Amy “Hard Hands” Lemenager Prepares for Return to the Ring

Lemenager's next fight will be a make-up against Kate LaVigne this Saturday at Canterbury Park in Shakopee.

DULUTH, Minn. – After taking a short break due to the pandemic, Amy “Hard Hands” Lemenager was ready to get back to work, that is until she was struck with an injury that postponed her fight back in December.

“I was sparring to prepare for that fight and I hit my teammates elbow, so I dislocated a bone up here kind of closer to my wrist, no break thank goodness but I couldn’t fight unfortunately, so it’s just been a maintaining of training since then, so it’s almost like I’ve been getting ready for a couple months now,” said Lemenager.

Lemenager’s last match was back in January of 2020. But since then, she has still been training with her team in preparation for her next fight.

“My biggest difficulty as far as training goes or getting ready for a match would be just not having female people to kind get me ready. But my teammates that I spar with and the males that help train me, push me and I’m definitely ready,” Lemenager said.

Lemenager is ranked eighth in the world in her weight class and hopes her success will inspire more young girls to step into the ring.

“Not fighting for a while and still being ranked that high I think is really exciting, there’s definitely a big responsibility trying to maintain that and go higher, but it’s been fun for sure. I hope it gets younger girls into the sport because it’s a great sport, it teaches you a lot of things, helps you stay in shape,” said Lemenager.

Lemenager’s next fight will be a make-up against Kate LaVigne this Saturday at Canterbury Park in Shakopee.