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Amy Hayes doesn’t pull punches as the best female ring announcer in boxing. “I remember being 17 and working as a ringcard girl in, Detroit,” she says. “I looked at the ring announcer and thought, I want to be that. Screw carrying this card around!” The 28-year-old athlete worked as a Hawaiian tropic girl and modeled for 10 years while breaking into broadcasting.
“My father did talk radio in Detroit,” she says. “When I was little, we would pretend we were doing the nightly news together. Now I live with my parents in Lexington, Kentucky.” The self proclaimed new Mouth From the South has announced fights on ESPN, Showtime and Fox Sports Net.
“I want to be the first woman to announce a major title fight,” she says. Her favorite boxer Shane Mosley, but the person she”d like to KO is announcer Michael Buffer. “One time before a fight he threatened to walk if I went out there,” she says. “I know he’s the best, and I was nervous, I think he felt the heat, knowing that a young woman could actually go up there and carry off the announcing duties without it being a joke.”
Although Amy’s career is gearing up with new radio projects, sportswrithing and her 2003 calendar, moving to Lexington has helped her get back to her roots. “Basketball is like a religion here,” she says. I’m dating a former University of Kentucky basketball player and we’re a great match-we play hoops all the time. If he gets serious on me, he has to buy me a horse. I have dogs and cats, and I’ve persuaded my dad to let me get a goat. I’ll name him Cassius Clay.”
- Reprinted from Playboy Magazine
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