you get it right.

"The boys are an Olympic sport. OK, so the boys were put up at the Olympic Training camp and fed on the Olympic campus grounds. The girls are not an Olympic sport, so they're not allowed on the Olympic grounds. The monies that are donated by corporations to maintain the Olympic training camps are for Olympic sports, so the girls went on their own voluntarily on this trip."

Russo said the USA Boxing local committee could easily have helped because it has $100,000 in its treasury, a figure Morrissette confirmed.

"How they can come up with an excuse for such classless and ignorant behavior is unbelievable," said Russo. "They cast us aside. They disrespected Lisa and they disrespected the Portland Boxing Club and all the other girls . . . she was blatantly discriminated against."

Jo Ann Livramento, president of USA Boxing New England region, said there was no discrimination.

"No, because I'm a female . . . everybody is treated equally. Look, there's two sides to the story -- I'm not going to get into any he-said, she-said stuff."

USA Boxing's website announced recently that "female boxers will be extended the same travel stipends as the males who qualify to attend the tournament."

Meanwhile, Kuronya wants vindication. "It's the year 2007 and it's time that people get with the times and make things equal, the way they should be. I'm an elite member, but I'm feeling like less of an athlete. It's really ironic."