By: Gordon Durich
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 5/1/2024 – Alicia Doyle wears many different hats – and surprisingly, an interesting pair of gloves.
Doyle is a former newspaper reporter, writer and author, who has turned in some award-winning work. She also is a two-time Golden Gloves boxing champion.
Articles by and about Doyle have been published in the Orange County Register, the Ventura County Star, the Ojai News, Beyond the Acorn and many other freelance publications.
A native of Colorado, Doyle is a long-time Southern Californian, who discovered boxing at the age of 28, while on assignment for a story about at-risk youth boxing at the Kid Gloves gym in Simi Valley. There, she met her eventual mentor, Robert Ortiz.
Doyle said she was intrigued by “the sweet science,” a term coined by 19th Century British sportswriter Pierce Egan to describe how fighters need to approach boxing in a scientific manner. In time, Doyle started taking classes, and soon enough, she was hooked.
“The classes were not enough … I was fascinated!” she said, adding that her coach Stan Ward was “not of this world” and was very influential in her getting into the sport.
In short order, the journalist in her took over and soon, Doyle turned her love of boxing into a book, Fighting Chance. It’s a powerful autobiography which scored her a Best of Los Angeles Award in 2021 for Best Autobiographical Book. Fighting Chance has won awards since it was published including first prize for Creative Nonfiction in the 2020 North Street Book Prize Winning Writers Competition.
Her second non-fiction book, The Oath, is based on a true story about Simi Valley Police Department women, and Doyle pulled no punches, earning more accolated and more attention.
A journalist for more than two decades, Doyle has authored thousands of stories about inspirational people and efforts that have made a positive impact. Her heightened profile as a writer and boxer drew the attention of film producer Slavica Bogdanov. He read Fighting Chance and it is now in development.
“I found out about Alicia on Linked-In,” Bogdanov said. “Somehow, one of her posts appeared on my feed. I read her book, Fighting Chance and thought we could make an impact.”
Bogdanov’s film was delayed by the COVID pandemic, and the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild strikes also slowed the film’s progress, according to Doyle. But the film is back on track and Bogdanov says the it could be “a female Rocky,” and hopefully, it will have more than a fighting chance to make a big powerful punch.
For more about Alicia Doyle and her boxing career, go to her website. Fighting Chance and The Oath both can be found on Amazon.
