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JAKIE KALLEN TELLS ALL IN NEW BOOK

"First Lady of Boxing" Jackie Kallen, tells all in new book

By CONNIE CUELLAR, Special to The Oakland Press

Jackie Kallen’s life story is a testimony that anything can happen when you’re not afraid of the word “no.”

In her new memoir, “Between the Ropes,” Kallen sheds light on her life’s secrets, her road to success, her challenges and triumphs and the endless tenacity and perseverance that fueled her.

Peppered with incredible, star-studded pictures, the book chronicles Kallen’s extraordinary journey with anecdotes and experiences. It’s a wild ride, with more than a few good lessons on the way.

Elvis. The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. Sinatra. Kallen has interviewed and befriended them all. It was not an easy task for a woman in those days. And it was unheard of for a woman to manage a boxer.

Meg Ryan portrayed Kallen as the famed “First Lady of Boxing” in the film “Against the Ropes,” in which Kallen asserts her way into the boys-club world of boxing. But Kallen wasn’t happy with how the movie portrayed her. She said Hollywood “raped” her by distorting and changing her life story for the sake of the movie.

She hopes her newest book will allow people to see her more accurately, especially her grandchildren. She moved back to Oakland County from Los Angeles last year to live closer to her family.

“I have five grandchildren who are growing rapidly,” she says. “And plus I had some health issues; and I think my children felt it would be better for me to be closer to them.

“The book really deals with how disappointed I was in the movie, how it really didn’t depict my life accurately, and I wanted to tell my own story,” Kallen said. “Mostly, when I started writing it, it was for my kids and grandkids, because I didn’t want my grandchildren to grow up, see that movie someday and think that’s who I was. I wanted them to know the real story. My life story is a lot more compelling, there’s a lot more conflict and sacrifice. It’s a lot meatier than what they could put in a two-hour movie.”

From her roots as an entertainment journalist and sports writer for The Oakland Press for 25 years, Kallen went on to become a boxing writer in the late ’80s and worked with champions including Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns. In 1988, she began managing her own fighters, including a half-dozen champions. She owned and operated her own boxing gym in the Detroit area, which took young people off the streets and put them into the gym.

In 2005, NBC’s reality boxing show “The Contender” featured her as a “den mother” to boxers; Sugar Ray Leonard and Sylvester Stallone were the show’s hosts. She also wrote the self-help book “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and is a popular speaker.

“I love it,” Kallen said. “While I was at The Oakland Press, I got the assignment to interview Tommy Hearns, who had just turned pro, and I ended up going to work for Emanuel Steward at the Kronk Gym as their publicist. I did that for 10 years. Then I branched out, with his blessing, and started managing, I had six world champions, including James ‘Lights Out’ Toney, who was my No. 1 star, and it was just a niche. There was no woman doing it, so I figured, ‘Why not?’”

As a journalist, Kallen was fearless. She invited the Rolling Stones to her home and she was one of the first people to spend time with the band Kiss back in the ’70s — without their makeup. She was at the Beatles legendary concert at Shea Stadium and went on a date with teen idol Ricky Nelson when she was a young girl. She covered the Oscars, the Grammys, the Emmys, live concerts and movies. She had her own radio show, “DTXpose,” and was a regular on the CBS show “PM Magazine.”

“I’ve had a blessed journey,” Kallen said. “And I like people. I think when you like people, they tend to like you back. I’ve had the Rolling Stones to my house for dinner. I’ve met Frank Sinatra, and of course the greats like Joe Lewis, Mohammed Ali. It’s been a wonderful journey and I still manage fighters. I write for a boxing website, and I do motivational speaking. So I’m busy.”

Her life was not all roses and sunshine — she overcame intense challenges. After a divorce, Kallen moved to Los Angeles in 1997. Upon moving there, she had two breast lumpectomies. A former boyfriend also beat her savagely. After recovering from reconstructive surgery, she began her work with battered and abused women.

“I met a younger man, who seemed very nice. Little did I know there was another side to him. One day that side came out and I ended up in the hospital. He beat me pretty bad. He broke my cheek and nasal passages. It was bad, and I did all the wrong things that women aren’t supposed to do. Number one, I didn’t report it, which I should have, and number two, I didn’t tell anybody. I pretended it was an accident. And number three, I took him back for a short period of time, so I learned a lot from it.

“Then I went to volunteer at domestic abuse shelters. Now, that’s my cause. I like to work with other women who’ve been abused and kind of work through it. I mean, here I am in a fight business, where people knock each other out every day for a living, and I ended up the one knocked out. But that’s in the past. I’ve certainly moved on.”

Since then she has had three heart stents implanted and now does work with other heart patients, proving once again that challenges can turn into triumphs. She takes the lessons she’s learned from a lifetime of challenges and turns them around to help other people. Motivational speaking provides the perfect platform for her.

“I love to get with a group of women or men, young people, college kids and really help them understand what are the important things in life,” she says. “How can you succeed? It’s all within you.”

Kallen said she feels a real kinship with the audience.

“I like to empower people. To help people realize their own potential. Not to waste the gifts they were given,” she says. “One of the most important things to impart to people is not to let other people define who you are. It doesn’t matter what they think. Most of us are a tiny bit insecure and are affected by other people’s opinions and that’s a big no-no. You really have to know who you are and ignore all the outside influences because they really aren’t important.”

Source: www.dailytribune.com/arts-and-entertainment/20131112/first-lady-of-boxing-jackie-kallen-tells-all-in-new-book