Women's boxing

Lucia Rijker warms up in the ring.

Although women have boxed for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been effectively outlawed for most of boxing’s history, with athletic commissioners refusing to sanction or issue licenses to women boxers, and most nations officially banning the sport.[1][2][3] Reports of women entering the ring go back to the 18th century.[4]

History

Women's boxing goes back at least to the early 18th century, when Elizabeth Wilkinson fought in London. Billing herself as the European Championess, she fought both men and women. In those days, the rules of boxing allowed kicking, gouging and other methods of attack not part of today's arsenal.[5] Women's boxing dates back to the early 18th century with Elizabeth Wilkinson-Stokes fighting both men and women in the streets of London.[6] During the 1700s, women boxed in staged competitions at dawn, before fans went to work. James Figg introduced two different forms of fighting: “street” –fighting” or “bare-knuckle fighting”.[7] Back in the 1700s, women took part in more violent forms of fighting: kicking, scratching, and using other methods of attack are not parts of today's boxing rules.[8] This new style of fighting became popular in England. Elizabeth Wilkinson-Stokes is credited for being the first female boxing champion in England. Bare-knuckle fighting continued to grow as the 19th century approached, but this time bringing in a more rough audience. The Victorian Period, however, eventually did away with bare-knuckle fighting and boxing went back to being a man's sport.

Women's boxing first appeared in the Olympic Games at a demonstration bout in 1904. Its revival was pioneered by the Swedish Amateur Boxing Association, which sanctioned events for women in 1988. The British Amateur Boxing Association sanctioned its first boxing competition for women in 1997. The first event was to be between two thirteen-year-olds, but one of the boxers withdrew because of hostile media attention. Four weeks later, an event was held between two sixteen-year-olds. The International Boxing Association (amateur) accepted new rules for Women's Boxing at the end of the 20th century and approved the first European Cup for Women in 1999 and the first World Championship for women in 2001.

Women's boxing was not featured at the 2008 Olympics; however, on 14 August 2009, it was announced that the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board (EB) had approved the inclusion of women’s boxing for the Games in London in the 2012 Olympics,[9][10][11] contrary to the expectations of some observers.[12] Although women fought professionally in many countries, in the United Kingdom the B.B.B.C. refused to issue licences to women until 1998.[13] By the end of the century, however, they had issued five such licenses. The first sanctioned bout between women was in November 1998 at Streatham in London, between Jane Couch and Simona Lukic.[14]

Renata Cristina Dos Santos Ferreira punches Adriana Salles.

In October 2011 the 2011 Women's European Union Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Women were allowed to competitively box for the first time at the Olympics during the 2012 Summer Olympics, producing the world's first 12 female Olympic medalist boxers.[15][16][17]

In 2015 the World Boxing Federation unified various womens titles to have one title holder.[18]

History in the US

Bennett sisters boxing

During the 1970s, a popular female boxer named Cathy 'Cat' Davis came out of the United States Northwest, and a few of her fights were televised. Cathty Davis was the female boxer to appear on the cover of Ring Magazine. But a scandal broke out where it was said that some of her fights had been fixed.

During the 1980s, women's boxing briefly resurfaced in California under the wings of sisters Dora and Cora Webber. The twin sisters were world champions and packed crunching punching power and a good chin. Women took hunger strikes to be noticed [19]

But the boom of women's boxing came during the 1990s, coinciding with the boom in professional women sports leagues such as the WNBA and WUSA, and with boxers such as Stephanie Jaramillo, Delia 'Chikita' Gonzalez, Laura Serrano, Christy Martin, Deirdre Gogarty, Laila Ali, Jackie Frazier-Lyde, Lucia Rijker, Ada Vélez, Ivonne Caples, Bonnie Canino and Sumya Anani, all world champions, jumping into the scene.[20][21][22][23]

Women's boxing has experienced more television and media exposure, including the major motion picture Million Dollar Baby. There are a few organizations that recognize world championship bouts, and fights are held in more than 100 countries.[24]

On 16 April 1992, after eight years in court in Massachusetts, Gail Grandchamp won her battle to become a boxer, as a state Superior Court judge ruled it was illegal to deny someone a chance to box based on gender.[25] During her battle to win the right to box as an amateur, she passed the age of 36, the maximum age for amateur fighters. Even though she knew it would not help her as an amateur, Grandchamp continued her efforts, and eventually did box professionally for a time.[26][27][28][29]


International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge announced that it would be an Olympic sport at the 2012 Games in London.[30][31]

Professional women's boxing has declined in popularity in the united States and struggles to get viewership and sponsorship and many fighters have to fight in Europe or Mexico to make a good living.[21][32] The sport amongst females has been supplanted by Women's MMA.[21][33][34]

Differences Between Men and Women’s Boxing Guidelines

Men and women’s boxing are very different when it comes to the specific guidelines.[35][36][37] Women’s boxing has more rules that are female focused. According to the rules on abcboxing.com, women have to wear a breast guard and have no facial cosmetics. More female boxing specific rules include for female boxers weighing less than 154 pounds have to wear 8-ounce gloves and female boxers weighing more than 154 pounds have to wear 10-ounce gloves. Men’s boxing has male specific rules too. These include wearing protective cups and loose fitting trunks. More men’s boxing specific rules include male boxers in the lighter weight class must wear 10-ounce gloves and male boxers in the larger weight class must wear 12-ounce gloves. Women’s boxing rules are directed to all women’s boxing weight classes unlike men’s boxing. For men’s boxing, the rules differ for male boxers under and over the age of 17 years.

