When Claressa Shields, Savannah Marshall, Alycia Baumgardner and Mikaela Mayer all turned pro, their goal, and the hope of women’s boxing fans was that they would wind up in “superfights,” ones just like their male counterparts were a part of.
At the time Shields turned pro, which preceded the three others, women’s boxing in the United States was mainly languishing on off-TV undercards. For years, talented fighters already in the pro ranks were often unknown to even serious fight fans, and gifted would-be pros never graduated beyond the amateur ranks for lack of financial opportunity. When the history of women’s boxing is written, one of its most important chapters will be about Shields, whose emergence on the professional scene along with her Olympic contemporary Katie Taylor’s, marked a turning point in terms of exposure, acceptance and media coverage of women in boxing.
This past Saturday’s event at the O2 Arena then, will forever be remembered as a significant moment not just in women’s boxing history, but the sport’s as a whole. An all-women’s event topped by Shields vs. her bitter rival Marshall, and Mayer-Baumgardner, a rivalry that threatened to top the main event in terms of its participants’ hatred of one another. It also turned out to be one of the special instances in which the wattage of the animosity between the fighters matches the intensity and competitiveness of the fights themselves. Both Shields-Marshall and Baumgardner-Mayer were high-level, high-tempo battles befitting matchups between the respective division’s—and four of women’s boxing’s—very best.
The night felt like a culmination of a ten-year timeline that began with women’s boxing’s inclusion as a competitive sport in the 2012 Olympics. The names that were at the top of national and international tournaments during that time period included the four that were featured prominently on Saturday. The emergence of amateur standouts, but particularly Olympic stars, in the pro game, lent notoriety and legitimacy to a world that was constantly maligned and questioned. Saturday represented the desired end-point, that those standouts would ultimately fight one another.
But given the timeline of the present boom period of women’s boxing and its connection the the Olympics, it is difficult to bask in the glow of Saturday night without also acknowledging a fight that is still going on today: One for boxing’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympic Games.
“The irony is not lost on me. Claressa Shields and Savanah Marshall, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano put on some of the best boxing performances in the last year, selling out London’s O2 Arena and Madison Square Garden, while giving us two contenders for fight of the year. Yet just as women’s boxing lands in the biggest venues selling them out, and delivering dazzling performances, the ladder that helped them get there is being pulled,” said Dr. Cathy van Ingen, professor at Brock University who focuses her research on the relationship between sport, inequality, and social change.
“It won’t affect them, but it will impact the future of women boxing – the next Katie Taylor, Mary Spencer, or Claressa Shields. The Olympics are the anchor used to leverage financial support for elite women boxers with the potential to reach international status.”
Presently, boxing is not part of the preliminary program set for Los Angeles in 2028. After Umar Kremlev was voted president of the IBA (International Boxing Association) by 106 delegates, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) described his victory as being “disturbing developments” in a statement. In 2019, the IOC suspended the IBA due to “grave concerns” about judging, refereeing and financial mismanagement (see: corruption) and governed the 2020 Olympic tournament itself. It plans to do the same—potentially one last time–for 2024, although the qualifying process, which was revised last month, is not yet fully clear.
“The loss of Olympic inclusion would be devastating for all boxers. The Olympic dream is a big recruiter for young people. Without the Olympics, the national governing body would have limited resources since USA Boxing’s funding comes primarily from memberships, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and sponsors. If boxing were to be removed from the Games, USOPC and sponsor funding would dry up, and membership would likely drop significantly. The sport would likely become fractured, and athlete development would become more focused on professional pathways,” said Dr. Christy Halbert, who coached both Shields and Mayer at the Olympic Games in 2012. “Women boxers are disproportionately affected by lack of funding. Men’s involvement in boxing is supported by individuals, and parents, and sponsors. But women boxers still often fight for acceptance.”
For many national programs across the globe, funding for women’s boxing only started in earnest once women’s boxing was granted inclusion in the Games. A little over ten years prior to the 2012 Games, the first World Women’s Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Scranton, PA. Although a US team existed and was the host nation, according to Halbert, women’s boxing wasn’t even a budgetary line item for USA Boxing. Fighters, including Jennifer Han who went on to fight Mayer and Taylor in the pros, helped make posters, film commercials, and saved money for their own tracksuits.
That the present boom of both popularity and skill level in women’s boxing coincides with a full decade of funding from national programs all over the world is not surprising. But what if all of that dried up? Sans Olympic possibilities, will national boxing budgets remain the same for women?
“I don’t think many people want to think this way after the huge success of this weekend’s all-women’s card in London, but it really underscores just how catastrophic the recent quarrel between the IBA and IOC could be,” said Dr. MacIntosh Ross, professor at Western University. “Just look at the featured bouts of the evening. Shields, Marshall, and Mayer were all Olympians. Baumgardner was national caliber as an amateur, learning her craft in a system funded to produce Olympians. It’s hypocritical for the IOC to bemoan the IBA’s lack of ethics, but they’re not wrong. And if the IBA’s failure to make meaningful changes results in boxing’s departure from the Olympics, it’s women’s boxing that will suffer the most. The inroads into this traditionally hyper masculine sport by Olympians since 2012 could quickly fall into disrepair.”
The sport as a whole would suffer greatly from the extinction of Olympic boxing, causing potentially irreparable harm to gyms and facilities worldwide that often run on volunteer coaches buoyed by governmental funding of some kind. Elite amateur funding is a big piece of that pie for many gyms, and the Olympic pathway is one that keeps fighters motivated to train far before a professional career is possible for them.
Not every professional has an international-tier amateur background on their CV, or sometimes any amateur background at all, but the vast majority of elite fighters do. There will always be people interested in fighting for money so long as the money is offered, and there will continue to be some semblance of an amateur scene whether the Olympics are the rings the fighters are reaching for or not. However, that pathway to excellence in the sport, much less riches from it, becomes harsh terrain, particularly for women, if the Olympics cease to exist.
“The Olympics of 2012, 2016, and 2020 launched superstars into professional boxing careers. The professional ranks greatly benefit by the development that national programs can offer women boxers. The amateurs are like the minor-leagues for the pro game. It’s where boxers can learn and develop in an environment based on safety and competitive excellence,” said Halbert. “The current pros gained from the experience that amateur boxing affords — the bouts and tournaments, the comfort with travel, the ability to take risks without worrying about a record, the courage developed from the inability to dodge opponents. Without Olympic boxing, the pro game suffers: fewer opponents, less skill, fewer fans.”
Corey Erdman is a boxing writer and commentator based in Toronto, ON, Canada. Follow him on Twitter @corey_erdman
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