Pioneer of modern women's boxing
Although women's boxing has been effectively banned for many years in the history of the sport, there have always been female boxers. There are anecdotes about women's boxing in the early 18th century, with the first advertised bout dating back to 1722.
However, until relatively recently, women were not issued licenses to fight, which greatly hindered the potential for women's boxing to take off.That has changed in recent decades, but if you want to, you can now
bet on boxingis just as likely to help female boxers as male boxers.
The women we profile here weren't the first boxers. But they are some of the big names who have put women's boxing on the map over the past 20 or 30 years, raising its profile as it emerges from the shadows and into the public consciousness. They are the pioneers of modern women's boxing and should be recognized as trailblazers.
jane couch
In the mid-1990s, Jane Couch happened to see a documentary about women's boxing and was instantly hooked. She endured a troubled upbringing and saw boxing as a solution. However, the British Control Board initially refused to grant her her professional license simply because she was a woman.
This decision was overturned in 1998, making her the first British woman allowed to fight legally. She won her first light welterweight title by the fifth fight, earning her a place in the Women's International Boxing Hall of Fame with a career record of 28 wins and 11 losses. She is now a promoter.
Laila Ali
It probably comes as no surprise that Laila Ali, the daughter of the legendary Muhammad Ali, would become a boxer, and was one of the best boxers of all time in her field. Her first match was in 1998, but her father was initially unhappy about his daughter entering the profession. Her record suggests that she was right to follow her dreams.
By the time she retired in 2007, Laila Ali had won 24 fights, 21 of which were by knockout. Throughout her career, she held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF, and IBA women's super middleweight titles, as well as the IWBF light heavyweight title. She went on to become a much-loved television personality.
Cecilia Blakes
Cecilia Blakes, a Norwegian martial artist who became the first woman in the history of the sport to hold all major world championship belts in her weight class, was the undisputed welterweight champion from 2014 to 2020 . She is one of only 11 boxers of both genders to hold the title. 4 titles at the same time.
Blakes was a kickboxing and amateur boxing champion before turning professional in 2007. She quickly took women's boxing by storm, winning her first 36 matches. One of them was the first-ever women's match to be broadcast by HBO. Her current record is 37 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw.
Mary Kom
Kom, nicknamed Magnificent Mary, 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. Although she was a talented track and field athlete in her youth, she turned to boxing in 2000.
Although Kom took time off to get married and raise children, she won medals every year she competed in amateur boxing, including a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics. She is very popular and she also served as a member of the Indian Parliament from 2016 to 2022.
Jackie Nava
Jackie Nava, another boxer who combined boxing with success as a politician in her native Mexico, became the first woman to win a WBC-sanctioned world title fight in 2005. She had already won the Mexican super bantamweight title the previous year.
Nava ultimately won titles in two classes and two boxing organizations, and has fought at three different weights during his career. Nava, 43, continues to fight vigorously and currently boasts a record of 40 wins, 4 losses, and 4 draws, with 16 of those wins coming by knockout.
Figure 2 – Some boxers come from other disciplines
nicola adams
Women were allowed to compete in boxing for the first time at the 2012 London Olympics, after which Nicola Adams became a firm favorite.
Won the first gold medal in history
In front of the home fans. She repeated her feat at the 2016 Rio Games, and she turned pro a year later.
Adams signed with renowned promoter Frank Warren and won the vacant interim WBO women's flyweight title in her fifth fight of 2018. She held the title once, in the first-ever women's boxing match at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Unfortunately, Adams injured her eye in that match and she announced her retirement at the end of 2019.
Christy Martin
A talented basketball and baseball player in her youth, Martin began boxing professionally at age 21 and is credited with legitimizing women's boxing in the United States. She competed for about 25 years and won the super welterweight title near the end of her illustrious career.
At the time, she won 49 of 59 fights, 32 of them by knockout, and was the first woman to sign with legendary promoter Don King. She also fought on the undercard for boxers such as Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. She became the first woman to be inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016, and she was also inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020 when women's voting began.
