Nick ParkinsonJul 26, 2024, 07:52 AM ET
- Reports on boxing for ESPN.com and has been covering British boxing for over 25 years.
Women’s boxing has seen a resurgence since the sport was allowed to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London. Since then, fighters like Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor have gone on to win undisputed championships in two divisions and to top the women’s pound-for-pound lists.
Before that, women’s boxing was fighting for popularity. Since the early 2000s when Laila Ali and Christy Martin were competing in big events, to Amanda Serrano winning titles in an unprecedented seven weight classes, women’s boxing wasn’t as big as it is today.
A big part of that is fights staged as main events, in iconic venues, such as Claressa Shields and Marie-Eve Dicaire headlining the first all-women PPV event in 2021. Or Taylor vs. Serrano, the first women’s championship fight to headline a card at famed Madison Square Garden in New York.
And don’t forget Ali, Holly Holm, Ann Wolfe have all been inducted in the International Hall of Fame. And Cecilia Braekhus, who held at least two world titles for over 10 years (26 fights).
Plenty of fighters can make a case for being the best of their generation, but which fighters make the top 10 best of the 21st century?
Read more:
Top 10 men’s boxers | Top 100 athletes since 2000 | 25 future top athletes
1. Claressa Shields
Key accomplishments: 14-0 record (2 KOs) from 2016 to 2024 (ongoing); two-time Olympic gold medalist; women’s pound-for-pound No. 1; undisputed middleweight and junior middleweight champion
After winning two Olympic gold medals as an amateur (2012 and 2016), Shields has been just as dominant in the professional ranks. She is ESPN’s No.1 ranked pound-for-pound women’s fighter, and has won world titles in three weight divisions (junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight). Shields, 29, from Michigan, will challenge for the WBO light heavyweight and WBC heavyweight world titles in her next fight against Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on July 27. Shields’ best win so far was a unanimous decision over Savannah Marshall in 2022 and she has held at least two world titles simultaneously since 2017. Shields has relied on her boxing skills rather than power to deal with most of her opponents. She also competes as a mixed martial arts fighter.
2. Katie Taylor
Key accomplishments: 23-1 (6 KOs) record from 2016 to 2024 (ongoing); Olympic gold medalist; undisputed champion at lightweight and junior welterweight
Taylor, from Bray in Ireland but who trains in Vernon, Connecticut, won an Olympic gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and is a two-division undisputed world champion, winning all the belts at lightweight and junior welterweight. She is known for her fast combinations. Taylor won a world title in just her seventh professional fight and has only been beaten once, by Chantelle Cameron in May 2023, a loss Taylor avenged with a majority decision six months later to become undisputed at 140 pounds. Taylor’s split decision win over Amanda Serrano in 2022 lived up to the expectation of being the biggest fight in the history of women’s professional boxing. At the age 38, Taylor is due to face Serrano in a rematch on Nov. 15.
3. Amanda Serrano
Key accomplishments: 47-2-1 record (31 KOs) from 2009 to 2024 (ongoing); seven-division world champion; former undisputed featherweight champion, reigning WBA and WBO featherweight champion
Serrano, 35, has defied boxing logic by jumping up and down weight classes and is the only women’s boxer to win world titles in more than four weight divisions. The Puerto-Rico-born, Brooklyn-raised boxer has won world titles in a staggering seven weight classes (junior bantamweight, bantamweight, junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight). She was undisputed featherweight champion last year, and still holds two featherweight belts. Serrano, a busy boxer who throws a lot of punches, will challenge Taylor for her junior welterweight belts on Nov. 15, after their 2022 lightweight encounter ended in a split decision win for Taylor.
