The boxing world

Women did not compete in boxing (or most other sports) in ancient times. In the modern era women boxers were often a novelty, competing in contests staged in London during the 1700s. The 1904 Olympics featured women’s boxing but only as a display event. Not until the 1970s did women begin to train seriously for the ring and to fight, although they had a difficult time getting matches and gaining acceptance by the boxing establishment. The fitness movement of the 1980s, however, helped to make boxing more accessible to women. Gender discrimination suits have also facilitated the rise of women’s boxing, especially in the United States. Lawsuits against such organizations as USA Boxing and the Golden Gloves Tournament, in which women sued to have the right to compete in amateur matches, opened doors of opportunity for women athletes, regardless of the outcome of the individual suits. By 1993 USA Boxing had sanctioned women’s amateur boxing, and the AIBA followed in 1994. In the 1990s women were also sanctioned to box in Canada and in numerous European nations—including Russia, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Hungary—and the Golden Gloves organization opened its tournament to women. Women’s boxing became an official Olympic sport at the London 2012 Games. In amateur boxing, women follow the rules of men’s boxing with a few exceptions—the rounds are shorter, and women wear breast protectors, with groin protection being optional.

Professional boxing has been equally difficult for female fighters. Promoters such as Bob Arum and Don King began promoting female boxers in the 1990s, but there was a continuing problem in that the skill level of most women boxers has been far below that expected of professionals. The daughters of famous fighters—including Laila Ali (Muhammad Ali), Jacqui Frazier-Lyde (Joe Frazier), and Irichelle Durán (Roberto Durán)—have participated in the sport, overshadowing the few accomplished female boxers such as Lucia Rijker and Christy Martin in publicity and purses.

Bouts between men and women have been less frequent and have spurred far more controversy than those between women. A male-female match was sanctioned in the United States in 1999 by the state of Washington’s Department of Licensing for boxing.

Professional organizations

World professional boxing has no one controlling body that is universally recognized. This situation had its origins in the United States in 1920 when two organizations were established: the National Boxing Association, a private body, and the New York State Athletic Commission, a state agency. Divided control led to competing organizations’ sometimes recognizing different boxers as world champions at the same time. In Europe the ruling body was the International Boxing Union, which in 1948 became the European Boxing Union. Several attempts were subsequently made to induce all major professional boxing organizations to agree to the formation of one international ruling body, but to little avail. In the early 1960s the World Boxing Council (WBC) was formed, and the National Boxing Association changed its name to the World Boxing Association (WBA). The International Boxing Federation (IBF) was established in 1983, which added to an already convoluted situation. Since the 1980s it has been common for most weight divisions to have three so-called world champions, and this has considerably diluted the championship class in boxing.

The lack of one unified governing body has also seriously hampered attempts to reform boxing. The sport’s chaotic organization makes it nearly impossible to implement safety measures, such as requiring stringent qualifications for ringside physicians, or to alter systemic problems that lead to corruption, such as the practice of permitting those who are promoting a fight to manage one or both of the boxers appearing in that fight. If a promoter or fighter is banned from fighting in one jurisdiction, the fact that the fight can be moved to another venue, which is ruled by a different group, makes avoidance of regulations easy.