Boxer now in fight of her life.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

When Linda Shampang said she was taking up boxing two years ago at age 48, those who know the 5-foot-2-inch, 125-pound Oakway Fitness instructor were not surprised.

Nor did they tell her she was crazy. If anyone could do it, she could, they said.

And she did, but on Thursday night paid a bruising price, collapsing hours after being battered in her first professional fight.

"This is really hard, but I was all for it," Kris Christensen, the fitness center's owner, said through tears Friday night. "I really encouraged her because I always wanted to box and I can't. She loved it."

After lasting 2 1/2 rounds in the fight at Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino Resort in Canyonville on Thursday night, "Sweet Shampang," as she likes to be called, was still unconscious Friday night at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene after collapsing and then undergoing emergency surgery to relieve swelling in her brain about 1 a.m.

Her trainer, Kip Triplett of Creswell, and family members said she was expected to survive, if not fully recover.

Shampang was able to give her surgeon, Dr. Glenn Keiper, a thumbs-up about 2 p.m. Friday and was finally breathing on her own, said Jim Angel, Shampang's brother-in-law.

For much of the time since the operation, Shampang has been kept in an induced coma, a customary move after brain surgery, family members said.

"She's a fighter, and everybody's there for her," Triplett said. "She's got a lot of support."

Shampang was badly beaten by a much taller and much younger fighter.

"The fight was terrible," Christensen said. Her face covered in blood, Shampang still showed the spirit after the bout that endeared her to aerobics and kickboxing students at Oakway Fitness in Eugene. She was even signing autographs for kids less than an hour after fighting Jenny Houts, 36, of Portland, said Christensen, who was at the fight, one of seven professional bouts on Thursday night's undercard.

When she returned later to her hotel room at the resort, though, she told her husband, Rocky Shampang, and Triplett that she had an extreme headache. She then vomited and collapsed. She was rushed to Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, where doctors considered having her airlifted to Portland before deciding to send her by ambulance to Sacred Heart, Christensen said.

Shampang had suffered a hematoma, a clotting of the brain's blood vessels in the front of her brain, Angel said.

Thursday's fight, and its dire outcome, illustrate the popularity and dangers of boxing for women.

Women's boxing has experienced a surge in recent years.

This year, the movie "Million Dollar Baby" - the story of a waitress-turned-boxer who is paralyzed in the ring - won best picture at the Academy Awards ceremony.

Boxing commissions have made it easier for women with no professional experience to get licensed than for men who have fought amateur bouts for years, Triplett said in a Register-Guard article on Shampang earlier this year.

Shampang, who had waited for her first pro bout for months and had been training in sparring matches, received her license from the Oregon State Boxing and Wrestling Commission last fall.

She had to be observed in the ring and have doctors vouch that she was physically fit enough to compete in the violent and grueling sport.

Shampang always wore headgear while sparring in training. But Thursday she wore none, leaving her head exposed to Houts' blows. Professional boxers do not wear headgear during fights.

Female boxing matches are a "big drawing card," said Dr. Vincent Miele, a neurosurgery resident at West Virginia University and a ringside physician.

"Promoters don't like to have a card full of female boxers, but they like to have at least one," he said.

Miele and Dr. Julian Bailes, a professor and chairman of the department of neurological surgery at WVU's School of Medicine, wrote an article for The New York Times in May titled "Fatal Attraction for the Ring?" in which they described the increased risk women boxers face and how they are being rushed into professional bouts because of the novelty of it all.

"This is a phenomenon that is relatively new and we're seeing a lot of this," Miele said Friday by telephone from his home in Morgantown, W.V.

In April, Becky Zerlentes, 34, died during an amateur boxing match in Colorado even though she was wearing headgear, according to Miele and Bailes' article.

And in June 2003, Stacy Young, 30, of Florida, died while participating in a Toughman competition, says the article, which goes on to describe the serious brain injuries suffered by two other female boxers, one in 1996 and one in 2003.

Several factors contribute to boxing being far more dangerous for women than men, said Miele, including the smaller size of their necks, less muscle mass, lighter weights, less training and medical attention, and mismatches.

Because of their smaller numbers, it's more difficult to match female boxers, Miele said.

Shampang had been set in late March to fight a woman half her age, who had the experience of eight pro bouts in Idaho, before the fight was canceled. Triplett had been scrambling to find her fight. Thursday's bout also was Houts' first professional fight, and Triplett said it was not a mismatch.

Brain injuries in the ring are almost always caused by a succession of punches, not one big blow, Miele said. That's why brain injuries and deaths are almost unheard of in male heavyweight fights, but much more common among lighter weight classes, he said.

Local newscasts of Thursday's fight between Shampang and Houts show Shampang taking blow after blow to the head.

Miele said boxing is the only sport that does not have a national governing body.

"It's tough," he said. "Women are going to get hurt. You have to make sure they're aware of the risks."

Those who know and love Shampang say that she was aware of the risks, and that she'd do it all over again. But her boxing days are over, and she won't fight again, Triplett said.

"No," he said. "I wouldn't let her."

DONATIONS

If you'd like to help Linda Shampang's family with costs associated with her injury, you can make a donation at the Umpqua Bank at 497 Oakway Road next to the Oakway Fitness Center.

CAPTION(S):

Linda Shampang, 50, takes a blow to the head from Jenny Houts, 36, in a boxing match Thursday night at the Seven Feathers resort. Shampang collapsed hours after the bout and underwent emergency brain surgery at Sacred Heart Medical Center early Friday. Shampang is all smiles with trainer Kip Triplett after the bout, her first as a pro.