A few decades back, you’d find it impossible for women to enter into men’s sports such as basketball. Now, you can even see them on the ring, wearing their boxing gloves, getting ready to fight.
A boxing match between two women is coined as foxy boxing. I really wonder why it is named as such. Maybe it’s because women are as a wild and as ferocious as foxes when they are so ready to fight. Or maybe because foxes have that certain poise and grace when they fight that can be seen in women when they are in the boxing ring.
Whatever the real reason for its name is, there is one thing that is certain: women are now proving their worth in this sports reserved only for the “tough guys”. Two of them are already known worldwide as legends. If you’re a real boxing fanatic, then you would know Christy Martin and Laila Ali.
Laila Ali may be a familiar figure for most of us because she is the daughter of the boxing legend Muhammad Ali. She’s been the new torchbearer for the women’s category now, after having defeated the hardy Christy Martin in the fourth round.
If you aren’t familiar with Christy Martin, she is the female boxer who fought as an undercard in many of Tyson’s matches. She has frequently stolen the spotlight, and not a few sportswriters were more interested in her than the great Mike Tyson. Back then, she was not fighting against women, she fought against hardy male boxers, and had won some matches too.
It took a long while for the sports to get the acceptance of the world. A few countries such as Sweden and UK had boxing matches in as early as the 1980’s, but the first World Championships was not held until 2001. However, it is gaining recognition, and last year, in the 2008 Olympics, foxy boxing was an exhibition sports. This coming 2012, it will be added as an official sport in the Olympics, and a lot of fans are so eager to find out who’s going to bring home the medal.