THE latest updated ranking for women’s heavyweight boxers in the world shows Gwendolyn ‘Stealth Bomber’ O’Neil as the current number one-ranked fighter in the world.The `queen’ of boxing sits atop the rankings after defeating former No.1 fighter Sonya `The Scholar’ Lamonakis on July 4 this year, to win the Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) World female heavyweight title in St Maarten.

The loss for Greece’s Lamonakis puts her now in the No.4 spot on the world list.

O’Neil is expected to return shortly to join in the month-long celebration of Amerindian Heritage Month.

The Amerindian Heritage Month is celebrated in September of every year and is in recognition of Guyana’s indigenous people who are the natural caretakers of the rainforests which cover almost two-thirds of Guyana.

O’Neil is of mixed race, and hails from Mabaruma, an Amerindian village situated in Region 1 (North West).

Gwendolyn, who started professional boxing in July of 1999, was the first female Guyanese boxer to ever win a world boxing title. The memorable, historic bout took place at the National Park here in Guyana in May of 2004 against Kathy Rivers for the WIBA World light heavyweight title.

O’Neil easily defeated Rivers by unanimous decision in front of a jubilant, crowd at a packed National Park.

O’Neil was also the first Guyana female to fight for a world title in Guyana; the first to win a world title in Guyana; the first of indigenous heritage (Amerindian) to win a world title; the first Caribbean woman to win a world title  and the first to win more than one world title (five-time champion).

Her remarkable career has given her many victories but she ranks her most recent World heavyweight title win as one of her most gratifying wins. “So many people counted me out but I knew that God would show them what I was made of,” said the happy O’Neil after the fight.

Even after an almost four-year layoff from professional boxing and losing 30 pounds while training for the World title bout, she still knew that she had the passion and skill to fight at the highest world class level.

“I’m a champion and you can never count out a true champion because that warrior spirit never says die,” said O’Neil.

The late Nelson Mandela who was also a boxer met O’Neil in South Africa when she fought Muhammad ‘The Greatest’ Ali’s daughter Laila Ali in 2007. The fighting spirit in Mandela and the compassion for his people did not allow the twenty-seven years spent in prison to break him either.

The Guyanese `warrior’ encourages all of the younger generation to pick up whatever they love doing and pursue their dreams with passion and never let anyone tell them what they cannot do.

Boxing has yet to respect and pay the female fighters the same way that their male counterparts are treated but that has not stopped the tireless champion from pushing on for sixteen years.

O’Neil’s No.1 World Ranking once again in the heavyweight division basically guarantees her a spot in the `Hall of Fame’ for female boxers. At forty-five years old she seems to be still improving and we sincerely hope that the treatment given to female boxers and women in general can also improve even at this late stage because it’s never too late to make that positive change.

Who will champion the cause of women, the nurturers of all life in this world, the matriarchs, the real number ones and the real everyday champions?