StaffProfessional boxing is regulated sanctioned boxing. It is fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. To guarantee the boxers’ safety, most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory authority. Most high-profile bouts obtain a sanctioning body’s endorsement, which awards championship belts, establishes rules, and assigns its judges and referees. Let us look at the current top ten international women professional boxers:
1. Katie Taylor – Born on 2 July 1986, Katie Taylor is an Irish professional boxer. She is the present lightweight champion and a two-weight world champion. Since 2017, she has been holding the WBA title, the IBF title since 2018, and the WBC, WBO, and Ring Magazine titles since 2019. In 2019, Taylor also held the WBO junior welterweight title. In the same year, she also became one of only eight boxers in history to have all four major world titles in boxing- WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO.
In 2016 Taylor turned professional under Matchroom Boxing. She is known for her fast-paced, aggressive boxing style. In 2020, Taylor was ranked as the world’s best active female lightweight by BoxRec, and the best active female, pound-for-pound, by The Ring and BoxRec.
2.Delfine Persoon – Born on 14 January 1985, Delfine Persoon is a Belgian professional boxer. In 2012, she held the IBF female lightweight title and the WBC female lightweight title from 2014 to June 2019. In September 2020, she was ranked as the world’s best active female super-featherweight by BoxRec, the second-best active female lightweight by The Ring, and the second-best active female, pound for pound.
Persoon started professional boxing in 2009. She switched to boxing after a competitive judo career. In 2011, she became EBU European Champion. She successfully defended her EBU European Championship in November 2011. In 2012, Persoon won the WIBF world title with a technical knockout. In the same year, she added the IBF world title with a technical knockout. She successfully defended her WIBF title in the next year, i.e., 2013. In the same year, she also gained the WIBA world title and won a WBC final eliminator. In September 2013, she was stripped of the IBF title for inactivity, having failed to defend it in the intervening year. The victory in a unification fight with Lucia Morelli for the WIBF & WBF titles in 2013 made her the number one lightweight in the world. On 20 April 2014, Persoon won the WBC title.
3.Jessica McCaskill – Born on 8 September 1984, Jessica McCaskill is an American professional boxer. In August 2020, she became a two-weight world champion, with IBO female welterweight titles since. She held the WBC female super lightweight title for two years, from 2018 to 2020, and the WBA female super lightweight title for one year from 2019 to 2020. In 2017, she challenged for the WBA lightweight title. In September 2020, she was ranked as the world’s best active female welterweight by The Ring and BoxRec, and the third-best active female, pound for pound, by BoxRec, and fourth by The Ring and ESPN.
McCaskill made her professional debut in 2015, with a technical knockout victory. In November 2016, Warriors Boxing signed McCaskill. In October 2018, McCaskill defeated two-weight world champion Érica Farías for the WBC female super lightweight title, winning her first world title by unanimous decision. She retained her WBC title and won the WBA female super lightweight title via a unanimous decision in a bout held on 25 May 2019. In October 2019, McCaskill defended her unified titles in a rematch against Érica Farías.
4.Cecilia Brækhus – Born on 28 September 1981, Cecilia Brækhus is a Norwegian professional boxer. In boxing, she won the female welterweight champion from 2014 to 2020 and the first woman to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO titles in any weight class. She is one of only eight boxers in history to have all four major world titles simultaneously. She captured the IBO title in 2016, becoming the first boxer to hold five world titles from sanctioning bodies simultaneously.
In 2020, she was ranked as the world’s second-best active female welterweight by The Ring and BoxRec, and the third-best active female, pound-for-pound, by The Ring, fifth by ESPN, and sixth by BoxRec.
She became the WBC World Champion 2019 in the welterweight and won the vacant WBA female welterweight title. Brækhus successfully defended her titles in 2010. In 2014, Brækhus became the first Norwegian and the first woman to hold all significant world championship titles in her weight division (welterweight) in boxing history.
5.Marcela Acuña – Born on 16 October 1976, Marcela Acuña is an Argentine professional boxer. She made her professional debut in 1997. Acuña has held various super bantamweight world titles, namely the WBA title for two years from 2006 to 2008, two times WBC title between 2008 and 2010, the WBO title for one year from 2013 to 2014, the IBF title for two years from 2016 to 2018, the WBA interim featherweight title in 2016, and the IBF title since 2018. In 2020, she was ranked as the world’s best active female super bantamweight by The Ring and BoxRec, and the third-best active female, pound for pound, by BoxRec and tenth by The Ring. In 2010, Acuña won the Konex Award Merit Diploma as one of Argentina’s five best boxers.
6.Claressa Shields – Born on 17 March 1995, Claressa Shields is an American professional boxer. She has held various world titles in three weight classes and won the female middleweight champion in 2019. She holds the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF female middleweight titles since 2018, and the WBO female middleweight title from 2019 to 2020. Since January 2020, she has also held the unified WBC and WBO female light middleweight titles and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles for a year from 2017 to 2018. Claressa Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two and three-weight world champion in the fewest professional fights. In 2020, she was ranked as the world’s best active female light middleweight by The Ring and BoxRec and the best active female boxer, pound for pound by ESPN, second by The Ring, and seventh by BoxRec. She is one of only eight boxers in history to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO simultaneously.
7.Yésica Bopp – Born on 11 April 1984, Yésica Bopp is an Argentine professional boxer. She is a two-division world champion. She has been holding the WBA Super title female light-flyweight title since November 2020 and WBA Regular title from 2008–2019. She previously held the WBO female light-flyweight title from 2009 to 2013 and the WBO flyweight title in 2014. In 2020, she was ranked as the world’s best active female light-flyweight by The Ring and BoxRec, and the seventh-best active female, pound-for-pound, by The Ring and BoxRec and ninth by ESPN.
Bopp won the interim WBA female light flyweight title in 2008. Bopp also won the WBO female light flyweight title in 2009. She successfully defended it in 2011 and followed up with five more victories in the same year. According to BoxRec, Bopp was ranked the best female light flyweight boxer globally during her time as a champion.
8.Mikaela Mayer – Born on 4 July 1990, Mikaela Mayer is an American professional boxer. She has been holding the WBO female super featherweight title since October 2020. Mayer made her debut in August 2017, after signing with Top Rank. In 2012, as an amateur, she won a bronze medal at the World Championships and competed at the 2016 Olympics. In 2020, she was ranked as the world’s fourth-best active female super featherweight by The Ring and BoxRec.
9.Naoko Fujioka – Born on 18 August 1975, Naoko Fujioka is a Japanese professional boxer. She made her professional debut in 2009. Japan’s first-ever five-division world champion has been holding the WBA female flyweight title since 2018 and previously the WBC female minimum weight, WBO female junior-flyweight, WBA female super-flyweight, and WBO female bantamweight titles between 2012 and 2017. In 2020, she was ranked as the world’s best active female flyweight by The Ring and BoxRec.
10.Terri Harper – Born on 2 November 1996, Terri Harper is an English professional boxer. She made her professional debut in 2017. Harper has held the IBO female super-featherweight title since 2019 and the WBC female super-featherweight title since February 2020. She is the second British female boxer in history to hold a major world title. In 2020, she was ranked as the world’s best active female super-featherweight by The Ring and third by BoxRec.
