Trainer of winning fighter in fatal bout speaks out

 From: erichaycraft

Member Since: 1/30/03

Posts: 479

As Lindsay’s coach I can tell you 100% that she is not a professional fighter. Lindsay has never been paid for any fights and of her international bouts two have been at the WKA Amateur World Championships. Lindsay has fought twice in Holland against girls who were also NOT A class fighters and once in Suriname as a C class. Lindsay is a very serious fighter with professional aspirations. Of course this type of an event tends to make one reconsider. But she trains very serious. We take all our fights very serious. We have wanted to push the level in the USA where there is such a wide margin of skill levels.

Outside of the USA the rest of the world does not classify fighters as cut and dry as amateur or pro. Holland has a very strict class system that is based on how many number of bouts a person has and win to loss ratio. So all of our fights in Holland have been with women of the same record and NOT in the A class(what is considered professional there). For women there is next to no professional game in the USA so we have very attentive to fighting only in bouts that would keep us at the amateur level.

This tournament is an open tournament. That means that a fighter with zero fights could face a fighter with 100 fights. In fact, they have a pep rally of sorts to kick the thing off and bring that very note up. Is it right? No of course not. However, there are not enough amateur fighters in America to break it apart all the time and with women that means even less. There are three large tournaments each year. Two of them offer a novice division. So an fighter with four fights can be in that one. I think in this case Adrienne was already at that. I agree that a class system makes the most sense and maybe that is something we can strive for in pushing forward in this tragic turn of events. But it is just so difficult to say, in this tournament the most difficult fight we had was a young lady from Virginia who entered the tournament with a 0-0 record. So it really is so very difficult to qualify a standard.

Last year Lindsay was second place in this tournament and she was the third most experienced fighter in the tournament. Two of the gals had more fights than her.

The other thing I would like to note is that the IKF posted all the brackets at the time each person signed up, so that means that all the coaches and other fighters knew exactly who was in their brackets.

Adrienne and Lindsay knew each other. We set up shop in the same locker room. We talked as the ladies fought through the tournament. It is very different fighting in tournaments. You have fights on Saturday and whatever hit s you take that day you carry over to the next day and to the finals.

I can tell you for a fact, that no part of my team would ever have any part or interest or even benefit in taking advantage of the system as we know it here in America. I am very very active on the national fight scene. We have been transparent with all our fights online with news sites and our website and facebook. Lindsay has never fought as a professional. We have never fought for WPTBL site you posted. In fact, I assume many ranking are developed by grabbing names from the internet.

We want to affect a change from this as well. We want to make sure that the playing field is as level as possible and when and if such a tragic event happens the medical capacity to handle the accident is the very best that it could be.

Anyone that would like to discuss this with me can contact me and I will forward you my ph0ne number. We want to ease everyone’s minds the best we can as we try to cope with this sad turn of events ourselves. erichaycaft@yahoo.com

Wfighter.com has contacted me and I helped put them in touch with Adrienne’s team to set up a pay pal account to take donations. Please have a look and give a little. We have a huge community and a little from a lot goes a long way.

We are very sad for Adrienne and those close to her. We knew her for many years. She and Lindsay have been training the same length of time and Adrienne was even at Lindsay’s fist fight. Sad times.

With a very heavy heart,

Eric Haycraft