5'1 1/2" Terri "Too Tuff" Moss from Athens, Georgia was born on January 25,
1966 in Denver, Colorado.
Terri began her intensive physical conditioning regime when she got a job in the
bicycle patrol with the University of Georgia Police Department. "It was that
first police job where I gave up smoking and social drinking and started working
out," she told WBAN's
Brian Ackley, "I learned how to build a little endurance. Man, did this give
me a rush! I had never felt so good in my life. I rode for over two years and
was addicted to exercise. I kept lifting, kept riding, and it eventually stirred
an interest in triathlon, and I really began studying nutrition and holistic,
organic living."
Boxing didn't come into her life until a girlfriend who was going through a
divorce - and wanted to take out some of her frustrations on a punching bag -
suggested that Terri tag along to a gym for one of her boxing workouts. "I
was just starting to train for my first triathlon and had only completed a
half-triathlon prior to this. She begged me to come along and I finally agreed,
but told her she was an idiot. I said, ‘Do I look like I want to get my face
beat in?’ But I went anyway. That’s when everything changed," says Moss. "Here
I was, what I thought was a pretty good athlete. I mean, when I was in the gym,
people would come up to me and ask if I was an instructor because I was in
really good shape. But you know, I couldn’t hit those pads for one minute
without getting winded. I was totally impressed. There was something to this
sport, and I wanted to know what it was."
Originally Terri trained to become a boxing trainer, corner and cutman. "I’m
an expert at these things, including hand wrapping and handling contracts,
matching fights. You name it, in boxing I can do most anything," she says.
She was motivated to box competitively by seeing Atlanta's Nina
Ahlin fight. "When I met her then, I said ‘I’m going to fight this girl.’
I was training then, but I really didn’t think I was going to fight because I
had all these obstacles. But I said, ‘You know, I can do this. I can beat this
girl."
Terri's age when she started boxing competition made
her pass up on fighting as an amateur and go straight into the pro sport (once
she had convinced to state commission to grant her license.)
Terri (105 lbs) made her pro debut on February 22, 2002 at the Roxy Nightclub in
Boston, Massachusetts, dropping a four-round decision to WIBF Americas Flyweight
champion Wendy Sprowl (108 lbs) of Hull, Massachusetts, who advanced to 6-1-0 (2
KO). hFull Story on Terri Moss
