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.
Hocine Soltani was an Algerian boxer, who won two Olympic medals. In 1992, the southpaw placed third in the featherweight division (54–57 kg), and at the 1996 Summer Olympics he won the gold medal in the lightweight division.
The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is a sports organization that sanctions amateur and professional boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships. It is one of the oldest boxing federations in the world, coming into existence after the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IBA consists of five continental confederations, the African Boxing Confederation, American Boxing Confederation, Asian Boxing Confederation, European Boxing Confederation, and Oceania Boxing Confederation. The association includes officially 198 national boxing federations. It is led by a committee headed by Umar Kremlev.
Claressa Maria Shields is an American professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in five weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021; the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female light heavyweight title and the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Federation (WBF) female heavyweight titles since July 2024; WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two and three division 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.
Lauren Louise Price is a Welsh professional boxer, former amateur boxer and former kickboxer and footballer. She has held the WBA, IBO, and Ring female welterweight World titles since 11 May 2024. She was the first-ever female British professional boxing champion having won the welterweight title on 6 May 2023 and holding it until vacating the belt when she became World champion. While representing Wales in the amateur sport she won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Welsh woman to win a Commonwealth Games boxing medal. Four years later she surpassed this achievement by winning gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, followed by a gold at the 2019 World Championships. While representing Great Britain, she won gold medals at the 2019 European Games and 2020 Summer Olympics.
Nesthy Alcayde Petecio is a Filipino amateur boxer. She won a silver medal in the inaugural women's featherweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Filipino woman to win an Olympic medal in boxing, and won a bronze medal in the women's flyweight event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She also won a silver medal at the 2014 World Championships and gold at the 2019 edition.
Skye Brittany Nicolson is an Australian professional boxer. As an amateur, she competed in the featherweight event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning the gold medal. Nicolson competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In her first bout in the women's Feather (54–57 kg) preliminaries she beat Im Ae-ji from Republic of Korea on points. She was beaten in the quarterfinals by Kariss Artingstall from Great Britain.
Lovlina Borgohain is an Indian boxer. She won a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in the women's welterweight event, becoming only the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the Olympics. She won gold medal at 2023 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships and bronze medals at the 2018 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships and the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships. Borgohain is the first female athlete and the second boxer from Assam to represent the state in the Olympics. In 2020, she became the sixth person from Assam to receive Arjuna Award.
Barbra Banda is a Zambian professional footballer who plays as a striker for National Women's Soccer League club Orlando Pride and captains the Zambia national team.
Lin Yu-ting is a Taiwanese amateur boxer. She has won two gold medals at the IBA World Boxing Championships, in addition to two gold medals at the Asian Games and one at the Asian Amateur Boxing Championships. She competed for Taiwan at the 2024 Summer Olympics where she defeated Julia Szeremeta of Poland in the final of the women's 57 kg category (featherweight). Lin is the first Taiwanese boxer to win an Olympic gold medal.
Angela Carini is an Italian amateur boxer.
Caitlin Parker is an Australian amateur boxer, who became the first female boxer from Australia to win an Olympic medal when she took bronze at the 2024 Paris Games. Parker has also won silver and bronze medals at two Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2014 Youth Olympics.
Carlo Paalam is a Filipino amateur boxer. He made his Olympic debut and won silver medal in the flyweight division at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Esra Yıldız Kahraman is a Turkish amateur boxer who won a bronze medal in the lightweight division at the 2016 European Championships. She was named as a competitor for the Turkey at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Harrison Garside is an Australian boxer and plumber. He competed in the men's lightweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics where he won the bronze medal. This marked the first time in more than three decades that an Australian medaled in boxing at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif is an Algerian professional boxer. She won the gold medal in the Women's 66 kg (welterweight) boxing at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Cherneka Johnson is a New Zealand-Australian professional boxer. Born in New Zealand, she represents Australia in international competition. She is a two-weight world champion currently holding the WBA female bantamweight World title having previously been IBF female super-bantamweight World champion.
The 2023 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships were the 13th edition of the championships, held in New Delhi, India from 15 to 26 March 2023. India topped the medal tally for the first time after 2006.
Hergie Tao-Wag Bacyadan is a Filipino boxer and former wushu and vovinam practitioner who has competed in the women's division in all sports.
Anna Luca Hámori is a Hungarian amateur boxer.
