What can we do to help women's boxing?

[Eff Pandas]

Do you not think that gaining exposure and girls featuring on every card going forward will elevate it in some way, and possibly allow more amateurs to make the jump to the pro game?

I mean this happened already. People signed girls when Martin & Ali were hot. Mia St. John. Ann Wolfe. Lucia Rijiker. F#cking Tonya Harding even had some pro fights. There are a ton of names from back in the day too that where with notable promoters & making moves.

This ain't really THAT much different outside of the Olympic angle that I suspect promoters thing will have more importance to fans + the MMA's ability to translate female fighters into headliners with men on undercards for cheap.

because IMO there are a lot of amateur female boxers that just stay as amateurs into their 30's to receive support, now they might actually go to one Olympics and then make the jump into the pro's.

Who are the female amateurs who stayed amateur into their 30's?

can definitely see that as we have just had Taylor, Cameron and Savannah Marshall (Mayweather promotions, fighting on Fury/Sexton card) make that jump in the last year. After the next Olympics in 2020 I can imagine a lot of the female amateurs moving into the pro's if Taylor, Cameron and the rest are even remotely successful, and in turn I can see more females getting into boxing.

I'd hope it has some influence. I just can't see it having as much influence as it needs to be able to make a sustaining high level product.

I'd compare female boxing to some random lil guy division. Sure there are times when that specific lil guy division is hotter than other times. But there are only like 500 guys in that division so its not deep enough to keep things at a high level all the time. Thats womens boxing. Its gonna have ups & downs.

I don't think that the women's game will go back to what it was 5 years ago, with hardly any female boxers or fight on cards, in fact, I think it will increase the number of boxers on the female side over time, I can see it plateauing after a while but never going back to what it was, so I think those 4 boxers will be around for a while, and more will join them in a few years.

If the Olympic options is around then I think its possible things don't dip as low as it was before Christy Martin or even after Ali, but I don't think the Olympics is a given. They talk about getting rid of Olympic boxing every other Olympics almost & I won't be surprised if within the next 20yrs we've seen the last Olympic boxing tournament. Maybe something will take the place of it & it'll be w/e, but if its not then that'll impact womans & likely mens boxing to some degree.

[HeadBodyBodyBody]

The premise is not well-established. OP asks, 'What can we do to help...' without asking the more relevant question of, 'Should we help...' and the answer to that question is not so easy. I'm just gonna outline what I think about a few aspects of women's boxing, in general, before giving my answer to the question of, 'Should we help women's boxing' (clue: my answer is no)

Do I enjoy seeing more females in the gym? Yes, as long as they are putting the work in, there's no difference between males and females. Hell, I've seen brave-hearted tiny women who put some supposedly big'n'brawny men to shame. It takes guts to step in the ring no matter who you are. Over the years, I've seen a steady increase in numbers of females at the gym. If they earn their respect, like anyone else, it's all good. The snowflakes don't last too long, anyway

Is it good for the character development of females to be involved with combat/contact sports? Undoubtedly, yes

Do I watch women's boxing? Amateur: all the time. At novice-level, women are generally more skilful, actually. At pro-level, I'll watch when it seems decent (which is rare). I resent **** matchups, no matter whether male or female

Are there particular challenges for women who want to box? Yes. This thread alone illustrates the biases people in the boxing-world can have against women's boxing. Plus, at pro-level, there just aren't the numbers of boxers around to create quality matchups all the time (hence, low income)

...So, should we help women's boxing?
If by 'help', it is meant that we should make some special effort to get women's boxing off the ground and to make it more popular, etc., then my answer is a firm, 'No'. The main reason I say this is because boxing is a hard sport, probably the hardest sport going, mentally, physically, everything... if we are making allowances for people to participate, whether by 'pushing' women's boxing through campaigns and awareness and suchlike, or by lessening our standards, then that is a position that surely will only backfire in the longrun. All that can be expected is that, at grass-roots level, people are open-minded enough to allow females to come and work in the gym. If that translates, over time, to more female boxers (am & pro), then great, but if not, we should not force it

There is a dangerous, insidious edge to the OP's question, in that it implies that women need our help, or that the world would be somehow better--more equal perhaps--if only there were more women seen to be boxing. As I say, the 'should' premise of the question requires careful thought. The best thing that can be done, I think, is to simply make sure women know that the door is open... as to whether women then choose to go through that door is completely up to them. Women's boxing deserves our support, but only in the same sort of way that men's boxing deserves our support

Side note: F. X. Toole's short story, 'Million Dollar Baby' is a great little read, for anyone who hasn't read it, or seen the film

[Vinnykin]

I mean this happened already. People signed girls when Martin & Ali were hot. Mia St. John. Ann Wolfe. Lucia Rijiker. F#cking Tonya Harding even had some pro fights. There are a ton of names from back in the day too that where with notable promoters & making moves.

This ain't really THAT much different outside of the Olympic angle that I suspect promoters thing will have more importance to fans + the MMA's ability to translate female fighters into headliners with men on undercards for cheap.



Who are the female amateurs who stayed amateur into their 30's?



I'd hope it has some influence. I just can't see it having as much influence as it needs to be able to make a sustaining high level product.

I'd compare female boxing to some random lil guy division. Sure there are times when that specific lil guy division is hotter than other times. But there are only like 500 guys in that division so its not deep enough to keep things at a high level all the time. Thats womens boxing. Its gonna have ups & downs.



If the Olympic options is around then I think its possible things don't dip as low as it was before Christy Martin or even after Ali, but I don't think the Olympics is a given. They talk about getting rid of Olympic boxing every other Olympics almost & I won't be surprised if within the next 20yrs we've seen the last Olympic boxing tournament. Maybe something will take the place of it & it'll be w/e, but if its not then that'll impact womans & likely mens boxing to some degree.

The 2 most famous female amateurs are Taylor and Adams, both Olympic gold medalists that just turned pro after the 2016 Olympics, Adams was 34 and Taylor was 30 when they turned pro, there are countless other amateurs that retired from amateur boxing without ever going pro, I'm not going to list them all, but take my word for it that there are a lot of female amateurs that never go pro, why? because they don't see an opportunity, because there wasn't any. now for the first time there is a concerted push in women's boxing, mostly in the U.K right now, and added to the fact that since 2012 women amateurs can compete at the Olympics.

Nicola Adams was the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title in 2012, since women are now being recognised at a sporting level in boxing at the Olympics, that is a huge deal and why I think your comparison to the past doesn't apply. For the first time we have double gold winning women entering the pro game, and now female amateurs can win medals at the Olympics and become famous in their own right, and the attitude towards it has changed.

I also think there is an attitude in the media that is encouraging women to be and do whatever they want, so if you add all that up - women winning gold medals and becoming OBE's and female amateurs now having a goal to becoming an Olympic champ, and the concerted push from every promoter in the U.K and fights on every card........ massive difference to the past that you are alluding to, and something I am certain will grow after the net Olympics..... now we have Olympic medalists with big names blazing a trail for any young girls coming up.