Lisa King:
2007 Woman of the Year
Lisa King:
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Black Belt readers know Lisa King because of the magazine’s May 2007 feature outlining her strategies for winning at muay Thai. Cable-TV regulars know her from her stint as a competitor on the Oxygen channel’s Fight Girls movie and as a coach on the reality series of the same name. Her opponents know her as the owner of a mean right cross and roundhouse kick. Las Vegas fight fans know her from her ring announcing and color commentary. Executive-security professionals will soon know her from her latest endeavor: teaching for Vegas-based Progressive FORCE Concepts. King scored her gig as the defender of VIP bodies in large part because of her skill at busting them up. A disciple of Master Toddy, Las Vegas’ most famous muay Thai trainer, King has honed her ability to destroy since 1996. Along the way, she acquired an astute sense of the finer sides of fighting: strategy, psychology, tactics, timing, deception, fear management and so on. It was her knowledge of those areas that served her so well on the Fight Girls series, in which she mentored 10 young women looking to make their mark in Thailand. Once she decided to move into executive protection, King, a self-described tomboy who grew up in rural Oregon, realized that empty-hand skills weren’t enough. She sought instruction in the requisite disciplines, including shooting, surveillance, edged weapons, defensive tactics, evasive driving and, of course, weapons defense. As if that’s not enough for any mortal to juggle, King also spends her time running Translucent Marketing, a consulting service devoted to business development, media buying and public relations. And she’s on the verge of launching Wfighter.com, which she describes as the ultimate resource for females who like to throw down in boxing, kickboxing, karate, muay Thai or mixed martial arts. On March 10, 2007, King—aka “The Black Widow”—decided to submit to the ultimate test for a kickboxer out to prove that she’s not suffering from ring rust. She fought a rematch with Nhum-Kang Sitmhalai, the Thai native she defeated in the first Fight Girls. King won by unanimous decision, pushing her record up to 7-1-1. For her accomplishments in kickboxing, her positive representation of the martial arts and her efforts to share her wisdom with all practitioners and people in need of protection, Black Belt has named Lisa King its 2007 Woman of the Year. (This profile originally appeared in the December 2007 issue of Black Belt.) 
Lisa KingEXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW |
