Rough Ride

Some of the women who were arrested can be seen on a MySpace page for knockoutqueens.com. The page is full of pictures of bikini-clad women slugging it out with puffy boxing gloves. Several of the shots appear to have been taken on the brothel bus, including one featuring a group of women wearing Santa caps and aiming their rear ends at the camera. The page also contains posters for a 2008 nationwide bikini boxing tour and promotions for DVDs. A 2007 press release distributed on BlackPR.com and BlackNews.com touts bikini boxing as "the latest trend … sweeping urban America." It promotes a 90-minute DVD titled "Knockout Queens" filmed by Lighthouse North, a company "headed by entrepreneur Scott Clyde." "We have filmed over 100 matches at strip clubs everywhere and these are definitely the Top Ten," the release quotes Clyde as saying.

Clyde told NEWSWEEK that his company has been promoting itself in South Beach by hawking pinup calendars of the women. That's what the group was doing the night it was arrested, he claims. "We've been there for over a year," says Clyde. "The police know us. The people in the shops know us." Sanchez denied that Miami Beach police were familiar with the women, but at least one South Beach vendor recognized them. "They are always around selling their calendars, wearing cowboy hats and Daisy Dukes," says Juan "Spider" Lazo, a body piercer at RU Tattoos, whose second-floor shop overlooks the intersection where the six were arrested. "A couple of them have been in the shop for tattoos." Before the group was busted, it was preparing for a competition in New Jersey, says Clyde. Unfortunately for the six defendants, it looks like the 2008 Knockout Queens tour may have to proceed without them.

© 2008