5'2½" 118-lb southpaw Lisa "Bad News" Brown was born in Port of Spain,
Trinidad and lives in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The only girl in a
family of four, she emigrated to Canada in 1988 at age 17. While Brown
was in Trinidad she enjoyed cricket, but when she moved to Canada
cricket was not recognized in Canada.
Lisa began boxing as an amateur at age 26, encouraged by her pro boxer
husband Errol Brown. Like many women who entered the boxing ring in the
late 1990's, Lisa says she was also motivated by seeing Christy Martin
and Dierdre Gogarty in 1996 on a Mike Tyson Pay-Per-View card. Lisa won
two bantamweight championships in her home province of Ontario, and she
competed in the Canadian national amateur championships in 1998 and
1999.
At the 1998 Canadian nationals in Edmonton, Alberta, Lisa took the
silver medal at 54 kg when she dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Patricia
Picotin of Quebec in the title match on January 17. Canadian amateur
boxer Misty Shearer told me "this was a really close fight. Lisa was a
bit more aggressive but Patricia was able to counter really well. Lisa
had good power and went to the body well but Patricia was quick to
counter and was able to get off the ropes and move out of Lisa's way."
On July 10, 1998 at the Lackawanna County Stadium, in Scranton,
Pennsylvania, Lisa represented Canada in the 119-lb division of the
first-ever dual meet between the USA and Canadian national women's
amateur boxing teams. She lost by a razor-thin 11-10 decision to
Elizabeth Aguilera of West Covina, California.
On January 24, 1999, in the finals of the 1999 Canadian nationals in
Sudbury, Ontario, Lisa won the 54-kg division by a walkover.
On March 27, 1999 in a 54-kg bout the second leg of the Canada-Sweden
Dual at the Atlas Boxing Club in Toronto, Lisa was edged out by Sweden's
Frida Emanuelsson by a hard fought 7-6 decision.
Lisa turned pro with a 26-6 amateur record behind her, but she then had
a hard time finding opponents who were willing to fight her. She finally
secured a debut fight on May 5, 2000 at the Convention Center in Tucson,
Arizona, by stepping into the ring against Tucson's own Leilani Salazar
as a late substitute for Valory Troike of Las Vegas. Some highlights of
her fights include:
Lisa's fifth pro bout represented a significant step up in competition.
She took on an experienced pro warrior in a six round war on a card
aptly billed as the "Border Explosion" on April 27, 2001 at the
Convention Center in Niagara Falls, New York. A crowd announced as 4500
saw an entertaining battle as Lisa won a six-round unanimous (57-55,
57-56, 57-56) decision over the scrappy IFBA Junior Featherweight
champion "Downtown" Leona Brown of Pawling, New York.
A professional career that spans ten years and boasted multi-world
titles, Lisa Brown was one of the key figures in women’s professional
boxing. Brown fought many top prominent female boxers that included Jeri
Sitze, Sharon Anyos, Leona Brown, Karen Martin, Kelli Cofer, Ada Velez,
Jackie Chavez, Jeannine Garside, Melissa Hernandez, Alicia Ashley, Ana
Julaton, Jackie Nava, and more. During her professional boxing career,
she fought from 2000-2013, with a 20-6-3 (6KO) boxing record.
