Jackie Kallen

Jackie Kallen: Profile

After 33 years in the boxing world as publicist and then manager, Jackie Kallen has been dubbed The First Lady of Boxing.

Having managed six champions, she was twice nominated as Manager of the Year. She was recently awarded the prestigious Aileen Eaton Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Her life story inspired the Paramount film Against the Ropes starring Meg Ryan. Kallen was Associate Producer of the film and made a cameo appearance.

A former journalist, TV host and radio personality in her native Detroit, Kallen is a successful motivational speaker who travels the country addressing conventions, women’s health groups and college audiences. She is the author of Hit Me With Your Best Shot. She was the Den Mother on the first season of The Contender on NBC with Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard. She talks about women entering a man’s world, juggling a family with a career, how to tackle women’s health issues and the many ways to deal with aging.

Now living in Los Angeles, she is very active in charities that deal with battered and abused women and the homeless. Kallen has been named Youth Sports Coordinator for the LA County Sheriff Department. She goes around to various areas where there are kids-at-risk and sets up boxing gyms. She also goes to schools and churches, speaking to kids and urging them to quit the gangs and go to the gym. She also produces boxing events for various charities around the country to raise money and awareness.

Kallen is currently writing her second book and is co-producing a boxing film with Sugar Ray Leonard.

A mother of two sons and grandmother of three, Kallen was one of the first females to succeed in the male-dominated world of professional boxing. She served as commissioner of the International Female Boxing Association, mentors many young women hoping to work in the boxing industry, and has won numerous awards and honors. She is a role model to people everywhere who wish to beat the odds and achieve success.