When you go to a fight, some people are there for the “event”, some are there to see pure boxing, some are just there with their friends. However, in between rounds, there’s always 1 distraction for most people in the 1 minute while the boxers are in their respective corners, and that distraction is the ring card girl. Recently I had to chance to talk with 1 of the most known ring card girls in the sport, the beautiful Ashley Ferrara. We went over numerous topics such as what boxers she interacts with, what’s her outside of the ring life like, as she is currently in law school, and what she plans to do next in her very busy and exciting life.
To start off the interview, I wanted to know how did Ashley get into the sport and become a ring card girl. Was it something that she was chosen for by her modeling company or did she approach them. She responded, “In Oklahoma, there are a lot of casinos and they put on dozens of fight cards with local promoters and big promoters such as Top Rank, King of the Cage, and Bellator. I was asked by one of the local promoters to ring card a fight and fell in love with it. I enjoyed seeing the fights, sitting ringside and getting the crowd pumped up between rounds. After the first fight I knew I wanted to do it again and the rest is history!”
Currently Ashley Ferrara is not only busy doing events, but she is also in law school in Oklahoma, so I asked the Texas native if she ever has time to go to fights as a fan. She said, “I don’t usually go to a fight as a fan unless they are in driving distance and usually if they are that close I work them! I watch a lot on HBO, Showtime, and ESPN2 if I am not working them. ESPN2 has done great things with the Friday Night Fights program this year!” I also asked about how many events she does a year, Ferrara responded, “Depends a lot from year to year, hard to give an exact number! Working on something big, but don’t want to jinx it yet. Next fight for certain is in April!”
Currently Ashley isn’t specializing in any particular type of law, but with being in law school, having to do events, and having a personal life, how does she balance it all. “Lots of coffee! I couldn’t do everything that I do if I didn’t love doing it, so I try to always remember the positive. I’m incredibly lucky to have supportive people around me to help me manage my time, remind me why I am doing everything that I do, and pick me up when I’m having a bad day,” said Ferrara.
Next up, I went into her life after law school, what were her plans for pursuing more, both with school and still continuing to work in the ring. She said, “Graduating from law school in May will be very exciting, unfortunately that excitement will be short lived because the next step in becoming a practicing attorney is taking the Bar exam. I’ve never heard anything good about studying for and taking the Bar so I am not looking forward to it, even though I know that having my law license will make the last three years of studying worth it! I do plan on continuing ring carding as well.”
Then I asked if she thought, as a very knowledgeable female boxing fan, if it’s harder to get respect because it’s a mostly male sport or does she think it’s an advantage because guys look at her as something different from the norm. “I think more than anything, it surprises people that I am so knowledgeable. At almost all the fights I work, I end up explaining what is going on to the other ring card girls. I don’t know everything about the fight game, but I can hold my own to a certain extent”, she responded.
Next up, I asked if she was ever star-struck being around elite or bigger name boxers. Ashley stated, “Not particularly, but I’m always very impressed and admire famous people that are nice to everyone. Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. always took the time to take pictures with every fan that asked and was so nice to people, I really admired that about him. Larry Holmes is definitely my favorite since I was a kid, he’s incredibly down to earth and willing to help anyone out in any way that he can, another true gentleman.”
Lastly, as I said earlier, Ashley is 1 of the most known ring card girls around, so I wanted to give her an opportunity to let everyone know the best way to keep track and get in touch with her. Ashley’s message to her fans was, “Thank you to everyone who is interested in following me and the best way to do it is Twitter: @AshleyFerrara and Instagram: @AshleyFerraraModel”. Ashley Ferrara is a smart, beautiful, young lady that is very knowledgeable about boxing? What else can you ask for?
