By Pete Ehrmann Special to the Journal Sentinel

July 24, 1997

Bridgit Benjamin wore a pink cast on her right hand Tuesday evening at the Ace gym instead of the boxing glove that typically covers it.

It was a souvenir of the fight she won last week that eliminated her from the U.S. Women's Championships in Augusta, Ga.

Benjamin met coach Del Horter and teammates Amparo Garcia and Julie Ann Dentice at 6 a.m. July 15 at the Kosciuszko Park gym to await their ride to the airport for their flight to Augusta. The first all-women's national boxing tournament started the next day, and Benjamin had trained hard for two months..

Setting her bags outside the door, Benjamin stepped into the gym for a moment, and when she emerged, she saw a man running off with the bag containing her credit cards, cash and boxing equipment.

Wearing a business suit and high heels, she chased down the would-be thief. When she caught the man -- who she estimates to be in his mid-20s and who "didn't seem like he was all the way on the planet with the rest of us" -- Benjamin spun him around and felt her right ring finger "kinda twist."

She not only got her bag back, but subdued the man enough to go through his pockets to make sure he hadn't gotten into her money.

"With my hand hurt I couldn't really box so we began to grapple," Benjamin said. She then stamped on the man's feet with her high heels and kneed him in the groin. When he dropped to the sidewalk she continued to stamp on his body. "I finally put my high-heeled foot right on his face," she said proudly. "That's when he surrendered."

On the plane to Augusta, her twisted finger swelled badly and "was just killing me," Benjamin said.

An X-ray of the injured finger disclosed a spiral fracture, and the 30-year-old boxer has been ordered by her doctor not to report for her job as an apprentice steamfitter for at least a month.

"This could only happen to me," said Benjamin, who has had difficulty getting boxing matches since she became the first woman to enter the Wisconsin Golden Gloves tournament four years ago.

"It was so disappointing. This was the first woman's tournament, and I almost got there. I never felt so ready for a fight in my entire life."

But not the one she ended up having.

In the future, Benjamin said, "I guess I'll have to hire a bodyguard like (Mike) Tyson to carry my gym bag."

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