When Rosalie L. Parker '96 describes her athletic activity, she doesn't say she's a boxer. She says she's a fighter.

And according to other fighters at the Somerville Boxing Club, she's right.

"She's like a tiger in there," says Gary Dulling, who has trained with Parker for a few years. "She spars with guys all the time. You can tell when she gets in some good shots. The look on their faces..."

Until a few years ago, women were officially banned from sparring. Even today, their numbers are few.

"There's a lot of guys in [the gym] that are really hard-core," she says. "I think I'm the only one without a prison record sometimes. I know I'm the only one [in the gym] without a tattoo."

While Parker describes a fight as the "hardest six minutes of your life," it's not because of nervousness or tentativeness.

Enthusiasm takes over, she says.

"It was exciting to have all the people there to watch," says Parker, who admits to a few pre-fight jitters. "I knew it would be fun when the bell rang. And as soon as it did, I wasn't nervous anymore. It was fun."

Parker started boxing a few years ago, when she was looking for an activity to help keep in shape during the rugby off-season. She got hooked at the first Harvard Boxing Club meeting she attended.

"I discovered I had a talent for it--I was good," the 5-foot-2-inch Parker says.

"I was built for this sport. If I'd been a man, I'd have been a great wrestler," she says, referring to the strength in her legs and arms.

Parker eventually gave up rugby because of a knee injury that required surgery. During her long, discouraging rehabilitation, boxing gave her a reason to keep working.

Now she's back and "bionic," as she puts it.

"The metal alloy in my knee is called kryptonite," Parker laughs. "So in hand-to-hand combat, I think I could take Superman."

Although she's never fought the legendary cape-wearer, she's aiming high, working to become the first Harvard-Radcliffe woman ever to fight in the Golden Gloves Tournament.

"I'd like to win that, and I think I can," Parker says. "That's really as far as women go right now."

Women's boxing is not an Olympic sport. In order to become one, it would first need to be an exhibition sport in 2000.

If that happens, Parker says she might try for a spot in the Sydney Games. Otherwise, the Golden Gloves title will be her top goal.

She doesn't want to turn pro.

"For me, it's less fulfilling if you're getting paid. Also, it gets much more dangerous and I'm not willing to take that risk," she says.

While amateurs box three rounds of two minutes each, pros are in the ring for much longer. Amateurs also rarely knock people out, since no more points are gained.

Women on the Ropes

Parker is still battling the gender issue, both inside the gym and out.

While she says Harvard Boxing Club coach Tommy Rossin was "incredibly welcoming," the 87-year-old was also set in his ways.

"He was reluctant to see me spar," Parker says, adding that such reluctance, as well as time pressures, make it difficult to train someone for competition.

As a result, Parker needed a new coach. A month after putting out a query over the Internet, she got a single response and began training at another gym.

It closed soon afterwards, so the Lowell House senior packed her gloves and headed to the Somerville Boxing Club, where her hard work impressed a new coach, who had never before trained a woman.

"I think he was pleased to see I'd had a good background in training," she says of her coach, "Stoney." "I don't think he's entirely comfortable yet. He has to find a different way to relate to me as a fighter."

"I know I'm a representative of what they're going to think of the next woman in the ring. I've got to be strong in there," she says.

At the same time, "I have an advantage because when I started, no one else was starting, so I know more of the basics than...the girls I fight."

Boxing Stereotypes

When Parker isn't facing down gender stereotypes, she's dealing with more general stereotypes about boxing.

Even Parker's mother, while generally supportive, doesn't like the fact that her daughter chose boxing over other sports.

But, as Parker tells her mother, "there were a lot more broken noses on my sister's lacrosse team last spring," then there are in her gym, and boxing has kept her in better mental and physical shape than any other sport she has tried.

The social studies concentrator is takes pride in the social consciousness of the Somerville club, nothing that all of its coaches are volunteers and boxers are charged minimal membership fees.

As a result, many kids who would otherwise be hanging around aimlessly are working and training in a constructive atmosphere that builds their self-esteem, Parker says.

"You're important in there," she says. "You really mean something," and coaches provide long-term, personal support.

Still, some continue to sneer at a sport predominantly known more for its violence. Some express emotions "bordering on disgust that a woman would box," Parker says.

Parker has an answer ready for anyone asking why she keeps fighting.

"I ask them why they think I box. And then I say I'm hoping it will further my career as a supermodel," she says.CrimsonGabrielle Page-WilsonOF BEES AND BUTTERFLIES: ROSALIE L. PARKER '96-'97 may become the first Harvard-Radcliffe woman to fight at the Golden Gloves Tournament.