A WOMAN’S WORLD
IT is perhaps no coincidence that in a time of uncertainty and desperation the boxers who have stepped up and made something of themselves in the past 12 months happen to be female.
Long denied, eager for both their chance and approval, they have successfully let bygones be bygones, forgiven boxing for years of mistreatment, and helped resuscitate the sport back to life during the COVID-19 era. They have nurtured it. They have protected it. They have, in short, been the bigger person.
Consequently, where women once had to beg for opportunities, they are now the first port of call; where they were once relegated to the bottom of cards, they now bolster and occasionally headline them; where they were once derided, they are now revered.
Cynics, of course, will claim the newfound prominence of women’s boxing has more to do with how cheap a female fight is to promote (relative to a fight involving men) during a pandemic than any sudden desire on anyone’s part to do the right thing, push women’s boxing, or explore the idea of equality. But even if that’s true, the important thing, and what matters most, is that female boxers are now active, now relevant, and now getting the opportunities they were once denied. Years after Jane Couch was treated like a bug in need of squashing, female boxers are standing shoulder to shoulder alongside well-known male counterparts and being watched by a growing audience. This, no matter how or why it happened, can only be a good thing.
That said, be warned: there is no guarantee it will remain this good. This is a strange time for
