International Women’s Boxing Association bantamweight 1976 champion and the 1980 World Karate Association bantamweight champ, Graciela Casillas from Oxnard, will be inducted into the National Boxing Hall of Fame April 23 in Montebello CA.
This recognition comes after an extensive list of 45 years of background training in a variety of disciplines and years of earning world championship titles. This will be her eight induction into a hall of fame.
As one can imagine this achievement, along with the others did not come easily. As a female boxer in the 70’s and 80’s Casillas experienced a lot of adversity. She believes the reason she was even able to acquire matches as a young athlete had more to do with curiosity in seeing women fight than respect as a professional athlete.
The organizers of her matches would often say things such as “oh she’s a woman and guess what she’s a boxer.”
In response, she would bite her lip and say that’s fine, telling herself “they’re going to bring me on because it’s such a novelty but it’s so extreme and it’s weird and people were curious about it not because I was respected as a female athlete and world champion,” said Casillas to VIDA Newspaper.
Additionally, since this concept of female pro fighters was foreign to a lot of people, the media and other curious people would often ask questions and make comments she felt were unnecessary since no man would be asked those same questions and be subject to those types of comments.
Casillas was also the first boxer to step in the ring wearing a skirt. Since the only outfits available were men’s clothes, she would make her own, refusing to wear the oversized men’s boxing clothing.
“I kinda fashioned it after figure skaters I saw watching figure skating and I used to think wow they look so pretty and I acknowledge that this was also entertainment and I wanted to demonstrate that one can retain their femininity and still be powerful and be strong,” Casillas said to VIDA Newspaper.
Choosing not to give up the feminine side of herself, she would even wear dresses to her weigh-ins and often did not wear pants.
Growing up working in the fields with her family in Oxnard, she gives credit to her father’s strong work ethic to her success, describing him as an instrumental part in her determination not to give up.
“The way I look at things is, there are no problems without solutions and I think anything that you see as an obstacle, you find your way around it, over it, underneath it but you find a way around it,” mentioned Casillas.
Although she retired in 1986, Casillas continues to teach martial arts at Oxnard College part time and travels the world giving seminars focusing on weapons and weapon defense tactics.
Martial arts provided Casillas a sense of confidence and strength. She encourages young female boxers to “surround themselves with supportive people, to fully commit to the art and take care of themselves in and outside of the ring.”