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.
Christy Renea Martin is an American former professional boxer. Competing from 1989 to 2012, she held the WBC female super welterweight title in 2009. In 2010, Martin was stabbed and shot by her husband. He was subsequently found guilty of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Martin was the first female boxer elected to the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016, and was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020, which was the first year that women were on the ballot.
Carlos De León, also known as "Sugar" De Leon, was a Puerto Rican boxer who made history by becoming the first cruiserweight to win the world title twice. Subsequently, he kept breaking his own record for the most times as cruiserweight champion by regaining the title on two further occasions.
Melissa Del Valle is an American multiple champion in women's boxing.
Luis Ramón "Yori Boy" Campas Medina is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1987 to 2019. He held the IBF light middleweight title from 1997 to 1998.
Valerie Rebecca Mahfood is a female boxer who is a former world Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champion. Known as "The Big Bad Wolfe", Mahfood is known in the boxing world by her brawling style of fighting, and by her traditional trademark purple mohawk. She now resides in Groves, Texas
Brenda Burnside is an American former women's boxing "journeywoman". Despite being given such title by boxing fans and critics, she was well known in the boxing world for the quality of opposition she faced; and she contended for a world title once. She fought in the Super Flyweight division.
Cathy Davis is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1976 and 1981. Some of her fights were fixed.
Andrea DeShong is a former United States female boxer who is best remembered for defeating Christy Martin in Martin's fourth professional bout.
Alicia Ashley is a women's boxing participant who is the former WBC female world super bantamweight champion. Ashley is a Jamaican-American. Born in Jamaica, she moved to the United States at a young age. She is the younger sister of chess grandmaster Maurice Ashley and former world kickboxing champion Devon Ashley.
Tracy Michelle Byrd is an American female boxer.
Daisy Lang is a former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2004. She is a former three division world champion and was the first Bulgarian woman to capture a world title, having held the WIBF super-flyweight, bantamweight, and super-bantamweight titles between 1999 and 2004.
Juan Meza, also known for his nickname Kid Meza, was a Mexican professional boxer who was world Super Bantamweight champion. Meza was born in Mexicali, Mexico.
Savannah Rose Marshall is a British professional boxer. She has held world championships in two weight classes: the undisputed and Ring magazine female super-middleweight title since July 2023; and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female middleweight title from 2020 to 2022. As an amateur, she became the first British female world champion after securing gold at the 2012 World Championships. She has been nicknamed as the 'Silent Assassin' due to her shyness and her multiple knockout wins. As of October 2022, she is ranked as the world's second best active female middleweight by BoxRec and by The Ring.
Gail Grandchamp is a retired American female boxer. On 16 April 1992, after eight years in court litigation in Massachusetts, she gained the right to become a boxer, as a state Superior Court judge deemed it was illegal to deny someone a chance to box based on gender. During her efforts to gain the right to box as an amateur, she passed the age of 36, the maximum age for amateur fighters. She instead pursued a career as professional boxer.
Arturo Leon is a Mexican-American former boxer from Arizona, United States. He was a junior lightweight who once challenged Alexis Arguello for the Nicaraguan's World Boxing Council's world Junior Lightweight title, losing by 15 round unanimous decision.
Joey Olivo is an American former professional boxer of Mexican descent who competed from 1976 to 1989. He held the WBA world light flyweight title in 1985 and challenged for the WBC world light flyweight title in 1981. At regional level he held the WBC-NABF light flyweight title in 1983; the IBF-USBA flyweight title in 1984; and the WBC-NABF flyweight title in 1988.
Cherneka Lee Johnson is a New Zealand-Australian professional boxer. Born in New Zealand, she represents Australia in international competition.
Christy Martin vs. Deirdre Gogarty was a women's boxing match that took place on March 16, 1996, between American Christy Martin and Irishwoman Deirdre Gogarty. The contest was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada, on the Las Vegas Strip, as part of the undercard of a pay-per-view championship match between Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno with 1.1 million buys. Surprising viewers with the participants' ferocity, strength, and technical skill, Martin vs. Gogarty is often called the fight that "put women's boxing on the map", or "the bout that made women's boxing". The fight was won by Martin, who was bleeding profusely, in a six-round unanimous decision, and led to her being the first female boxer featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Mexican 
