Female boxer faces fight of her life

Clint Eastwood's character was cautious to a fault with his fighters. Katie's trainer, who has since died, told her she was ready to turn pro after just six weekends of work. And she trusted his judgment.

Phillips: “He was a professional trainer.”

Katie Dallam: “Yeah.”

Phillips: “And he said, I got a fight for you?”

Katie Dallam: “Right, yeah. He had said that I would win it easily.”

The fighter he'd found, Sumya Anani, was 13 years younger than Katie and a ferocious puncher. She's currently the reigning world champion in three weight classes. She's a fighter who has trouble getting fights.

Phillips: “How would you describe your boxing style?”

Sumya Anani: “Fighter, boxer, puncher. I really feel like I can do all of them really well.”

Phillips: “Why do you think nobody wants to fight you?”

Sumya Anani: “I don't think there's anybody that can beat me and they know that.”

In 1996, Anani was also a relative newcomer, but her star was clearly on the rise. She was undefeated, 3-0, going into the fight against Katie. The setting was a firefighter's union hall in St. Joseph, Mo.

Stephanie Dallam: “Nothing fancy. They set up a boxing ring in it. There was chairs and tables around.”

Katie's older sister, Stephanie, no fan of boxing, went with her that night. A camera crew there captured the events on tape.

Phillips: “What was the scene like when you got there?”

Stephanie Dallam: “The atmosphere was more like a tavern before the fight. They stopped everything for 30 minutes to push beer. The women were fighting, let's drink up.”

Phillips: “And when the bell rang, the fight began. What did you see?”

Stephanie Dallam: “As soon as bell rang, Sumya came rushing, lunging at Katie. Her arms were already going like this. It was like a windmill coming at her.”

Katie Dallam: “It looked like some kind of-- I don't know machine coming towards me.”

The fight was scheduled for four rounds, two minutes each. Within seconds, Katie began taking a series of blows to the head.

Stephanie Dallam: “The crowd was enjoying it. And they were yelling things like, ‘Kick her ass! Kill her!’ And you know at this point, I was feeling physically ill.”

Phillips: “This is your sister.”

Stephanie Dallam: “This is my sister. And I just wanted it to stop.”

Katie Dallam: “I just have this vision of getting hit and everything goes blank.”

Despite all the punches Katie was taking, the referee told Dateline he saw no reason to end the fight in the early rounds. And Dan Smith, the ring doctor that night, says nothing he saw led him to think Katie was in trouble -- and watching the fight again with us, he says, only confirmed his opinion.

Phillips: “Any sense it should have been stopped earlier, as you look at it?  I mean a lot of shots, a lot of blows to the head.”

Dr. Dan Smith: “Sure. She never fell once. She never fell to the ground. She kept her gloves up. She defended herself. Unfortunately, it's easy in hindsight to say, yeah it would have been great to stop the fight. But at what point? Katie was still boxing to the end. But when a boxer doesn't fall, when a boxer continues to swing back at the opponent, how do you know?”

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