Career
Despite being given such title by boxing fans and critics (a journeyman or woman in boxing is someone who takes fights, usually on short period, and loses to other fighters), she was well known in the boxing world for the quality of opposition she faced. And she contended for a world title once. She fought in the Super Flyweight division.
She began her professional boxing career on August 8, 1997, at the relatively old age (for a boxer) of 32, losing a four round decision to Gloria Ramirez, in Houston, Texas.
On her next fight, she beat Dolores Lira. Burnside began to show a promising future when she dealt Sue Chase a fifth round knockout defeat on June 3 of that year, in the women"s boxing hot bed of Worley, Idaho.
Sixteen days later, she and Gloria Ramirez were rematched, in Coachella, California. Their second bout resulted in a four round draw (tie).
The second time around, Burnside and Ortiz fought to a six round draw.
1999 was a very busy year for Burnside, and a year in which she met mostly world class competition. On March 13, she made her Madison Square Garden debut, dropping an eight round split decision to Bridgett Riley. On August 14, she lost to Kathy Williams, but she got a break on her next fight, beating Rosie Johnson by a four round unanimous decision on November 18.
She finished 1999 by dropping another four round decision, to Kelsey Jeffries, on December 14.
By 2000, Burnside was already contemplating retirement from boxing. On February 17, at Worley, she lost to Draine by an eight round split decision.
Burnside was considering retirement again after this fight, but there still would be one more fight in her career. Ironically as it might seem, she received a world title shot after losing two fights in a row, which is a very unusual circumstance in boxing.
Fighting for the WIBF"s world Super Flyweight championship, Burnside lost a ten round unanimous decision in Germany.
Burnside decided to retire for good after that, and she has been able to stay retired, avoiding the temptation of comebacks. Her boxing record was 7 wins, 11 losses and 2 draws, with 4 knockout wins.
