Although women have participated in boxing for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been effectively outlawed for most of boxing's history until recently, with athletic commissioners refusing to sanction or issue licenses to women boxers, and most nations officially banning the sport. Reports of women entering the ring go back to the 18th century.
Deirdre Gogarty is a retired Irish female boxer and current coach of the Ragin' Cajun Boxing Club. She hails from Drogheda and attended Drogheda Grammar School. Before a law was passed in Ireland preventing women from engaging in boxing events, Gogarty was able to begin her career with a six-round decision win against Anne-Marie Griffin. However, when that law was passed, Gogarty could not engage in competition in Ireland. In consequence, she was based in Lafayette, Louisiana and was managed and trained by Beau Williford.
Laila Amaria Ali is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF and IBA female super middleweight titles, and the IWBF light heavyweight title. Ali is widely regarded by many within the sport as one of the greatest female professional boxers of all time. She is the daughter of boxer Muhammad Ali.
Dora Webber and Cora Webber are twin sisters who participate in women's boxing. They are from the U.S. state of California. It is believed that at one time, they were the only set of twins to actively participate on boxing's women's leg.
Lucia Frederica Rijker is a Dutch professional boxer, kickboxer, and actress.
Sumya Anani is a retired American professional female boxer nicknamed "The Island Girl." She was 5'6" and boxed as a junior welterweight. She is best known for a 1996 bout which left her opponent severely injured and may have served as an inspiration for the film Million Dollar Baby. Outside the ring, she is a yoga instructor and holistic healer.
Ann Wolfe is an American retired professional boxer, trainer and actress. Wolfe held world titles in three different weight classes simultaneously and is regarded as one of the greatest female boxers of all time. She is a member of the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame.
Marcela Eliana Acuña is an Argentine professional boxer and part-time politician. She has held multiple super bantamweight world titles, including the IBF title since 2018; the WBA title from 2006 to 2008; the WBC title twice between 2008 and 2010; the WBO title from 2013 to 2014; the IBF title from 2016 to 2018; and the WBA interim featherweight title in 2016. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the world's best active female super bantamweight by The Ring and BoxRec, and the third best active female, pound for pound, by BoxRec and tenth by The Ring. She won the Konex Award Merit Diploma in 2010 as one of the five best Boxers of the last decade in Argentina.
Andrea DeShong is a former United States female boxer who is best remembered for defeating Christy Martin in Martin's fourth professional bout.
Chevelle Lynvette Hallback is a female boxer from Plant City, Florida. Hallback, nicknamed "Fist of Steel", has been featured on television many times, usually fighting the biggest names in the sport. Hallback is among the most recognized female boxers in the world.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom.
Diana Mary Dutra, better known plainly as Diana Dutra, is a Canadian former female boxer. Dutra is a former world Jr. Welterweight champion.
Holly Holm is an American mixed martial artist, who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She is a former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, and a former professional boxer. She was a multiple-time world champion in boxing, defending her titles 18 times in three weight classes, and a two-time Ring magazine fighter of the year. She is ranked by BoxRec as the 20th greatest female professional boxer of all time, pound for pound.
Graciela Casillas is an American former boxer and kickboxer who competed in the bantamweight division. After training in several traditional martial arts, Casillas began competing as a kickboxer in 1976, and in 1979 she became the first fighter to hold world titles in both boxing and kickboxing by taking the World Women's Boxing Association's and the World Kickboxing Association's bantamweight championships. Although Casillas' Boxrec record is 5–0, Black Belt Magazine reported in May 1984 that she had 27 boxing matches, winning 15 by KO up to that point.
Kaliesha West is a professional female boxer and the former 3 times WBO Female Bantamweight and IFBA super Bantamweight Boxing World Champion. She was born on February 11, 1988, in South Haven, Michigan. West currently resides in Moreno Valley California, a small suburb between Riverside and Palm Springs. West is a motivational speaker and an advocate for women's rights and women's boxing.
Claressa Maria Shields is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021; the undisputed female middleweight title from 2019 to 2020; and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two- and three-weight world champion in the fewest professional fights. As of October 2022, she is ranked the world's best active female middleweight by BoxRec, as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN and The Ring.
Diana Prazak is an Australian professional boxer who held the WBC female super-featherweight title from 2013 to 2014. She is the first Australian boxer to have been ranked as the best active boxer, pound-for-pound, by BoxRec.
Mary Ann Almager is an American former professional female boxer. Born in Seminole, Texas, she is a resident of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Her nickname is "Gorgeous".
The International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame (IWBHF) is a sports hall of fame located in Vancouver, Washington. It is dedicated to women's boxing, and was started by Sue TL Fox and her website Women Boxing Archive Network. The Hall of Fame has a board of 11 members, who vote on nominees who are submitted to the IWBHF by the public. Terri Moss, a 2015 inductee, says that the IWBHF helps show women's accomplishments in the sport. Their primary mission is to "call honorary attention to those professional female boxers along with men and women whose contributions to the sport and its athletes, from outside the ring, have been instrumental in growing female boxing."
Lisa Brown is a Trinidadian boxer. During her career, from which she retired, she held the WIBA, WBA, IFBA, and WIBC super bantamweight titles, and the IWBF bantamweight title.
