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.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is the governing body of professional boxing in the United Kingdom.
Katie Taylor is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is the undisputed and lineal world lightweight champion since 2019, and the undisputed and lineal world super lightweight champion since 2023.
The boxing tournaments at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held from 28 July to 12 August at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre.
Thomas Lee Stalker is an English professional boxer who challenged for the Commonwealth lightweight title in 2017. He won multiple international medals while competing for England as an amateur, including gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2011 World Championships.
Nicola Virginia Adams is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2017 to 2019. She retired with an undefeated record and held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female flyweight title in 2019. As an amateur, she became the first female boxer to become an Olympic champion after winning gold at London 2012, and the first double Olympic champion following a second gold medal at Rio 2016, both in the flyweight division. As of 27 May 2016 she was the reigning Olympic, World and European Games champion at flyweight, and won the entire set of amateur championships available to her – Olympic, Commonwealth and European Games' titles, and the World, European and European Union championships.
Freddie William Evans is a British professional boxer fighting in the 69 kg welterweight category. As an amateur, he won gold at the 2007 World Cadet Championships in Hungary and won gold for Wales at the 2011 European Amateur Boxing Championships in Ankara. He was the first Welsh boxer to achieve the feat in 86 years.
The GB Amateur Boxing Championships is an amateur boxing tournament, founded in 2010, in which boxers from England, Scotland and Wales compete over a two-day period. It is hosted by the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA), which was established in October 2008.
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.
Marlen Esparza is an American professional boxer who is the former WBC, WBO, WBA and Ring female world flyweight champion. As an amateur, in 2012 she became the first American female boxer to qualify for the Olympics, in the first year that women's boxing was an Olympic event, going on to win a bronze medal in the women's flyweight division at the London Olympics. This made her the first American woman winner of any Olympic boxing medal.
Savannah Rose Marshall is a British professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist. She has held world championships in two weight classes: the undisputed and Ring magazine female super-middleweight title since 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.
Daniyar Maratovich Yeleussinov is a Kazakh professional boxer who was the IBO welterweight champion in 2021. As an amateur he competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, winning a gold medal in 2016. He also won gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games; the 2013 World Championships; and silver at the 2015 World Championships.
The boxing tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro took place from 6 to 21 August 2016 at the Pavilion 6 of Riocentro. However, boxing at the games was overshadowed with controversy after there were doubts raised that results in certain bouts had been manipulated. These concerns were upheld in a report published in 2021.
Mikaela Joslin Mayer is an American professional boxer, who has held WBO welterweight title since September 2024. She is also a former unified female super-featherweight world champion, having held the WBO and the IBF titles simultaneously. She has also held the interim WBC female lightweight world title. As an amateur, she won a bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships and competed for the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics.
Boxing in Liverpool, the United Kingdom is centered on approximately 22 amateur boxing clubs which have produced notable boxers such as John Conteh, Andy Holligan, Tony Bellew, David Price, and Callum Smith.
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.
Rosie Eccles is a Welsh amateur boxer who won a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as well as a host of other medals at international competitions representing both Wales and Great Britain.
Amy Sara Broadhurst is an Irish amateur boxer. She is the 2022 IBA World Light-welterweight champion, and won the gold medal in the lightweight division at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Karriss Artingstall is an English professional boxer. As an amateur she won a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics, silver at the 2019 European Championships and bronze at the 2019 World Championships.
Terri Harper is an English professional boxer and current WBA and IBO Super-Welterweight champion. She is also the former super-featherweight world champion, having held the IBO female title from 2019 to November 2021 and the WBC version from 2020 to November 2021. Following a brief amateur career, Harper made her professional debut in 2017. She won her first championship two years later, capturing the regional WBC International female lightweight title in 2019. Later that year she moved down a weight class to the super-featherweight division to win her first world championship, the vacant IBO title, and added the WBC title to her collection the following year after defeating long-reigning champion Eva Wahlström. With her victory over Wahlström, Harper became the second British woman after Nicola Adams to hold a major world championship.
