Acceptance of Women's Boxing

I am a huge boxing fan and I'm all for competitive women's boxing - both amateur and professional.  I love to see women breaking down barriers and achieving great things in the sport.   Hopefully this blog and the companion Women's Boxing Now Facebook page make this very clear and help increase opportunities for women who love boxing to participate in the sport and benefit from it professionally.

Not everyone agrees that women belong in the boxing ring.  This is due to prejudice and ignorance.

Let's look at some extreme statements:

Women shouldn't be allowed to box.

No Women Allowed

There are physical differences between genders, but when it comes to rights and freedoms, there is no difference.  The above statement is unjust.


How does it look when we change just one word?




Women shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Today virtually everyone would think, WTF, seriously?  What is the difference between this attitude and the attitude that women shouldn't box?  NOTHING.

Here's another one:

No one should be allowed to box.

This may unjustly limit a person's rights, but at least it is a more fair opinion.

In some sense, the whole idea of gender is a false dichotomy.  We are really talking about people or very specifically, the human species.

Boxing fitness classes for women have become extremely popular 

Opinions are fine, but they should never take the place of facts.  The facts are that boxing has excellent health benefits and the pursuit of competitive boxing has benefitted and empowered many people.  Most fundamentally, the choice to box competitively comes solely from the person.  It has nothing to do with what anyone else thinks.  If a woman wants to box competitively there should be no barriers and they should be able to make a good living doing it just like the men.

The inclusion of women's boxing at the 2012 Olympics was an important milestone for the growth of the sport but more weight divisions are required

All the people I have met online and in person who make boxing their passion and/or vocation are absolutely great people.  The fact that a growing number of these people are women definitely points to future growth of the sport for everyone.  Some attitudes still need adjusting and more people need to be exposed to women's boxing through promotion of women's matches on television and PPV events.

Popular fighters like Heather "The Heat" Hardy are increasing the number of followers of female boxing.

There is no doubt that the sport of boxing is enjoying growth through the participation of women.  As a result, I think that we will see a lot more boxing on TV in coming years with many of those fights being exciting women's matches.  This will definitely turn a lot more people into fans of women's boxing!

Female boxers exhibiting incredible toughness and determination

The Young Boxing Woman Project

Keep you eyes on this and give these women your support! The Young Boxing Woman Project is the brainchild of Stacy Ward.  Stacy is a Co-Founder and the CEO of YBW and a competitive novice boxer.

The YBW aims to change the lives of women for the better by building strength and agility.   Boxing training will enable  participants to be stronger, fitter and prouder.

"We arm our young women with confidence, resilience and self wroth preparing them for the best possible outcomes throughout their incredible lives."

YBW is seeking corporate sponsorship for their very important cause!

It is great to see this sort of program and I with these women all the best!

For more information see the YBW web site

Deirdre Gogarty Fights Christy Martin, March 16 1996

Deirdre Gogarty

Christy Martin

One of the greatest women's boxing matches of all time took place on March 16, 1996.  Two women fought for six two minute rounds in an exciting boxing match that was by far the best of the night.  The fight opened many people's eyes to women's boxing and inspired other women to study the sweet science.

The fight featured tough and talented Deirdre Gogarty from Ireland against equally tough and talented Christy Martin from West Virginia.  Both women showed incredible amounts of courage as each were capable of taking and delivering a great deal of punishment and ending fights with knockouts.There are resources on the internet that chronicle this classic fight.  Here are some highlights on YouTube.

I have a great deal of admiration for the spirit and toughness of these serious female boxers.  Becoming a boxer was initially a struggle for Dierdre.  Women's boxing was not legal in her home country of Ireland at the time and she had a great desire to pursue the sport.  "It was an instinct in me to fight, it was just something I had to do”.  Here is a brief history of Dierdre's boxing career.

Deirdre's passion for pugilism is well illustrated in this article.  It is shocking today to think that back then women were not even allowed to box in most countries.  Fortunately things have changed for the better!