Loi Chow: Embarassment or Hero? | Asian American Poll

Is Loi Chow an embarrassment for Asian Americans or a hero for the cause of women's equality?
(Updated 3/8/01 to reflect the 100 most recent valid votes.)
An embarrassment because by boxing a woman he made Asian American men look bad. | 52%
An embarrassment because by losing to a woman he made Asian American men look bad. | 22%
A hero, because despite all the ridicule he faced, he had the guts to give a woman boxer the chance to prove herself in a man's sport. | 9%
Neither -- he's just a poor schmuck trying to make a buck ($1,500 to be exact). | 17%

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GOLDSEA | ASIAN AMERICAN POLL

LOI CHOW:
EMBARRASSMENT OR HERO?
Loi Chow becomes the first man to box a woman professionally -- and lose!

oi Chow, 33, a professional jockey and sometime boxer, lost a unanimous decision to Margaret "Tiger" MacGregor in a four-rounder that was the first-ever professional boxing match between a man and a woman. At 5-5 and 129 pounds MacGregor is taller and heavier than the 5-2 Chow who had bulked up to 125 pounds for the fight. She was also the clearly superior fighter. In her professional career she has compiled a 4-0 record with one knockout. She is a blackbelt in karate and a former woman's kickboxing champion and works as a landscaper when not boxing. Prospective female opponents had found MacGregor scary enough to start ducking matches with her. Desperate for a fight, MacGregor jumped all over her manager's kidding suggestion that she start boxing men. The only taker was a Mexican friend of Chow's who too ducked out, pleading a visa glitch. Chow agreed to step in at the last minute "as a favor to a friend," he told reporters.
     The October 9 match with MacGregor was Chow's third pro fight and his first in three years. Before the match the jockey had compiled an unimpressive 0-2 record in the 115-pound weight class. He put on 10 pounds to qualify for the bout with MacGregor under Washington state licensing regulations which prohibits fights between opponents whose weights differ by more than 7 pounds.
     Before the fight , Chow was roundly ridiculed by commentators for being unchivalrous enough to box a woman. Chow shrugged off the criticism and predicted that he would knock MacGregor out with his first combination.
     As it turned out, the aggressive MacGregor had Chow on the run for most of the match at Seattle's Mercer Arena, making the job of the three judges easy. Chow complained that he had been slowed down by an elevated blood pressure of 185 over 115.
     Should the match go down in history as a low point for the image of the Asian American male or a high point for the women's liberation movement? Is Chow an embarrassment or a hero? You decide!