Ms Laila Ali (Photo courtesy of Recognize).
In honor of Women’s Herstory Month, we will peruse another special topic: the history of female boxing. We will highlight major advancements in the female boxing world and some of our trailblazing ladies.
So far, both in the Punch Drunk and Boxing Free series and in the history of boxing, it’s been all men. Predominantly white men. However, last week, we branched out with the exploitation of kangaroos in the boxing world. This week, we discuss female boxing. It is March after all, y’all!
Women have been systematically excluded from the majority of what the boxing world has to offer. They were rarely allowed to participate, judged for wanting to be female boxers, and expected to do more with less. Let’s get into it!
The Female Boxing Timeline:
The 19th Century
1876: The first unofficial female boxing match occurred in America this year. Boxers Nell Saunders and Rose Harland battled it out at the New York Hills Theatre. What were they fighting over? A silver butter dish. I cannot roll my eyes hard enough on that one.
The 20th Century
1923: Jeanne Lamare was the first woman to receive her boxing license in America. Lamare would receive her New Jersey license in July of 1923.
1954: Barbara Buttrick, the boxing baddie, was the first lady to have her match televised on national television in America.
1975: Eva Shain became the first female professional boxing judge. Ms. Shain would go on to judge over 50 title bouts in her career.
1987: Marian Trimiar put her food where her mouth wasn’t. For a month in 1987, the female boxer went on a month-long hunger strike to advocate for better pay, recognition, and conditions. We see you, Marian!
1988: Sweden became the first country to lift its ban on women’s amateur boxing in 1988. Not even 40 years ago! Thanks for being a good example, though, Sweden.
1993: America got a lot of things together in 1993. The first sanctioned women’s amateur match occurred in October in the United States. USA Boxing also lifted its ban on women’s boxing. You love to see it!
1994: The Amateur International Boxing Association lifts its ban on women boxers.
1996: The year of the ‘birth’ of modern female boxing in America. Christy Martin and Deirdre Gogarty fought it out in 1996.
1996: England joined Sweden in lifting their women’s amateur boxing ban.
The 21st Century
2006: In 2006, a father, daughter, and son fought on the same boxing card at a King of the Ring Boxing Program event. In 2003, Big Al “White Lightning” Hughes and Angela Hughes were on the same boxing card together. Three years later, little brother Al Hughes III joined the rest of the family. Big Al was 57, Angela was 21, and Little Al was 20.
2012: Women’s boxing will debut at the Olympics for the first time in the event’s total history. This is 108 years ago, after men’s boxing was added to the Olympics and women’s entry in the event was first denied.
A Few Fantastic Fighting Females:
Barbara Buttrick
‘The Mighty Atom of the Ring’ took the boxing world by storm at 15. Barbara Buttrick was born in 1929, much earlier than our other female boxers. Ms. Barbara would make her money as a shorthand typist by day and become one of the best to ever box at night in London.
‘Battling Barbara’ debuted her career in 1948 as a bantamweight in Europe. She also made her rounds in North America, moving to Dallas in 1957.
What is truly incredible is that this young lady, who was not even five feet and under 100 pounds, fought grown men over 1,000 times throughout her career. She had far fewer bouts with women due to limited availability.
Buttrick became an American household name after kicking Phyllis Kugler’s can in a world title bout. She remained in people’s hearts and minds when she was enshrined in the International Boxing and Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1990 and created the Women’s International Boxing Federation in 1993.
We lost Barbara in the boxing world when she decided motherhood was calling her name. She beat Gloria Adams in 1959 in the first female boxing match in Florida. Battling Barbara played her final bout in 1960, while she was four months pregnant.
Besides creating the WIBF, Ms. Barbara also balanced motherhood with being a ringside photographer. That is womanpower. Barbara Buttrick didn’t fit the 1950s housewife vibe, ever. We love that for her. And the right for every woman to choose how their best life looks to them.
Marian Trimiar
It’s truly unfortunate that so many women had to fight inside and outside of the ring. They couldn’t ever just focus on boxing because so many people were concerned with keeping them from doing so because of their gender.
Marian Trimiar, AKA Lady Tyger, has been committed to boxing since she was 18. Much like many other boxers we’ve discussed in our series, Trimiar boxed illegally because women couldn’t fight in sanctioned matches at the time.
Ms. Marian would go to Canada to go pro in 1975, but she couldn’t do the same in her home country because of sexism. In an interview with The Grueling Truth, the boxer would be quoted saying, “I slept, ate, ran boxing. It didn’t give me nothing back. You don’t realize the prejudice out there. Of all the isms, and I know them all, sexism is the worst.”
After fighting it out in the courtroom for years, Lady Tyger was granted her boxing license in New York (the first lady to do so) in 1978. She won the women’s world lightweight championship the following year.
As previously mentioned, Ms. Marian went on a hunger strike while fighting for women’s rights in female boxing.
In 2021, Trimiar was enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. She was one of the best lady boxers to ever do it.
Laila Ali
Does the last name ‘Ali’ and boxing ring a bell for you? Laila is the daughter of that one guy, THE Muhammad Ali! Many individuals consider Ms. Laila the best female boxer ever. She has a 24-0 record, with 21 KOs.
Ali began her boxing career in 1999 at just 18 years old. Her father was concerned about her wellbeing (for good reason), but his daughter had a vision. Ms. Laila knocked out her opponent in the first round of her first match. Ali then went on to win the next nine times in a row.
Ms. Laila retired in 2007 and was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015. That is the tail end of Ali’s accomplishments. She also held the WBC, WIBA, IWBF, and IBA female super middleweight titles and the light heavyweight title for the IWBF.
Gail Grandchamp:
We love a lady who’s not afraid of a lawsuit. Gail Grandchamp is one of those ladies.
Grandchamp spent more time in a courtroom than in a boxing ring for 18 years. Ms. Gail was denied her amateur boxing license in 1984, while all of her fellow male students on the team from North Adams State College were accepted. The team was going to compete at the state’s Golden Gloves competition.
Grandchamp fought for eight years after initially suing in 1984, alleging her license was denied due to discrimination based on sex. In 1992, a Massachusetts judge ruled in the female boxer’s favor.
However, Ms. Gail was too old to be an amateur boxer by the time she won her lawsuit. It was go pro, or bust for Grandchamp.
Not one to avoid a challenge, Ms. Gail became the first licensed female boxer in MA and won the first female boxing competition in the Bay State.
Grandchamp was one of the biggest advocates for including women in the Olympics’ boxing event. Thank you for all of your hard work, Gail Grandchamp!
Did I leave out a major event in the history of female boxing? Is there a female boxer that has to be brought up in a future article? Let me know down below!