In cinema

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Martial Chronicles: Fighting Like a Girl". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  2. ↑ Jason Rodrigues. "Women boxers to make Olympic history in city that once shunned them | Sport". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  3. ↑ Woodward, Kath (2010-07-28). "BBC Sport - Women in boxing over the years". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  4. ↑ Brown, Sarah (2014). "Against the Ropes". Bitch Magazine. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
  5. ↑ "Honoring Women’s Labor: Elizabeth Wilkinson-Stokes, 18th Century Boxer!". Girlboxing. 2011-09-05. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  6. ↑ "Honoring Women’s Labor: Elizabeth Wilkinson-Stokes, 18th Century Boxer!". Girlboxing. 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  7. ↑ "Bare Knuckle Fighting". Bare Knuckle Fighting. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Women's Boxing". Women's Boxing. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Rachel Dixon. "The rise of women boxers | Life and style". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  10. ↑ "Women's Boxing Olympic place a victory 'for justice and equality'". Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  11. ↑ "Olympic News - Official Source of Olympic News". Olympic.org. 2014-08-28. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  12. ↑ Archived 23 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ "Sport | Round one for women's boxing". BBC News. 1998-11-24. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  14. ↑ "Sport | Women's boxing makes instant impact". BBC News. 1998-11-25. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  15. ↑ Park, Alice (2012-08-09). "Olympic Women's Boxing Has Its First Champions, and a Generation of Girls Have New Role Models | TIME.com". Olympics.time.com. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  16. ↑ "Women Finally Get Their Chance to Be Contenders in Olympic Boxing". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  17. ↑ "Nicola Adams becomes first ever winner of an Olympic women’s boxing tournament". Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  18. ↑ "WBF | World Boxing Federation". Worldboxingfederation.net. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  19. ↑ Leigh Behrens (1987-04-19). "Boxer Hungry For Recognition - tribunedigital-chicagotribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  20. ↑ "ESPN.com: BOXING - Women's boxing becoming a real joke". A.espncdn.com. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  21. 1 2 3 Smith, Malissa (2014). A History of Women's Boxing. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 263. ISBN 9781442229952. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Brown, Sarah (2014-05-13). "Against the Ropes". Bitchmedia.org. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  23. ↑ "The Real Knockouts of Women’s Boxing". The Atlantic. 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  24. ↑ "COLUMN ONE : Striking a Blow for Equality : Dallas Malloy has won her fight to be America's first sanctioned female amateur boxer. The scrappy 16-year-old knows the rewards of blood, sweat and a killer instinct". Articles.latimes.com. 1993-10-18. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  25. ↑ "ESPN.com: BOXING - Historical Events in Women's Boxing". Assets.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  26. ↑ "Grandchamp, Local Boxing Legend, Ready to Film Life Story / iBerkshires.com - The Berkshires online guide to events, news and Berkshire County community information". Iberkshires.com. 1987-07-17. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  27. ↑ "A Fighter's Passion for Her Olympic Dream". Globenewswire.com. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  28. ↑ Rosenwald, Julius (1987-07-17). "Boxer with a mission - Berkshire Eagle Online". Berkshireeagle.com. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  29. ↑ "The Grand Champ of Women's Boxing: A Massachusetts fighter opens the door to first-ever women's Olympic boxing". SCN. Retrieved 2016-03-26.
  30. ↑ "BBC SPORT | Olympics | Women's boxing gains Olympic spot". BBC News. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  31. ↑ Nolan, Hamilton (2012-08-03). "Marlen Esparza, Queen Underwood, Claressa Shields: Women boxers are about to become huge stars. Can that last after the Olympics?". Slate.com. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  32. ↑ "Female boxers' fight for survival in the US". Al Jazeera English. 2014-11-10. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  33. ↑ "Women's boxing hopes to gain traction from Holly Holm's UFC victory over Ronda Rousey". LA Times. 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
  34. ↑ "Examining the Growth and Popularity of Women's Mixed Martial Arts". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  35. ↑ Smith, Malissa (2014). A History of Women's Boxing. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 244. ISBN 9781442229952. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  36. ↑ Gayle, Damien (2014-10-22). "World Boxing Council shortens women's boxing matches because of periods | Daily Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  37. ↑ "The Fight for Women's Boxing Rights". Psmag.com. Retrieved 2015-11-18.

Bibliography

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