The Future: Female Fighters.

As women’s boxing has been catapulted to new heights by the emerging stars of the sport, the inspired generation of prospects are following just behind.

This year alone, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano made history as the first female fighters to sell out the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York.

And Claressa Shields on Saturday travels to London in another woman’s undisputed title bout where she settles the score with long-time rival Savannah Marshall.

With the sport at an all-time high, SCTR speaks to two rising fighters featuring on the all-women’s card and another highly-touted talent.

Caroline Dubois

Dubois first walked into the Repton boxing gym aged nine, inspired by her older brother Daniel, currently a champion at heavyweight.

She excelled at gymnastics, swimming and running, but sought to find a sport that would test her ability to the max.

Dubois instantly fell in love with boxing, but faced a fight before she could even throw a punch.

“It’s funny because when I went there, they didn’t know that I was a girl,” she reveals.

“This was back in the day, and there weren’t many clubs that had girls, on the walls it would say ‘Repton Boys Amateur Boxing club, or ‘West Ham Boys Amatuer Boxing Club’ it would say ‘Fischer Boys Amatuer Boxing Club’.

“It wasn’t just an amateur boxing club, it was a boys club and when I went there, my dad knew that and he told me if I wanted to box and I wanted to go there, I’d have to tell them I was a boy.”

Eventually, the time came when Dubois was offered a bout, meaning she would have had to see a doctor and have medicals done.

That would have blown her cover, so she switched gyms, and was forced to let her skills do the talking.

“We left and went to a different club, at first it was the exact same,” Dubois says.

“But my dad said to the coach, ‘Give her a chance, see how good she is. Take her on the pads, watch her on the bag, give her a few rounds sparring.’

“I sparred and after the coach was so shocked, he said, ‘Come down tomorrow’ and it went from there.”

Dubois would continue to prove herself and show that she belonged, no matter what anyone else thought.

“There were a few remarks, I remember people saying, ‘Oh, if I had a daughter, I wouldn’t let her box.’

“I remember going to the Monkstown Box Cup for the first time when I was 13, I went there and the taxi driver went, ‘What you doing?’

“I said, ‘Boxing, we’re all boxers.’ He said, ‘Wow, female boxers? I didn’t know about that. I don’t watch that. If I had a daughter, I wouldn’t let her box.’

“When you’re younger, you don’t really pay attention to it. You just think, I’m gonna do it.

“And anyway, I know that as soon as I step foot in the ring and they watch me fight and box, their attitude completely changes.”

Like many other young girls in boxing, Dubois was inspired by the 2012 Olympics, when women were allowed to box for the first time, and Taylor and Tasha Jonas blew the roof off of the ExCel Arena in London.

It gave young amateurs a reason to fight, and Dubois achieved her dream of competing in the delayed Tokyo Games last year.

Now a 3-0 professional, the super-bantamweight southpaw returns on Saturday when her hero Shields faces rival Marshall on an all-women’s card, the sport’s latest milestone.

“There’s so many great fights now, there’s people for young girls to watch and they’ve set a bar that you can reach,” Dubois says.

“It’s very hard to be the first to do anything, but once you see someone else doing it, that’s when records start to get broken.”

Dubois, 21, is an example of doing everything to chase her dreams and she advises anyone to never give up.

“Be dedicated, be committed. Always turn up to the gym, always do what your coaches tell you to do,” she says.

“Just be committed. Whatever will come will come, but it’s the commitment that will make anything come from it.”

Maiseyrose Courtney

Courtney began boxing aged eight after realising she was better fighter than footballer.

Although she had to wait over seven years to get her first bout, having had a fight outside of the ring to convince coaches to believe in her.

But Courtney wasted no time in the amateur ranks, becoming a six-time national champ and now looks to turn over as a professional.

She is the first woman to box out of the acclaimed Matchroom Boxing Gym, headed up by esteemed trainer Tony Sims and home to current contenders like Conor Benn, Felix Cash and John Ryder.

It means for Courtney – like has been the case her entire career – she has to keep up with the rest of the pack.

