Boxing notes: Ginithan vs. ‘The Gem’ an intriguing matchup

Las Cruces boxer Samantha Ginithan had a terrific debut season in the Team Combat League last year, going 9-2 in the TCL’s one-round bouts and being named a finalist for Rookie of the Year honors.

One thing, though, still grates on Ginithan as she prepares for her bout on Wednesday against Jennah Creason on a pro boxing card in Jamestown, California.

“The Team Combat League commentary didn’t really compliment me as a boxer,” Ginithan said during a phone interview from Houston, where she now lives and trains. “They called me a street fighter from time to time.”

Time and hard work in the gym, Ginithan believes, have changed that. And she plans to use those improved boxing skills against Creason in a four-round welterweight bout.

The matchup between Ginithan (1-0, one knockout) and Creason (2-0, no KOs) is fascinating. Ginithan, a southpaw, is 34 years old. Creason, a right-hander from Visalia, California, is 18.

Yet, Creason, nicknamed “The Gem,” is not your average 18-year-old. An accomplished combat-sports athlete, she’s competed in wrestling — she was a California state high school champion — kickboxing and jiujitsu in addition to a successful amateur boxing career. Creason thus represents a huge step up from Ginithan’s first professional opponent outside of TCL competition. Last September in Atlanta, Ginithan defeated Kayla Williams by first-round TKO after Williams, knocked down twice, opted not to continue.

Ginithan has watched some of Creason’s amateur bouts and has talked with a couple of Creason’s amateur contemporaries, Las Cruces’ Joscelyn Olayo-Muñoz and Gabriela Tellez, a San Antonio, Texas boxer who fought Creason several times.

“She’s a pressure fighter,” Ginithan said. “She’s strong. … She’s supposed to be a little phenom, 5-(foot)-4, thick legs.”

Ginithan’s a pressure fighter as well, but here’s where those improved boxing skills come in.

“I feel like I’m the longer fighter,” said Ginithan, who stands 5-7, “so I have a better chance of controlling the distance. … I’m really excited to add all those little extra things I’ve been working on, trying to look more like a boxer.”

It should be noted that if Creason represents a step up in competition for Ginithan, the reverse is also true.

Ginithan, who took up boxing just three years ago, is a USA Boxing national champion and a two-time Golden Gloves national champ. She never lost an amateur bout. And there’s her 2024 Team Combat League season, where she faced and defeated seasoned professionals.

Win or lose against Creason, Ginithan said, she plans a return to TCL competition this spring.

Ginithan spent most of the 2024 TCL season fighting for the Houston Hitmen, coached by fellow Las Crucen Austin Trout.

After the Hitmen were eliminated from playoff contention, Ginithan finished the season with the Miami Stealth.

Houston is her first choice as of now, she said, but she’s weighing other offers.

“Team Combat League pays pretty good for one round,” she said.

TROUT TO DUBAI: Have passport, will travel: Trout, Las Cruces’ gift to bare-knuckle fighting, is scheduled to defend his BKFC welterweight title April 4 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates against Carlos Trinidad.

For Trout (3-0 BKFC), this would be the 10th time he has fought outside the United States’ borders as a professional combat sports athlete — eight times as a boxer, twice as a bare-knuckle fighter. He successfully defended his BKFC tile with a victory by unanimous decision over Ricardo Franco on Oct. 12 in Marbella, Spain.

As a pro boxer, Trout has fought five times in Mexico, twice in Germany and once in Dubai.

As an amateur, he fought in South Korea and spent a couple of weeks in Athens as a 2004 Olympic alternate.

Trinidad, to whom the BKFC is referring as Carlos Trinidad-Snake, is 6-0 in BKFC completion.