Although women have participated in boxing for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been outlawed for most of boxing’s history, 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. Back then boxing was not the boxing of today. Venues tended to be saloons, pubs, small arenas, or even open streets and back-alleys. Rules differed from venue to venue, but for the most part, fights were done bare-knuckled. In those days, the rules of boxing allowed kicking, gouging and other methods of attack not part of today’s arsenal.
The first female boxer dates back to 1722, when Elizabeth Wilkinson Stokes challenged Hannah Hyfield to about through an ad she placed in the London Journal:
“I, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell, having had some words with Hannah Hyfield, and requiring Satisfaction, do invite her to meet me on the Stage and Box me.”
Elizabeth won after a 22-minute fight. After the fight with Hannah Hyfield Stoke’s career took off, making her the most popular female fighter in Britain and earning her the name “Lady Bareknuckles”.
In 1876, at the New York Hills Theater, the first reported and known female boxing match to take place in the United States was a fight between Nell Saunders and Rose Harland. The two were not fighting for a purse though – but a Silver butter dish!
The ‘National Police Gazette’ published the famous picture, “Honoring Nell Saunders”, in which Miss Saunders gets the prize while knocked out Rose Harland is still unconscious. It was the first recorded female boxing match on the ring.
Twenty-five years later, in 1904, boxing made its debut as an Olympic sport in St. Louis — men’s boxing was admitted as a competitive sport, but women’s boxing was limited to exhibition bouts.
“Honoring Nell Saunders” – a later Police Gazette’s illustration Nell Saunders gets the prize (silver dish) for the victory over Rose Harland who is still unconscious after knockout.
By the late 1970s and into the early ’80s, women’s boxing was resurrected. Some of the first women to be licensed for boxing in the United States were:
- Marian Trimiar (known as Lady Tyger)
- Jackie Tonawanda
- Cathy Davis, known as ‘Cat’, appeared as the first female boxer on the cover of The Ring magazine in 1978 and became popular in the United States by fighting often on television.
The International Boxing Association (amateur) accepted new rules for Women’s Boxing at the end of the 20th century and approved the first European Cup for Women in 1999 and the first World Championship for women in 2001.
Women’s boxing was not featured at the 2008 Olympics; however, on 14 August 2009, it was announced that the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board (EB) had approved the inclusion of women’s boxing for the Games in London in the 2012 Olympics, contrary to the expectations of some observers.
Here in the Boston area MK Boxing provides first-class boxing classes for women too.
Join the long history of women boxing or Become the next Women’s boxing champion if you wish!
Reach us out if you have any questions.
- Call: (781) 376-4269
- Email: mikeknox@mkboxing.com
- Gym address: 1 Esquire Rd, North Billerica, MA, USA, 01862
TAGS: Elizabeth Stokes, Elizabeth Wilkinson, Hannah Hyfield, female boxing, girl boxing, Nell Saunders, Pat Pindela, Polly Burns, Polly Fairclough, Rose Harland, Sue “Tiger Lily” Ryan, women’s boxing, women’s boxing history, women’s boxing history, Women’s Olympic Boxing, Cathy Davis, Marian Trimiar, Lady Tyger, Jackie Tonawanda, The Ring magazine, boxing classes for women