4. Cecilia Braekhus
Key accomplishments: 37-2-1 record (9 KOs) from 2007 to 2024 (ongoing); undisputed welterweight champion, former women’s pound-for-pound No. 1
Colombia-born, Norway-based Braekhus was once the pound-for-pound queen of women’s boxing. Braekhus began boxing mostly in Germany (boxing was banned in Norway from 1981 to 2014) and in 2009 she won the WBC and WBA welterweight world titles. By 2014 she was a four-belt, undisputed champion and reigned until 2020 when she lost a majority decision to Jessica McCaskill. Victory would have seen Braekhus, then 38, beat Joe Louis’ streak of 25 straight title defenses in an 11-year reign. She was still boxing last year at age 42, when she fought to a controversial draw against Terri Harper for two welterweight titles.
5. Laila Ali
Key accomplishments: 24-0 record (21 KOs) from 1999 to 2007; super middleweight champion; inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2021
Ali’s biggest achievement was living up to expectations of being the daughter of “The Greatest”, Muhammad Ali. Twenty-one of her 24 victories came via knockout as she overpowered her opponents to become the dominant figure in women’s boxing in the early 2000s. In 2001, Ali and Jacqui Frazier-Lyde became the first women to headline a pay-per-view card; it took 20 years for another woman boxer to achieve that (Claressa Shields). Victories over Valerie Mahfood (twice) and Christy Martin were Ali’s career highlights. Ali, who lives in Georgia, finished her career fighting in South Africa and contributed significantly to raising the profile of women’s boxing.
6. Christy Martin
Key accomplishments: 49-7-3 record (32 KOs) from 1989 to 2012; junior middleweight champion; inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020 (the first year that women were on the ballot)
Martin was one of the early pioneers of women’s professional boxing who helped to propel the sport towards wider attention. She appeared on the Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno heavyweight title fight undercard in 1996 on a Showtime pay-per-view event, and on many other Tyson undercards. She went on to be a guest star on the TV show “Roseanne,” and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Her biggest fights included a win over Mia St. John in 2009 and a fourth-round KO loss to Laila Ali in 2003. In 2009 she won the WBC junior middleweight title by majority decision over Dakota Stone. Her life has been chronicled in many documentaries and a movie about Martin is in the works with famed actress Sydney Sweeney portraying Martin.
7. Holly Holm
Key accomplishments: 33-2-3 record (9 KOs) from 2002 to 2013; three-division world champion; world champion in both UFC and boxing; inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2022
No women’s fighter has been as big a hit in both professional boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) as Holm. She made 18 world title defenses across three weight divisions as the standout star of women’s boxing until switching to MMA in 2011. In boxing, she fought mostly in her home city of Albuquerque and ruled as junior welterweight, welterweight and junior middleweight champion from 2004 to 2013. Some of her best moments were wins over Mary Jo Sanders, Anne Sophie Mathis and fellow Hall of Famer Jane Couch. At age 42, Holm is still active as an MMA (UFC) fighter with a 15-7 record.
8. Ann Wolfe
Key accomplishments: 24-1 record (16 KOs) from 1998 to 2006; three-division world champion; inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2021
The three-division world champion from Texas overpowered most of her opponents. Wolfe produced a first-round KO over Vonda Ward to win two light heavyweight titles in 2004, after stopping Marsha Valley for a super middleweight title two years earlier. She was also junior middleweight champion and suffered just one defeat, later avenged, to Mahfood. After her boxing days, Wolfe became a trainer, working with many amateur fighters and former title contender James Kirkland.
9. Regina Halmich
Key accomplishments: 54-1-1 record (16 KOs) from 1994 to 2007; three-division world champion
Halmich, from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, was an early pioneer of women’s professional boxing in Europe and won world titles at junior flyweight, flyweight and junior bantamweight. Halmich was world champion for most of her career and her fights attracted large TV audiences in her home nation. She retired after a staggering 45th title defense.
10. Jackie Nava
Key accomplishments: 40-4 record (16 KOs) from 2001 to 2022; two-division world champion
“La Princesa Azteca,” from Tijuana, Mexico, was a two-division world champion, and one of the most dominant fighters in the junior featherweight division history. Nava won the inaugural WBC junior featherweight title in 2005 and had two spells as junior featherweight champion. In 2014, she unified the WBA and WBC titles by beating Alicia Ashley, and made two defenses as unified world champion.
