A Conversation With Layla McCarter: A First Lady of the Sweet Science

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Exclusive interview by Anthony “Zute” George

Women’s boxing has received a lot more respect these days. This was supposed to be the year that the International Boxing Hall of Fame opened up its gates for women’s boxing, and female boxing has aired more often on television and streaming services.

With that said, considering the fact that women’s boxing has been around for such a long time, the recent recognition is not good enough. Female boxers still get paid significantly less than their male counterparts. The majority of boxing fans do not follow women’s boxing as passionately, I know many boxing fans who still do not watch at all. As a result, only a handful of female boxers are widely recognized by name.

Layla McCarter should be one of those names. And while she is well-known in the boxing circle, she is probably not as famous as she should be. With female boxers, it is a lot of quality over quantity. What I mean by that is, Lucia Rijker and Laila Ali are two of the more well-known and respected female boxers, and both of these women fought less than 25 times professionally. Rijker had seventeen professional fights, Ali had twenty-four fights.

Layla McCarter has sixty-one professional fights and is still going strong at age forty-one. She officially turns that age on April 19th. Prior to Covid-19 rearing its ugly head, Layla was set to fight this April and was eyeballing a potential date with the dynamic Claressa Shields. Well, like her alias, McCarter is indeed Amazing. A true example of quality and quantity for a boxer.

What is the secret of her success? Layla gave Ringside Report the opportunity to sit down to help peel her onion.

“I started in martial arts when I was eight years old, and I stayed with that through my childhood,” Layla told us. She progressed into kickboxing, which led her to boxing, “It felt natural to go that way (go from kickboxing to boxing). I guess I found my way to what I really love. The sweet science.” Indeed, you have to love boxing to reach the level that Layla has reached. But that does not mean boxing is all glory and roses. Especially for a female boxer.

For one thing, no matter how good you are, you always have to prove yourself. “It was tough as a female. And my gym was unique because we actually had a couple of other females besides myself, which is very unusual. There was not a lot of support for it. There were even some gyms that did not allow any females,” Layla explained.

One of those gyms were based in California, and the fact that Layla was not welcomed was astounding to her, “I’m looking at these guys hitting the bag, and they cannot do what I do. I asked them to just give me a round with one of your guys, and if they knock me out, I will leave. If they can’t, I stay.” Anger took over before Layla would find out if her challenge would be accepted. After all, why should she have to jump through such hoops to prove herself? “I was just like, fuck it, and I left,” She explained.

With that said, Layla did not walk out on a sport that she knew she could flourish in. And flourished she has. Forty-three official wins to date, the aforementioned Rijker and Ali have a combined win total of forty-one. Layla has also been on the wrong side of many close decisions, and she has never been stopped in a fight. A lot of those decisions came very early in her career. After securing a victory in her first professional debut, McCarter was winless in her next five fights. Four decisions and one draw. “That’s what happens when you do not have a promoter, and people call you for fights in somebody else’s hometown,” Layla said of that stretch. “I thought winning was enough. Later on, I learned how to dominate. But if it was close and you are on the road, you are not going to get it,” she added. Layla felt she won all those fights except for the Sandra Yard fight. It is worth mentioning that all those fights were four-round contests.

That first Sandra Yard fight took place in February of 1999, they had a rematch in October of 2000. Layla won a ten-round unanimous decision, “After the Laura Serrano fight (a fight she lost by a split decision), I decided that I needed to give my career a chance to go somewhere. I couldn’t just stay in Spokane, Washington, and be booked fighting fighters in their hometown. I needed to go where the action is and get a good manager and trainer. I needed to have the right team and the right chance.”

Layla quit her job and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, “the boxing capital of the world,” was how she described Sin City. Indeed, a bold move. But Layla said it was a move that changed her life. If she did not make this move, she might not have ever met Luis Tapia, who she gives credit for changing her “whole career.” Working with Tapia meant a path to the world title. “He gave me the peace of mind where I could just focus and train,” Layla explained. That peace of mind came in the form of a place to stay and food to put in her stomach. Two necessary tangibles for survival that Layla did not have upon her arrival in Vegas. As a result, Layla said by the time she fought Sandra Yard for the second time, she was in “beast shape.”

That to that peace of mind and discipline to maintain ‘beast mode’ As her manager, Luis Tapia, has kept her busy, confident, and focused.

Layla Carter has enjoyed a prolific career. Of all her victories, what does she think is her best performance to date? Well, she could not give just one. She really liked her performance against Jelena Mrdjenovich in their third fight in Canada. But she is also very fond of her victory against Domingo Olivio, explain that she “pulled that one off with a fever.” But then there is the epic knockout of Noni Tenge, a fight where Layla had to make a significant step up in weight, which she describes as, “My best knockout. For sure.” What is your favorite of hers?

Of course, Layla has fought mostly 2-minute rounds in her fights. She has competed in 3-minute round fights quite often and indeed prefers it that way. “It should be mandatory to have everyone fight under the same regulations. We have to fight for it every time we want to fight 3-minute rounds. I think it is a sexist policy that has no base in reality. It is the same excuses when they tried to ban us from boxing in the first place. I hate the policy. In Nevada, I pushed the change to allow women to fight 3-minute rounds, and they said, ‘I don’t see a problem with it. If it is an approvable fight, and you both agree. Sure. We will make it like a waiver system for now.’ Keith Keizer (The Nevada State Athletic Director at the time) helped me with that, and the Commission approved it.”

The big obstacle now is getting the sanctioning bodies also approving 3-minute round fights for females. “The WBC is the biggest opponent of it. I have criticized them in the past. They are a very powerful organization.” Powerful is an understatement. The WBC made sure to drop Layla McCarter down in the rankings at the time of her openly criticizing them on their stance of women fighting 3-minute rounds. When the WBC wants something, they indeed have a history to take any action necessary to get what they want. After all, the WBC led the charge to change matches from fifteen to twelve rounds back in the eighties. They even went so far as to strip Marvelous Marvin Hagler of his WBC title when he went against their wishes and defended his title against Mustafa Hamsho in a fifteen-round fight in 1984. Indeed, The Marvelous One’s next fight with Thomas Hearns was scheduled for twelve rounds.

Layla says she has no interest in the WBC today and has no plans to try and convince them to change their stance, “What good is it when they already made up their minds,” she asked.

Layla also said women can never argue for equal pay if they do not fight 3-minute rounds consistently.

Today, all Layla wants to do is continue to fight. She was set to have a rematch with Yamila Esther Reynoso in April, this time in a 3-minute round fight. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 crisis has wiped out that fight, as well as all other boxing matches for the time being. It was supposed to be promoted by former fighter Steve Forbes. Layla and Steve use to train together at Johnny Tocco’s gym in Las Vegas. Also, Layla and Steve both won the Portland Golden Gloves, “I am the same ugly jacket that he does,” jokes McCarter.

Layla was also working on securing a fight with Claressa Shields. A female fighter with a huge following who is securing main event fights on premium cable spots, “We have been back and forth on Twitter. And we have been talking about it.” According to Layla, Team Shields was responsive to meeting her inside the squared circle, but after other commitments. Since all boxing commitments are put on hold, it is uncertain when this fight can happen.

A win over Claressa Shields would be monumental for Layla. Even being competitive in that fight would probably propel her to a pinnacle, she has not yet reached. Not in terms of ability and greatness, but in terms of name recognition and financial prospects.
After such an exemplary career from Layla, that is probably not fair. But it is the way it often is for female boxers.

Layla is already a First Lady of boxing, even if some people do not know it.

When will she get a chance to prove herself again?

Stay tuned…

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