Rosie Perez hosts An Evening with Female Boxers and Olympic Hopeful on WNYC

The Greene Space at WNYC presents WOMEN BOX: Fighting to Make History

An Evening with Female Boxers, including an Olympic Hopeful, In Advance of the First Olympics to Include Female Boxing Hosted by ROSIE PEREZ Friday, February 10 at 7:00 pm Live Video Webcast at www.thegreenespace.org

WNYC to Also Feature Radio and Podcast Stories Leading Up to the Olympic Trials

(New York City) – Men have boxed in the Olympic games since the ancient Greeks adopted the sport more than two thousand years ago. Women, never. But this year, that changes, when 24 American women will compete for three spots on the Olympic 2012 team.

In a new multimedia series entitled, WOMEN BOX: Fighting to Make History, WNYC, The Greene Space and photojournalist Sue Jaye Johnson will team up to tell the story of a group of women who challenge the prevailing wisdom that girls don’t play rough. The series kicks off on January 29, when the New York Times Magazine will publish Johnson’s photo and video series following women boxers and WNYC’s first radio story will air. The series will live online at wnyc.org/womenbox.

The centerpiece of the series is an event in The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space on Friday, February 10 at 7pm, convening some of the country’s aspiring and professional women boxers looking to make history. Host Rosie Perez will introduce Claressa Shields, a 16-year old girl from Flint, Michigan, whose mind is set on getting to the 2012 Olympics and who is featured in Johnson’s photo series. She is the youngest woman competing for a spot on the team and, at the tournament that qualified her for the trials, she was named “Most Outstanding Boxer.” Dr. Christy Halbert, the head USA Boxing's Task Force on Women and the foremost authority on women’s boxing, will discuss the history of the sport and the efforts to have women’s boxing included in the Olympics.

The lively discussion will be joined by four-time world champion Alicia Ashley, who, during her 15 years as a pro boxer, has wowed fans around the world and, yet, finds it hard to get a fight in the United States, and Heather Hardy, an accomplished amateur boxer and single mom with high hopes she can go pro and make a living doing what she loves.

The evening will include an on-stage boxing demonstration from Shields and her coach Jason Crutchfield.

WHAT: WOMEN BOX: Fighting to Make History

WHEN: Friday, February 10 at 7pm

WHERE: The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space

44 Charlton Street (at Varick Street)

New York, NY 10014

TICKETS: $15, includes a complimentary beer, available at www.thegreenespace.org