A long road to the main card

Women's boxing took decades to win a place on the card. For most of the twentieth century, women who wanted to box professionally found the sport set up to keep them out. Commissions in the US and the UK refused to license female fighters or treated them as a novelty. In the US it took court challenges in the 1970s and 1980s to make some state athletic commissions issue licences at all.

The sport existed, in small halls and for thin purses, and few people saw it. That history explains why women's boxing has spent the past decade or so catching up.

London 2012

Women's boxing joined the Olympics for the first time at London 2012. Fighters who might have stayed unknown outside amateur boxing were on primetime television, in front of a home crowd. Many British fans got their first proper look at the sport's best women. Nicola Adams won gold that summer.

The Olympics also fed the professional ranks. Fighters from 2012 and the Games since have gone on to headline professional cards.

Taylor v Serrano at Madison Square Garden

In 2022 Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano headlined at Madison Square Garden. It was the first time a women's fight had topped the bill there. Promoters sold it as the main event. For many in boxing, it answered the old question of whether a women's fight could carry a card.

Demand had been building for a while before that night. The fight showed it, and promoters have been more willing since.

What's changed since

• Women's fights appear more often in co-feature and main event slots.
• Some promoters now build cards around women's fights.
• More fighters get repeated main-card exposure, and with it a following.

A fairer test

Women are getting bigger fights, and they're judged by the same test as everyone else in the sport. Can you fight, and will people pay to watch you? For most of its history women's boxing faced a different test, where being seen depended on novelty more than merit.

There's still a gap in purses and opportunity between the men's and women's game. The direction of travel is clear. A fighter breaking through now has a route to a big stage that wasn't there fifteen years ago.

If you're still choosing a weight class to follow, the which division should you follow? quiz asks a few questions about the fighters you know and the fights you enjoy. Then it suggests a division.

Following the sport as it grows

The fight calendar lists the upcoming fights the site has recorded, with dates and venues. The piece on the flyweight division looks at boxing at its most technical. More on the sport is in the news and articles section.