Women's boxing fights its way to parity with men's game

JUST 12 YEARS AFTER ITS OLYMPIC DEBUT

Charley Davison’s husband and their three young children were already in bed back home on the east coast of England before she pulled on her headgear and stepped into the World Boxing ring in southern Colorado earlier this year.

The 30-year-old Davison was able to pursue her Olympic dreams half a world away from her family only because of the spectacular growth of women’s boxing.

In just over a decade, the sport has proliferated from its Olympic debut with only 36 fighters in three weight classes in London to become an equal part of the tournament in Paris, where half of the 248-fighter field will be women competing in a record six weight classes. The addition of a 54-kilogram bantamweight division at the Paris Olympics changed the game for fighters like Davison.

“After the Tokyo Olympics, if there wasn’t going to be a 54 (division), I would have hung my gloves up,” said Davison, a former youth champion who left boxing for seven years before returning to get in shape after having kids.