Who is the Fittest?

Battle of the Sexes

In which sports are women better than men? and can they compete with each other?

Golf

Over the years, several women have taken on the men at their own game. Most recently, young superstar golfer Michelle Wie has joined the men on the PGA tour in a few events. In each time she to make the cut. Some say should shouldn’t even be there in the first place and should concentrate on the women’s tour. If she thinks she is good enough, why not? Are the men worried about losing their publicity or prize money? Up to now she has not been good enough, though given time she should be able to pick up some money in these events. As with most skill based sports, it is possible for women to compete favorably with the men. In golf there is an element of fitness and strength as the men play from tees further from the green. Michelle Wie is able to compete with the men as she has a long drive. As with most sports, there is more prize money for the men, so I don’t blame her for trying to get some of that, though it is probably not the driving factor. As with all sports people, they want to be challenged and strive to be the best they can, and by playing with the men that is what Wie is trying to do.

Tennis

A true battle of the sexes in Tennis would pit the #1-ranked man against the #1-ranked woman. To most observers, such as match would obviously be in favor of the male champion. A famous tennis battle of the sexes took place in 1973, between Bobby Riggs, a famous tennis player in the 1950s, who was aged 55 and still playing some tennis in 1973 but was well past his prime. He defeated female player Margaret Court in a match on Mother's Day 1973, and immediately challenged the current women's champion Billie Jean King. The match against King was highly hyped in an endless series of press conferences and feature articles, with King becoming the poster child for the entire women's liberation movement. The match was held September 20, 1973, with King easily beating Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. It does not really make any point though.

Martina Navatilova played a match against retired Jimmy Conors and lost even though she was given a set up on a best of three match. In 1999, top female tennis player Serena Williams re-opened the debate on whether women can compete with men in professional sport. The US Open champion believed she can take on and beat the best players in the men's game - she even applied to take part in a men's singles event, the Eurocard Open. This did not eventuate, though a match against a top 100 player may have been played.

Boxing

It is hard to imagine a woman taking up a battle against a man in the ring. One match, which was billed as the first sanctioned male-female boxing match in U.S. history, was more likely no more than a publicity stunt. On October 10, 1999, Margaret McGregor defeated Loi Chow in a unanimous decision, 40-36, played out over four rounds. This was not a even battle. Loi Chow, a trainer and a jockey by trade, had a fight history of 0-2 in professional bouts with his last bout three years earlier. McGregor, on the other hand, had an extensive kickboxing and boxing background, with a 3-0 record in professional matches against women. The fight generated huge controversy but still went on as scheduled. A crowd of less than 3,000 filed into Seattle's Mercer Arena to watch McGregor pummel the pudgy-looking Chow for all four rounds. Boxing commentators and observers regarded the match as , particularly when the more talented Morales dropped out. It will go down as a footnote in modern boxing history.

A kickboxing battle of the sexes version took place just after the boxing match on October 21, 1999. Amateur Muay Thai fighter Deborah "Sunshine" Fettkether, with a 4-1-1 record, fought construction worker and first-time fighter Randy Pittman. In the fight, Fettkether easily defeated Pittman 59 seconds into the first round - Pittman had no idea what he was in for.

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