Ginny Fuchs: "This win will definitely change the game for me."
"The thumb is still a little swollen. I still haven't gone to a hand specialist, I am seeing one this week, and then I will know if I have to do rehab, which I probably will. Then I will know when I will be able to punch again with this hand." The opening words of the unbeaten American Ginny Fuchs as we connected once again over Zoom.
It was just a few weeks removed from the most important victory of her fledgling professional career. A win that ended a long period of frustration for the immensely talented former Olympian.
The ten-round points victory over Adelaida Ruiz at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, that earned Fuchs the WBC interim super-flyweight title should now be the catalyst for much more. And the opportunity to realise all that promise that was there when she left the amateur ranks behind a few years ago.
The injury to her right thumb was about as gruesome as you can get. The sight of the bone on the wrong side of the skin wasn't for the faint-hearted.
Fuchs felt it go in the opening round, even if she didn't realise the extent of the injury.
"I remember throwing a hook, and I felt my thumb," Fuchs told me. "But that happens in boxing. It hurt, but it was like a numb feeling. I could feel it, but it was numb. So I could continue to fight and not think about it too much. I knew I had jammed it pretty bag, but I could forget about it. I felt it the most between the rounds in the corner when my adrenaline had calmed down a little. But in the fight itself, I didn't really think about it."
The win over Ruiz appeared to be clear, but boxing always seems to find a little bit of drama. when there shouldn't be any. A split decision wasn't really reflective of what we saw in the ring.
"I felt like I won," Fuchs says of her win over Ryiz. "She was tough. I did want to make it a lot more clear of a fight for me. So, I am a little frustrated with myself for letting it get that close and going to a split decision. But I felt like I had more ring generalship. I was the more aggressive fighter. My engine and endurance were better. My punches were better. But she hit me with a lot of nice shots."
Fuchs started fast. The opening minute saw both fighters trading punches as if it were the last minute. Fuchs knew that with her athletic background and her overall fitness, seeing out her first ten-rounder at a fast pace would be no problem for her endurance levels. Fighting on away soil also prompted the decision to start fast.
"The game plan was to make a statement from the beginning. You know how it is in boxing when you go to the hometown of a champion and try and take their belt. You can't hold back in any way. My coach wanted me to throw a lot of punches, try and make her tired, and send a statement to the judges."
After turning professional in 2022 off the back of representing America in the Tokyo Olympics, Fuchs has been left frustrated by her lack of ring activity in those two years since. Three fights and very much a fighter on the outside looking in. But the win over Ruiz changes everything.
"This win will definitely change the game for me. I'm working on a contract deal with Matchroom. It's also how I performed in the fight. Going into the hometown of the champion and taking her belt. I know the whole dislocated thumb, the bone coming out, gave me some gangster credit. Everybody keeps telling me that's a first. Nobody has seen that before. Even the doctor in the hospital said I've never seen anything like this."
At 36, Fuchs has been fighting the clock as well as the politics of boxing. Time isn't on her side. It has been a bitterly frustrating period of her life. A talented fighter who just wants to realise all her obvious potential. Thoughts of walking away have been there.
"I've had my moments," Fuchs told FightPost of those thoughts of potentially walking away. "Especially as I am getting older. I need to worry more about my future financially. Is it a risk to keep waiting and waiting? I don't want to get to 40 and be broke. Waiting for something to happen that might not come instead of doing something else and being more secure. It's just that battle of the unknown."
But the dream never died. The win over Adelaida Ruiz epitomises her struggles. Fighting through adversity. Nothing has ever come easy for Fuchs. But that hard-earned victory keeps that dream alive. The world title proper surely will be next. The Ginny Fuchs story is one of perseverance. And one that might now have the perfect ending.
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