Fastest KO in women’s boxing and unchecked disregard for safety
Seniesa Estrada defeated Miranda Adkins in a fight that never should have occurred.
There are often fights where one opponent vastly outclasses another. Should it happen? No. Does it happen? Yes. Despite this unfortunate facet of boxing, we seldom get to see a display of this as horrifying and utterly awful as the fight between Seniesa Estrada and Miranda Adkins on July 24.
As soon as the two women were in the ring, you could see the absolute difference in body language. Adkins was stiff and anxious, and Estrada, who had a streak of 18 undefeated bouts before this, was calm and loose. As soon as the starting bell rang, Estrada pounced on Adkins. Estrada quickly rushed across the ring towards Adkins, who was shuffling her feet on the ground.
Estrada led with a left hook to the head which hit Adkins on the arm, then a right hook to the body followed by a devastating left hook to the head which sent Adkins reeling back. Adkins, stunned by the blows, was then hit by another flurry of punches and was sent to the canvas. No time to throw a punch, no time to react.
Estrada, 28, is the interim WBA flyweight champion and WBC silver junior flyweight champion. Initially, she was meant to take on Jacky Calvo, Calvo however, had to pull out due to a knee injury. This is where Adkins, 42, comes into the picture.
Before her fight with Estrada, Adkins had a record of 5-0, with five of those fights being by way of KO. On paper, this seems like Adkins was, if not experienced, then at least capable in the ring. Upon further research, it looks as though Adkins’ record is not all that it seems. According to a Ring magazine article, Adkins fought inexperienced ‘fighters’— at least half of least half of her previous opponents were not even trained or classified fighters at all, but rather strippers.
“They show up to the venue with nothing,” the source said. “No shorts. No shoes. No mouthguard. Nothing. Then, they borrow from (other) fighters. It’s really fucked up.”
The California State Athletic Commission (CSAE) came under fire for even allowing a fight like this to take place.
“If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t have approved that fight,” Andy Foster, the CSAE executive officer, said in an exclusive with The Ring Sunday morning. “I have never denied a (WBC title fight). I certainly didn’t think she was going to win the fight. But I thought it would go longer than seven seconds.”
Foster and the matchmaker for Golden Boy Promotions, Robert Diaz, both took responsibility for what transpired, and both men regretting letting fight reach the ring.
This fight is not where this particular story concludes, however. Not long after the fight, it was uncovered that Adkins is married to one John Carden, a small-time Midwest boxing promoter who is the owner of Carden Combat Sports. According to Diaz, he and Carden were in direct communication and that Carden confirmed Adkins’ undefeated record of 5-0.
This is not the first time that a fight with ties to Carden was controversial. Carden has previously come under fire for a fight that he organized in 2016. The fight was between Bryan Timmons and professional fighter James Kindred. James Kindred had previously participated in the Special Olympics, but had never been in the ring before.
A situation such as this makes one wonder what sort of information do promoters and state officials look into when deciding upon a fight. If fights such as these are allowed to occur in a ‘professional’ setting, then it seems that due diligence is not being performed. Whether this was incompetence or perhaps negligence, it is concerning to see how something like this can make it through so many stages of scrutiny without anyone noticing. For the health and safety of all fighters involved, we need to do better.