Women’s boxing is on the ropes

By Mark Baldwin

A LESS than half-fill Manchester Arena in April 2022. Back then, Conor Benn only had his surname. It wasn’t enough to bums on seats. The notoriety label from several failed drug tests would help on that score. 

Benn hasn’t been seen inside a British ring since. The type of power that he demonstrated on a faded Chris van Heerden has also been seemingly conspicuous by its absence in two subsequent fights on American soil.

Earlier in the evening, Alycia Baumgardner, fresh from a stunning demolition of Terri Harper, was drafted in at incredibly short notice to pad up the card. Baumgardner had momentum and some kind of perceived mythical power. 

The American laboured through ten rounds to retain her unified world super-featherweight titles. The initial enthusiasm from the sparse crowd soon wavered. They fought in near silence. 

A couple of punters behind me debated around the fact that Baumgardner and Edith Soledad Matthysse fought two-minute rounds. One even asked his mate if they only had thirty seconds rest in between rounds because they didn’t fight three-minute rounds.

I thought then that the perception of the women’s side of the sport still had a lot of work to do. Baumgardner was buried on that card. The stunning stoppage of Harper and the hype that it generated was now lost in the apathy of that uninspiring display against Matthysse. 

Incidentally, Baumgardner also had problems in the testing room. Baumgardner resolved her issues and was cleared of any wrongdoing surrounding her fight with Christina Linardatou last July, and will fight Delfine Persoon in the coming weeks. Benn still has work to do to clear his name. It was a strange night in Manchester that left many unanswered questions.

The strange decision to put Baumgardner on that card with little fanfare and that conversation that went on behind me probably typifies where the female side of the sport is right now.

We have seen many nights where the women have been allowed to shine. And shine they have. The breakthrough nights of Covid times in Eddie’s back garden. That wonderful night when Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano danced in a different garden in 2022. 

A few months later, Boxxer went even better with a celebration of women’s boxing. Claressa Shields, Savannah Marshall, Mikaela Mayer, and Alycia Baumgardner sold a dream and sold out the O2 Arena in London. Those fans in attendance enjoyed the fun without a hint of trouble in sight. It was a special evening. It felt like a moment in history.

Taylor finally got her long-awaited homecoming in 2023. Chantelle Cameron somewhat spoiled the party in Dublin before Taylor got her revenge in the rematch. Mayer and Natasha Jonas headlined in Liverpool in January. They went to war with respect and served up a Fight of the Year contender.

But there are signs that the novelty is wearing off. Fight dates are seemingly in decline. Current and former world champions are in limbo, waiting for a locked-in date.

Both Jonas and Mayer wanted to run it back. They agreed terms, but they couldn’t secure an actual date. They have now moved on without each other. The former world bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges opened up to Boxing Social last week. 

The Australian who can sell a fight, as well as anyone in the sport, has no fight on the horizon. Nina Hughes, another former world bantamweight champion, has been incredibly vocal about her lack of action over the last year. Even the fighter who beat Bridges last December, Miyo Yoshida, is still waiting to make her first defence nine months on. 

Why sign a fighter if you have no use for her? Nicola Hopewell, the Commonwealth flyweight champion, has complained of her inactivity since winning that title in April. There are so many other stories of a similar nature that I could tell.

The Saudi-backed money-heavy shows have shown little or no interest in featuring women on their cards. Only Skye Nicolson and Raven Chapman have even been mooted as appearing on the new boxing playground. 

You’d think the big-time promoters who sit side by side with Turki Alalshikh would have a word. Turki claims he wants to fix boxing. But I wonder if he is just pushing the sport further into the niche category with every show under his banner being a PPV offering, and women’s boxing losing all the progress it has gained over the last few years after all those years of indifference because the ‘Hall of Fame’ fixer hasn’t yet tuned in. Do those promoters still care enough to try and change his mind?

We will get Taylor and Serrano again in November. The Jake Paul and Netflix effect will bring the eyes and the financial rewards, but there is something rather sad and depressing that they have to play second fiddle to that ‘exhibition’ of many things.

There was a time when the female ranks were just glad of the opportunity. A chance to showcase what they could bring to the party. Nobody can seriously argue that in the vast majority of cases, they have done exactly that. But with the demand for equal pay, and maybe some in the sport now losing interest as a result, their side of the sport is now at a pivotal crossroads moment. 

The accusation was always lingering in the background, especially during those Covid times, that the women were only being used so prominently because they were cheaper labour. Has the interest waned because there is no money to be made? But the promoters have to promote and pay for their talent. 

Some are willing to pay millions for a pre-main even concert or for a light show that wouldn’t look out of place on New Year’s Eve in London or Edinburgh. Although I do feel Boxxer missed a trick on Saturday night by not having Jayne McDonald belt out some cruising classics. What Eminem did in California a few hours later, I’m sure Britain’s national treasure could match in Barnsley. But to be fair, I’m more Go West than Kanye West.

But despite some promoters playing to their egos with the stars of the hit parade and the extravagant firework displays, they seem reluctant to put enough promotion into selling their fighters’ story or pay them a fair and reasonable wage. If you don’t advertise then nobody will buy your product.

There is untouched talent lying in the wings. We have seen Emma Dolan and Jasmina Zapotoczna upset previously undefeated Matchroom prospects in recent times. The likes of Harli Whitwell, Tori-Ellis Willetts and Hannah Robinson and many others all deserve a share of the bright lights. Boxxer and Ben Shalom especially, could do a lot worse than building a stable around them.

But there is hope. Lou DiBella is trying to get the required finance for a bantamweight tournament featuring the stars of the division like Yoshida, Hughes, Dina Thorslund, Cherneka Johnson, Shannon Courtenay, Amanda Galle, Shurretta Metcalf and Jamie Mitchell. If that does indeed get off the ground and is promoted right, you have something that you can invest in. Give it the right platform, it can’t fail.

Likewise, if the WBA and the WBC do what they should have done some time ago and strip Katie Taylor of her remaining lightweight titles to allow the division to move on without her. Taylor hasn’t defended those baubles since late 2022, and it looks extremely unlikely that she will ever do so again. 

Get the division moving again. Rhiannon Dixon, Beatriz Ferreira and Caroline Dubois are perfectly capable of carrying on what Taylor started. One of them will go undisputed. But they need a little help first. Get the basics right and help the sport move forward and not suffocate progress. Something that could be said of the current state of play in general.

There has been progress and plenty of it, but we can’t lose what we have gained just because there is a new big show in town. The women have shown they can deliver on multiple occasions over the past few years. Just let them deliver.