Women’s boxing has developed enormously in recent years, with the ladies now filling famous arenas and battling it out in high-paying main events. So it’s time for BOXSPORT to dedicate a P4P ranking to the best female fighters. Today: the top three!
P4P #1: Claressa Shields (15-0-0, 3 knockouts)
Anyone who describes themselves as the “GWOAT” – the “Greatest Woman of All Time” – almost inevitably has to occupy the P4P top spot. Claressa Shields undoubtedly has a fat lip, but there is also a lot behind it. The two-time Olympic champion (2012 and 2016) has already won world titles in five weight classes, most recently beating Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse and capturing a belt at heavyweight and light heavyweight. Shields has been the undisputed world champion at middleweight since 2023, and the US American has also won the crowns of several world federations at half-middleweight (2020/21) and super-middleweight (2017/18). Shields masters the art of trash talk like no other and is able to put herself in the limelight like no other. It is only her rather meagre knockout rate that has critics up in arms.
P4P #2: Katie Taylor (23-1-0, 6 knockouts)
No female boxer in the world has the promoter business humming like Katie Taylor. The Irish boxing icon fills halls on both sides of the pond and brings streaming giant DAZN remarkable viewer numbers. Taylor made boxing history in 2022: Her fight against Amando Serrano was the first main fight between two female boxers in New York’s famous Madison Square Garden. The “most famous arena in the world” was sold out with 20,000 spectators and two million people watched on DAZN. Both Taylor and Serrano collected a million-dollar purse. Taylor’s athletic class is undisputed. The 2012 Olympic champion has reigned at lightweight since 2018 and was undeterred by her first career defeat to Chantelle Cameron in 2023. Instead, “Ireland’s proud daughter” beat the Brit in a rematch and has not only been the lightweight queen ever since, but also the undisputed world champion at light-welterweight.
P4P #3: Seniesa Estrada (26-0-0, 9 knockouts)
The US American dominates women’s boxing on the West Coast. Last year, Seniesa Estrada crowned herself WBC minimumweight world champion with a dominant points victory over the German Tina Rupprecht, followed by the next crown this year: Estrada defeated another pound-for-pound candidate, Yokasta Valle, unanimously on points and also claimed the IBF and WBO titles in the 47.63 kilogram class. Estrada’s knockout rate of 34 percent is remarkable for a fighter from almost the lowest limit. The 32-year-old, who calls herself “Superbad” in reference to boxing icon Sugar Ray Leonard, is also doing well in her private life: she recently married DAZN boxing analyst Chris Mannix.
Text by Martin Armbruster