Boxing is Stephanie Eggink’s passion

Published 12:04 am Tuesday, February 17, 2009

ARLINGTON — As a girl growing up in Ferndale, Stephanie Eggink played soccer, ran track and even tried golf. They were fun sports, but still there was something missing.

Then one day Eggink wandered into a boxing gym and laced up a pair of gloves. And it was, she remembers, love at first fight.

“Until I started boxing,” said the 20-year-old Eggink, “I never found the thing that I really liked. Until then, I never really had a passion sport.

“It sounds bad,” she conceded with a smile, “but when you hit someone it feels good.”

Eggink, who trains at the Arlington Boxing Club, has been boxing for about three years. She was a United States amateur champion in 2007 and represented this country at the Pan-American Games that same year.

In January, Eggink turned pro and won her first bout with a four-round unanimous decision against Brittany Cruz of Denver at the Silver Reef Casino outside of Ferndale.

“It was pretty awesome,” said Eggink of her first pro victory, for which she was paid $1,000. “It didn’t seem really real. … The idea of fighting professionally is scary because it’s so different from amateur. As a professional, everyone is so serious. It’s just way more intense.

“I was,” she said, “more nervous for this fight than any fight I’ve ever had.”

She wasn’t the only one. In the crowd that night were her parents Mark and LaVonne Eggink of Ferndale, and the sight of their daughter trading blows in the ring “was very nerve wracking and very exciting at the same time,” Mark Eggink said.

“Before fights, my heart is just pounding,” he went on. “The anticipation of her getting in the ring is really scary. But once she’s in the ring, I kind of calm down a little bit because she wins. She’s pretty good.”

When his daughter first brought up an interest in boxing three years ago, Mark Eggink figured “it was just a fad and would only last a couple of months. I thought she’d do it, get tired of it and then move on to something else. But when I saw her in the ring for her first fight, I could tell she had skill and a natural ability to move. I could tell that she could probably go farther if she wanted to.

“And now she says, ‘Dad, if I’m going to do this I might as well make money.’”

Stephanie Eggink, who had a 12-1 record as an amateur (her only loss came at the Pan Am Games), is looking to take her career beyond local matches. She hopes to sign a contract with a promoter and begin traveling outside the Northwest for bouts that will bring her more exposure and bigger paychecks.

“I think she’s got the potential to do whatever she’s got in mind,” said Dan Hathaway, her coach with the Arlington Boxing Club. “There aren’t a lot of women (pros), so she can climb through the ranks a little faster than the guys.”

Eggink, who competes as a featherweight (125 pounds), is already ranked 42nd out of 94 in her class in the world, and 13th out of 20 in the U.S.

When she trains, Eggink always spars with male fighters. And for her opponents, that generally takes some getting used to, Hathaway said.

“But when she steps through the ropes, she’s not a girl,” he added. “And you’d better be ready or she’ll really hit you.”

Away from boxing, Eggink lives in Bellingham and studies at Whatcom Community College. Her goal is to get an undergraduate degree in history and become a history teacher.

Women pros “don’t make as much money (as male fighters), so this is definitely not something I’m thinking of as a career,” she said. “I couldn’t support myself doing this, so I’ll have to have a job.”

And even though she dreams of a world title, “I’ve never really set any goals in boxing. It’s always just been my goal to go as far as I can,” she said.