World champion boxer Ewa Brodnicka has blasted a Polish sports outlet as “sexist” after they said her kiss with opponent Edith Matthysse at the weigh in, at which she wore lingerie, was "more interesting" than the fight itself.
At the weigh in a day before their WBO super featherweight world female title fight last Friday in Czestochowa, Poland, a bespectacled Brodnicka had already grabbed attention by wearing underwear that gave an ample showing of the benefits of her training camp.
After Matthysse hit the scales, it was time for the traditional staredown where Brodnicka, wearing snakeskin style boots and sporting red and white cornrows in a nod to her native coutnry's flag, gave her opponent the eyeball.
Without warning, she then planted a playful kiss on the Argentine challenger, who certainly wasn't in the mood for games, and responded by slapping the hometown fighter across the face, sparking a fracas.
The incident led spectators to expect the extra heat would transfer into the ring and add extra incentive for both to knock the other out. As it turned out, the two fought to a close 10-round split decision in favor of Brodnicka, giving her a points win defence of her title.
After the fight, Polish sports outlet Sportowefakty were less than impressed with the action, and reported that the pre-fight smacker was “more entertaining” than any smack delivered in the ring.
“Although female boxing matches don’t usually impress, this weigh in may whet your appetite,” the article read.
“Ewa Brodnicka kissed Edith Soledad Matthysse, and the Argentine smacked her in the face with an open palm. On Thursday she boiled over, but it wasn’t as entertaining in the ring on Friday.”
In response, Brodnicka blasted back at the site and what she saw as discrimination, tagging the piece in an Instagram story with the caption, “Sexist article. Although usually fights don't impress you???”
In a separate article, the site reported that Brodnicka’s fight “didn't look very interesting” and unfavorably compared the bout to a seemingly more exciting matchup between two male boxers on the card, which ended in a second round TKO.
Brodnicka is nevertheless one of the country's most famous and most recognizable boxers, and often slips into daring outfits for pre-fight events to crank up interest.
Brodnicka’s kiss was spotted by the world’s press, but it isn’t the first time the Pole has hit the headlines outside the ring. Back in May, she mulled the idea of posing for Playboy.
“That's a question for Playboy. I used to think about it and I would probably even be happy with such a proposal, but now I do not care about it. If there was a proposal, then I would consider it,” she said back then, in an article also by SportoweFakty.
The frosty realtionship between Brodnicka and Matthysse showed no sign of thawing post-fight, with Mathysse flipping the middle finger at Brodnicka in a show of disgust at the split decision result.
One judge scored the fight for the visitor, and Matthysse seemed to believe Brodnicka had benefited from home advantage.
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