“I quite enjoy being in that male-dominated area,” she reveals

“It’s very competitive and very heighted – all the testosterone flying around – I’m just used to it. And I’m just seen as one of the boys, one of the fellas.

“I’ve never really been totally ousted out from all the clubs I’ve been to, apart from a few times.

“Especially down The Repton I was seen as one of the boys, whatever the boys do I’d do and it’s the same down The Matchroom.

“Whatever they’re doing, if they’re doing four runs on the triangle, I’m doing four runs on the triangle. I might be a minute and a half behind them or whatever, but I’m still gonna do it.

“And I’m not seen as a lesser and that’s all you want really.”

Courtney also challenges the archaic view on women’s boxing and what it means to be a female fighter.

“I had the old coaches coming up to me saying, ‘I don’t agree with women’s boxing’,” she says. “And at the end of it they’ll say, ‘But you’re good though.’ Like a backhanded compliment.

“And the thing is with female boxing, we’re always stereotyped to be these butch, manly, females when actually half the females are beautiful women, who embrace their femininity and they just love the sport for what it is.

“It’s becoming less stereotyped with female boxing, it’s getting there but it’s still the same, ‘Geezer bird’ or whatever.”

As Courtney prepares for the next step in her career, she continues as a role model for young fighters and urges them to always go the extra mile – quite literally.

“I would tell them to sod what anyone else thinks, to sod all the old boys who tell you that they don’t agree with women’s boxing,” she says.

“Sod your trainers when they tell you to do one less because you’re a female – you do two more than what the rest of them are doing.

“You run that extra mile, you do two more rounds on the bag. You keep pushing and keep trying as hard as you can.

“That’s the reality of it. It’s rubbish and it’s not fair and it will change but just don’t be disheartened by people.
“I’ve had it a few times in my life where I’ve been like, ‘Oh mate, no one believes in me.’ But now it’s like, I believe in me.

“I’m gonna push myself to be the best because that’s what I want to be. I’m gonna be a world champion, I believe I can do it so I’m going to train as if I’m the underdog and I’m gonna make sure that I’ll be that world champion.”

Shannon Ryan

Like Dubois, combat sports runs in the family for Ryan, who first started kickboxing aged five at her dad’s gym in Watford.

But at the age of 16 she moved to Manchester on Team GB’s taekwondo team.

Although injury forced her back to kickboxing and then the sweet science in August 2018. Not only was Ryan switching fighting codes but also experiencing different environments.

“It’s all really male dominated, but in kickboxing there were more females than in boxing, when I started boxing,” she says.

“In Taekwondo, the ratio was half female, half men, but then when I went to boxing it was more male dominated.

“And only really now are there more females coming on the scene.”

Ryan had no issue mixing it alongside the men – as her workrate matched just about anyone’s in the gym.

“I found it okay, to be honest. I train really hard, so I matched the men’s training, if I’m honest,” she admits.

“I just put all my focus into training, I’m not really worried about who’s there, females or any of that, so I found it alright.”

Ryan was a champion amateur and had aspirations to go all the way in the unpaid circuit, until the coronavirus pandemic KOd her plans.

But as one door shut, another opened as Anthony Joshua’s 258 Management offered the super-flyweight a professional contract.

Ryan, currently 2-0, also returns at the O2 Arena, on a night American Shields and Hartlepool’s Marshall punch the women’s sport into even greater heights.

“They’ve paved the way for us to not be scared to join the sport and just be as you are as a female,” Ryan said.

“A lot of people think you have to change yourself, but you can still be yourself as a female in the sport.

“They brought a lot of eyes to the game and instilled a lot of confidence.”

Away from boxing, Ryan, 25, is a keen bowler, who likes to read and chill while away from the gym.

But the boxer, who studied film and TV at college, admits she finds it hard to switch off from the sport as she urges others to always trust the process.

“My advice would be, just be consistent. Plan out what you want to do, so that you have a vision and a goal,” she says.

“If doors close, keep pushing them down, because if you have that goal and vision, you can spread that word to whoever your promoter or manager is.

“With both parties you can then get to where you want to be, but having a clear goal and vision is very important.”