Christy Martin, the No. 1 female boxer in the world, will grace Anne Arundel County this week as a highlight of Thursday's pro boxing show at Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie.
Martin (35-1-2) is not going to box but will be in town tomorrow and all week to promote the Ballroom Boxing Show, which includes heavyweight Jeff Bailey of Orlando, Fla.
Martin trains and manages Bailey (0-1), who will meet North Carolina's Lester Marcus, making his pro debut on a card arranged by promoter Scott Wagner.
With women's boxing gaining national interest, Martin has appeared on national TV on the undercard of several world championship fights.
Thursday's card includes one women's bout -- a four-round fight between Illinois 125-pounders Cheryl Nance (3-0) and Dana Stroemann (3-1).
In the main event, Don Steele (34-0, 34 KOs) of Columbia, S.C., gets it on with Mike Sam (11-3, 10 KOs) of Lafayette, La., in a 10-round heavyweight bout.
A couple of local fighters are also on the card in Crofton middleweight Alfonzo Daniels and super middleweight Bobby Haarhoff of Glen Burnie.
Daniels (17-2, six KOs), who scored a third-round TKO of North Carolina's Leon Rouse (5-17) in November at Michael's, has a scheduled eight-rounder with Mo Adams (11-1) of Washington, D.C.
Haarhoff (8-1, four KOs) will be trying to bounce back from his first professional loss in November by unanimous decision to South Carolina's Chuck Scott (3-1, one KO). Haarhoff's opponent will be announced this week.
Promising Russian boxer Rufat Baku (10-1), who has made Baltimore his home, is scheduled for a six-round middleweight scrap with Robert Muhammed (3-1) of South Carolina.
For ticket information, call Michael's, (410) 768-7901.
Seeding: Another view
Most county coaches agree with me that the open draw for state tournament competition doesn't reward winning teams by seeding them, but Millersville resident Steve Matters begs to differ.
After asking me if I were "goofy" (I answered, "Of course"), Matters, girls soccer coach at Oakland Mills in Howard County, said the blind draw is "fair for everybody."
Matters said that seeding the teams in their regions would not be fair to the smaller, Class 1A-2A schools who play in leagues with bigger schools, the situation we have in Anne Arundel County.
The smaller schools' records are not that good in most sports after they get beaten up by the larger Class 4A schools. Therefore, their records may not be indicative of how good they are in their own classification, so Matters asks how they could be seeded by record?
In Anne Arundel County, only four of the 12 public schools are not in Class 4A -- that is, Class 3A Broadneck, and Class 2A Northeast, Southern-Harwood and South River. Matters' point is well taken, especially when you look at Northeast sitting in the county's North division with five Class 4A schools.
Certainly, the Class 2A Eagles' 0-5 records in boys and girls basketball indicate how tough it is to win against those bigger schools.
"You only have one or two good soccer teams in Anne Arundel, anyway," Matters continued, "so what do some of their impressive records prove when they don't really play anybody? Face it, Anne Arundel County doesn't win many state championships in anything, so what difference would seeding mean, anyway?"
It would mean rewarding success, not mediocrity. What Matters forgets is that in the sane days of seeding teams by the old point system, the little schools did just fine. In fact, they seemed to do better.
Sideliners
It's exam week in county public high schools, which means a light slate of prep events until Friday. In boys basketball, upstart Chesapeake (7-5 before Friday) visits No. 12 Broadneck (7-4) at 5: 30 p.m. Friday at Anne Arundel Community College.
Three Severna Park All-County football players -- linemen Chris Field and Chad Clark and running back/receiver Amiel Morris -- are visiting Division I college campuses this weekend, or next.
Field, a 6-foot-4, 240-pounder, is visiting Virginia. The 6-1, 255-pound Clark will be entertained at Bucknell.
Morris, one of the metro area's fastest backs, is visiting Marshall and may join his brother, Jihad, as a member of the Thundering Herd. Jihad Morris was an All-County running back in 1995.
Have an idea for Sidelines? Call Pat O'Malley's 24-Hour Sportsline, (410) 647-2499.
Pub Date: 1/19/97
