Book Review: The Lady is a Champ by Carol Polis

I am no longer implementing the MPAA rating system in my reviews.  For many books it is too hard to figure out exactly where it fits.  It all depends on the maturity of the reader, really.




It was never her goal in life, but it came to be.  Carol Polis was the first female judge in boxing history.  She grew up not caring for the sport.  Her dad and brothers watched it on TV, but she didn't really pay attention.  However, she ended up marrying, her second marriage I believe, a boxing referee.  Watching him he encouraged her to keep score.  It kept her interested in the matches.  Seeing her scorecard, they knew there was something special.  They were her husband Bob Polis and Zach Clayton, the Philadelphia State Athletic Commissioner at the time.

What helped Polis as a judge was that she wasn't a fan of boxing, so she wasn't distracted by getting to see so-and-so box.  Only once did she get swayed by a "crush" on a boxer.  She learned from her mistake and focused in between both boxers rather than on one in particular.

Through her career as a judge, which was not her full-time "day" job as there just wasn't enough money in it, Carol Polis got to do many things.  She met many famous boxers.  She traveled overseas and over hemispheres, her favorite place being Italy.  Sadly, it caused her to divorce Bob Polis.  She kept getting jobs and he didn't.  Though they, people in charge of boxing, I think it was the WBA, did not say it, they did not want the two working together.  She was a judge and he a referee, but the two positions were connected.  I think this caused anger in him which in turn caused their marriage to fail.

Nothing deterred Carol.  She did her job.  She loved her job.  Her entrance into the boxing world allowed other females to becomes boxing judges.  It was a step in the right direction for women.

A wonderful story has been told of the boxing world from the eyes of the first female judge.  We get to see the insides of a world full of corruption and mayhem.  We meet the shady characters attracted to this sport, but we also meet good guys along the way.

Not being a fan of boxing I found this to be a fabulous read.  Carol takes the reader into her life and on the sidelines of the boxing ring.  The only problem with her storytelling is sometimes she would go on a tangent and lose us, or well, me, in the timeline of events.

I read this book as a review request using the Kindle App on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.