Shields, Taylor could take women's boxing to the next level

Being a combat sports fan, it’s great to see MMA fighters like former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and current strawweight title holder Joanna Jedrzejcyk heading pay per views and getting the same exposure as the men.

But while women mixed martial artists are making headlines, women’s boxing has been kind of left to the side. That could change as two well-known women pugilists are weeks away from stepping into the professional boxing scene.

On Oct. 25, two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields announced she would be make her professional boxing debut on the undercard of the Nov. 19 headlined by light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward. Shields, who is front Flint, Mich., is expected to fight at 168 pounds.

One week after Shields’ debut, Irish fighter Katie Taylor, who won an Olympic gold medal in 2012, compete in her first professional bout at an event held at the Wembley Arena. In December she will fight in an event held at the Manchester Arena.

This is probably the right time for Shields and Taylor, who both had great amateur careers, to finally turn professional.

Professional women’s boxing has been around for many years. There was a boom in the 1990s with athletes like Christy Martin, Laura Serrano making a name for themselves, as well as the debuts of second-generation boxers Laila Ali — daughter of the late, great Muhammad Ali — and Jackie Frazier-Lyde — whose father was former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.

While the is no shortage of talented female fighters from around the world, the popularity of women’s boxing has declined in recent years.

Many American women boxers have to compete in Mexico and Europe in order to make a living. Other fighters will transition into mixed martial arts. While organizations like Golden Boy Promotions, which is run by former world champion Oscar De La Hoya, sporadically holds female fight cards, other promoters, such as Top Rank Boxing founder and CEO Bob Arum, has turned away from women’s boxing.

During this time, women’s mixed martial arts has grown in popularity. Even women’s professional wrestling — while predetermined — is seeing resurgence and female performers are giving the same attention and opportunities as the men.

So how can Shields and Taylor turn things around for women’s boxing?

For starters, both athletes are known in the boxing community. Fans have watched Shields and Taylor grow into great fighters over the last several years. Casual fans have seen them compete in the Olympics. Both fighters also come from humble beginnings and were introduced to boxing by their fathers.

The exposure from the Olympics could transition into more mainstream attention, and that is where promoters come in.

Taylor recently signed a contract with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sports, which already promotes several athletes, including International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Hearn’s company has an exclusive televised deal with Sky Sports until 2021. Taylor could be featured on different televised fight cards in the next four years, one being an event where she is fighting for a world championship in her home country.

As for Shields, she has not signed with a promoter just yet.

Another part of the promoters’ job will be to find Shields and Taylor challenging adversaries to get into the ring with. Both fighters will probably run through their first several opponents — as many boxing prospects do when they begin their professional career — but they will need challenging fights to bring in the audience.

Another thing that could help Shields and Taylor boost women’s boxing is pay per view.

In an interview with The Prizefighters.com, Showtime executive vice president Stephen Espinoza said his channel would be adding women’s boxing to its programming in 2017. The last time Showtime featured a women’s boxing match was a six-round super middleweight fight between Melissa Hernandez and Jeri Sitzes in 2009.

Showtime could gain some mainstream attention by featuring Shields and/or Taylor on a pay per view event.

The popularity of women’s boxing isn’t going to grow overnight. It will probably be a few years into Shields’ and Taylor’s professional careers before it reaches the heights in popularity that women’s MMA is currently experiencing.

And who knows? Perhaps Shields and Taylor will not only raise the stock of women’s boxing, but the entire sport as a whole.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.