What's in store for Women's Boxing in 2021?
December 28, 2020

Without a shadow of a doubt, 2020 has been one of the most important years for women’s boxing in recent history, despite it being a year nobody could have predicted. While there have been some last-minute cancellations of major bouts and events like the Olympic Games, nevertheless the year did drive plenty of attention and awareness for the industry.  

Fights like the Taylor vs. Persoon rematch, McCaskill vs. Braekhus and Harper vs. Jonas proved just what could be possible when promoters and organizers put their weight behind match-ups.  

Momentum in the sport has been picking up again over the past three months and when the dust settles, 2021 should shine even more light on the talented female fighters who are stepping up and putting everything on the line.  

Women’s Boxing Greats to be Inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame 

Following the postponement of the 2020 Boxing Hall of Fame ceremony, next year, we’ll see two years’ worth of boxing heroines inducted into this legendary organisation.  

Former WBC, WIBA, IWBF and IBA super middleweight and IWBF light heavyweight champion, Laila Ali is one of the living members on course for 2021 honours. She’ll be inducted into the women’s Modern category along with boxing legend Ann “Brown Sugar” Wolfe.  

Meanwhile, the one and only Marian “Tyger” Trimiar will be given some long-overdue recognition as she is inducted into the Trailblazer category. A posthumous induction is also in store for the memory of Jackie Tonawanda (1993 – 2009). Additionally, Dr Margaret Goodman, President and Board Chairman of VADA will be honoured for her extensive work within the field of boxing in the Non-Participant category.  

The 2020 honorees due to be inducted along with the Class of 2021 are Christy Martin, Barbara Buttrick, Lucia Rijker and Kathy Duva.  

Re-scheduled Olympic Games will include Women’s Boxing 

The 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games will include men’s and women’s boxing matches on the schedule. Staged at the Kokugian Arena in the Sumida district, the first batch of non-medal bouts will commence on July 24, while the medal rounds will take place from July 31, 2021.  

In a change from previous Olympic events, 2021’s games will see five weight classes for women's boxing: Flyweight (51kg), Featherweight (57kg), Lightweight (60kg), Welterweight (69kg) and Middleweight (75kg).  

The Boxing Task Force (BTW), boxing's official representatives on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are planning to conduct world qualification rounds for the games in May 2021 (dates TBC).   

Taylor, Shields and Serrano have big plans for 2021 

In November of this year, it transpired that team Katie Taylor has been in discussion with Bellator MMA’s president, Scott Coker about the possibility of a cross-over match between the Bray Bomber and the notorious Cris Cyborg. According to Coker, the promotion is “going back and forth” with Eddie Hearn in negotiations about a possible match-up.  

While pitting these two dominant fighters against each other would no doubt go down well with the fans, there’s the small question of Cyborg’s weight. Since shifting to Bellator in September 2019, the Women’s MMA exponent has been exclusively fighting in the Featherweight category.  

Taylor vs. Cyborg is still in its early stages of discussion, but there is one female boxer who from 2021 will be looking to make her mark in the world of MMA. The prodigious Claressa Shields has signed on with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) to take her considerable talents to the cage.  

Shields memorably won two titles (WBC and IBF super-middleweight) in just her fourth professional bout, before adding in the WBA and IBF middleweight belts two fights later. To cap it off, at the end of her tenth fight she had dropped a weight class and cinched the WBC and WBO light-middleweight titles too.  

A pioneer in the ring and now set to be a pioneer in the cage, Shields has said to “be the GWOAT” she wants to “go where no man or woman has...and hold championships in both boxing and MMA at the same time”.  

Another fighter with becoming the greatest of all time on her mind is Amanda Serrano. The seven-weight World Champion has had us gripped throughout 2020 with  her will-they-won't-they rematch with Katie Taylor. The fight never came to pass, but that’s not preventing Serrano from focusing on becoming “the undisputed champion” in women’s boxing next year.  

The record-setting fighter returned to the ring for the first time in 11 months in mid-December in the Dominican Republic, where she made quick work of former rival Dahiana Santana with a KO win 1 minute 29 seconds into round 1. However, rather than cement that much-anticipated rematch with Taylor, according to manager and trainer Jordan Maldonado, she first needs to take on the featherweight champions Jelena Mrdjenovich and Sarah Mahfond in order to “come back to the table when our worth is higher”.