History of Women Fighters - Draft 2

Women's boxing in 1950s in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Women fighting is not a trend. Women from all over the world have been fighting for centuries.

There are many artifacts that have been found from thousands of years ago that let us take a peak into the world of women's fighting. Bronze statues show women fighters from around 300 BC who wrestled with both women and men.

In 1889 "female boxing became popular throughout the United States. Cuts were stitched on the spot, and the women often fought with broken noses, jaws, and teeth."

Female wrestling became popular in Europe in the 1900s. Masha Poddubnaya from Russia won the Women's World Championship in 1909 and went on to win the title six times in the 1900s.

In 1905 an article in the New York Evening World said "It is a good thing for a girl to learn to box," because "poise, grace and buoyancy of movement result from this exercise."


Masha Poddubnaya (on right)

"Young ladies attending the Madison Academy in New York City also boxed and wrestled. The wrestlers included Pauline Fausek and Evelyn Reilly, who talked glibly of half-Nelsons and hammerlocks, while Annie Lynch, the boxer, was said to "hit a harder blow than the average young man." At some women fighting events thousands of men would be in the audience.

In Japan the first professional women's wrestling organization was founded in 1948 and is still very popular today.

Two  female wrestlers in Bolivia.

In Mexico women are boxing and wresting. In Russia women are kickboxing. In Asia women are practicing wrestling and martial arts like Kung Fu.  In La Paz, Bolivia the "Fighting Cholitas" wrestle. They are indigenous women dressed in traditional Aymara clothing who wrestle with other women in a "luche libre" style. The "Fighting Cholitas" have become a very popular show for locals and tourists.

And in America more and more women are entering the boxing ring. In West Virginia the Toughman and Toughwoman contests began in 1979, with amateur women boxing in the ring and still popular today.

In the 1990's we saw a surge of women boxers. Most notably, Laila Ali, daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, "made her professional boxing debut on October 8, 1999. She knocked out her opponent in 31 seconds in the 1st round.  Laila retired from boxing as the undefeated Super Middleweight Boxing Champion of the world with a 24-0 record and with 21 knock-outs."

At the London 2012 Olympics "Nicola Adams from Great Britain, Katie Taylor from Ireland and Claressa Shields from the USA won the first-ever Olympic gold medals in women’s boxing in the categories of fly weight (51kg), light weight (60 kg) and middle weight (75 kg)."

And now we have women like Gina Carano (right) and Ronda Rousey ruling the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Rousey is the first UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion.





Sources:

http://www.olympic.org/news/first-ever-olympic-medals-awarded-to-women-boxers/171926

http://www.lailaali.com/history/

http://www.fscclub.com/history/combat-history-e.shtml

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2011/11/03/women-boxers-advised-to-wear-skirts/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_World_Championship

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7214478/Love-but-little-money-for-Mexicos-female-fighters.html

http://www.puroresu.com/zenjo/