Women's boxing has the potential to be huge right now, just based on the top talent in the division. Seniesa Estrada, Jocasta Valle, Chantel Cameron, Katie Taylor, Kenya Stefani Enriquez, Claressa Shields, Yessica Neri Plata, Dina Thorslund, and Amanda Serrano to name a few are incredibly entertaining to watch in the ring. Show off your skills. You deserve the highest charge on any card.
While the sport has made huge strides in terms of adoption over the past 12 years, there is still much work to be done to raise the profile of women's boxing to its rightful place alongside men's boxing.
Strengthen grassroots activities and diversify participation in sports
As The Guardian reported at the time, women's boxing reached new heights at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, with the likes of Nicola Adams and Katie Taylor wowing audiences with near-perfect skill as they battled for honours. This is the first time since 1908 that women's boxing has been accepted at this huge sporting event, creating a new and very real goal for aspiring female boxers.
Since then, many Olympic medalists have turned professional, turning their vast amateur pedigree into lucrative entertainment on the professional stage. Still, many of the heroes of the 2012 Olympics are now retired or planning to retire soon.
Katie Taylor, perhaps the most domineering of them all, is now 37 years old. Currently, many talented young athletes are rising through the ranks, and I'm sure they're going through the same difficult situations as Olympic athletes. Now that the professional side is firmly established on the major cards, the focus needs to be on increasing the participation of more women.
The obvious option is to go to a women-only gym. This doesn't mean that top men's boxing gyms will also cater to women, but separating the gyms will make it more accessible to more people. The Financial Times reports that one such venue, founded by Manya Kempner, has attracted 5,000 members across three locations in just three years.
From there, we should see more competitions and organized events held below professional level, with the UK's first women-only boxing tournament, the Women's Winter Box Cup, launched in 2018. is. Finding ways to make boxing more generally appealing as a women's-specific sport and adding ways to enjoy big wins will do wonders for attracting more talent to the pool.
Further promotional activities and collaborations
Boxing has the ability to celebrate top athletes as gladiators and celebrities. People like to praise boxers, and they certainly tend to do so because of how relatable the sport is to viewers and the qualities it espouses. In modern times, any star can increase their profile in the digital space, especially through licensed games.
Branded and licensed games are currently the focus of the Slingo Arena. There are sports Slingo games like Slingo Space Invaders, Slingo Britain's Got Talent, Slingo Shark Week, and He's Slingooal. Why not have a boxer like Taylor or Shields headline a Slingo match? Katie Taylor's Punch-Out Slingo subtly promotes the undisputed superstar World Super Lightweight Champion While doing so, it will certainly attract clicks.
In men's boxing, promoters have been very successful over the years in placing boxers in the right places to promote themselves and their upcoming matches. We've seen sports-entertainment crossovers, including publishing tell-all books, appearing on game shows, and going to his WWE matches. In March, Claressa Shields participated in an Easter egg hunt in Flint, Michigan, which helped local boxers promote themselves and their families' events.
From widening access to grassroots boxing to trying to get star boxers out there and promote them further, more efforts should be done beyond the biggest professional fights.
