Pioneers of Women’s Boxing in the Modern Age

Although women’s boxing has been effectively banned many of the years in the sport’s history, there have always been female boxers. There are anecdotal mentions of women’s boxing at the beginning of the 18th century and the first known advertised bout is dated from 1722.

But until relatively recently, women were simply not issued licenses to fight and that severely impeded the potential for women’s boxing to become popular. That has changed in the last few decades and now if you want to place a bet on boxing, you have just as much chance of backing a female boxer as a male.

The women we are profiling here were not the first boxers. But they are some of the big names of the last 20 or 30 years who put women’s boxing on the map and raised its profile as it came out of the shadows and into the public’s consciousness. These are the pioneers of the modern age of women’s boxing – and they should be recognized for the trailblazers they are.

Jane Couch

In the mid-1990s, Jane Couch happened to watch a documentary about women’s boxing and was instantly hooked. She had endured a troubled upbringing and saw boxing as a way out. However, the British Board of Control initially refused to grant her a professional license purely because she was a woman.

That decision was overturned in 1998, making her the first British woman legally allowed to fight. She had won her first light welterweight title by the time of her fifth bout and went on to enjoy a career record of 28-11 and was inducted into the Women’s International Boxing Hall of Fame. She is now a promoter.

Laila Ali

Being the daughter of the legendary Muhammad Ali, it was perhaps unsurprising that Laila Ali would become a boxer – and one of the greatest ever at that. Her first fight was in 1998 but her father was initially unhappy with his daughter taking up the profession. Her record suggests that she was right to pursue her dreams.

By the time she retired in 2007, Laila Ali had won all 24 of her fights, with 21 coming via a knockout. During her career, she held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF, and IBA female super middleweight titles – as well as the IWBF light heavyweight title. She has gone on to become a much-loved television personality.

Cecilia Brækhus

A Norwegian fighter who became the first woman to hold all major world championship belts in her weight division in the sport’s history, Cecilia Brækhus was the undisputed welterweight champion from 2014 to 2020. She is one of only 11 boxers, male or female, to hold all four titles simultaneously.

Brækhus was a kickboxing and amateur boxing champion before turning professional in 2007. She immediately took women’s boxing by storm, winning her first 36 fights. One of those was the first-ever women’s bout to be broadcast by HBO. She currently has a career record of 37-2-1.

Mary Kom

Nicknamed Magnificent Mary, Kom is the only woman to win the World Amateur Boxing Championship six times and the only boxer – male or female – to win eight World Championship medals. She was a talented track and field athlete in her youth but switched to boxing in 2000.

Although she has taken time off for her marriage and to raise a family, Kom won medals in amateur boxing in every year that she was competing and won bronze at the 2012 Olympics. She is so popular that she was also a member of parliament in India from 2016 to 2022.

Jackie Nava

Another boxer who has combined boxing with becoming a successful politician in her native Mexico, Jackie Nava became the first woman to win a world title fight sanctioned by the WBC in 2005. She had already won the Mexican super bantamweight title the year before.

Nava eventually won titles in two classes and for two boxing organizations and has fought at three different weights during her career. At the age of 43, Nava is still actively fighting and currently boasts a record of 40-4-4, with 16 of those victories coming by way of a knockout.
 

Figure 2 - Some boxers have come from other disciplines

Nicola Adams

Women were first allowed to box competitively at the Olympics in London in 2012 and Nicola Adams became a firm favorite after  winning the first-ever gold in front of her home fans. She repeated the feat at the 2016 games in Rio and turned professional a year later.

Adams signed with noted promoter Frank Warren and won the vacant WBO female interim flyweight title in her fifth bout in 2018. She retained the title on one occasion, in what was the first-ever women’s boxing bout staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Unfortunately, Adams injured her eye in that fight and announced her retirement at the end of 2019.

Christy Martin

A talented basketball and baseball athlete in her younger days, Martin started boxing professionally at the age of 21 and has been credited with legitimizing women’s boxing in the US. She competed for almost 25 years and won the super welterweight title towards the end of her illustrious career.

In her time, she won 49 of 59 fights – with 32 of those by knockout – and was the first woman to sign with legendary promoter Don King. She also fought on the undercard of boxers such as Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. She was the first female to be elected to the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016 and was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020, the first year women were on the ballot.