They swing in the gender gap!
A record number of female boxers compete in the annual FDNY boxing event.
Bad brave Nicole Malpeso, 32, Tara Iannotti, 34, and steamfitter Maria Fogarty, 32, will face off in the Battle of Georgia this year in the Battle of Georgia in a badge battle with big apple smoke cast against cups and firefighters from other cities.
“We're on the way to the hard round and we've beaten each other S-T,” Malpeso said of her training plan. “There's a really amazing group of women in New York City who are elite fighters.”
“I'm confident in my training as a firefighter, I'm confident in my training as a boxer,” said Malpeso, a firefighter with Engine 158 on Staten Island.
A total of six women compete in three matches at the prestigious Slugfest, competing for the Big Apple and two other service members from around the world.
Malpeso flipped the scale at 155 pounds during a measuring Wednesday at Mustang Harry's sports bar in Midtown.
Scrappy Welterweight said she's ready to go to a full raging bull in a match against Alex Turbitt of Fire & Rescue in the UK.
“I'm just going to go there and do my thing,” she said.
Iannotti of Flushing's Ladder 129 is bumping into the ring in preparation for the much-anticipated rematch against Atlanta Swat Cop Christina McCants, she said.
“Fire fight. My life is on the line. At least when you use boxing, there's a Ref. Iannotti, a 147-pound welterweight, said:
“It's normal to have some nerves, but the bell disappears and you're there and you ignore everything else around you,” she said.
Fogarty on Steamfitters Local 638 was not a weigh-in, but will be fighting West Yorkshire Police Lisa Pearson in the lightweight category.
The FDNY Bravest boxing team, along with Irish and British boxers, will challenge fighters from Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, Yonkers police and fire stations.
Proceeds go to the Towers Foundation, a nonprofit organization that was founded in honor of FDNY firefighter Stephen Schiller, who was killed in the 9-11 attack, in support of families of fallen firefighters.
In 2023, FDNY firefighters and NYPD officials became the first women to compete in a boxing event that began in 2005.
