History of Women Fighters - Draft 1

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

Women fighters hail from all over the globe starting from the beginning of time. There is evidence of women fighters from before 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."

In the 1900s female wrestling became popular in Europe. Masha Poddubnaya, wife of the great Russian wrestler Ivan Poddubny, claimed the women’s title.

In 1905 an issue of 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."

"According to the New York World, 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 events hundreds



Two  female wrestlers in Bolivia.

And around the world women are fighting. In Mexico women are boxing. In Asia women are practicing martial arts like Kung Fu.

In La Paz, Bolivia some of the indigenous women are called the "Fighting Cholitas". These women are indigenous women dressed in traditional Aymara clothing who wrestle with other women in a "luche libre" style.


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 into the 1st round.  Laila retired from boxing as the undefeated Super Middleweight Boxing Champion of the world with a 24-0 record, with 21 knock-outs."

And most recently at the London 2012 Olympics "Nicola Adams from Great Britain, Katie Taylor from Ireland and Claressa Shields from the USA have 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)."



Mixed Martial Artist Gina Carano.

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

Catching a glimpse the history of women fighting and seeing where it is now is very inspiring.  Though it may seem like women fighting is unheard of or new now that we are seeing more women like Ronda Rousey, the truth is that women have been in the ring fighting since the beginning of time.







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/