![]() The level of Ali's boxing career has started to match what she's been doing outside of it. ![]() The combination of her life story, her history-making work for women in sport in Somalia, her modeling with high-fashion brands Dior and Cartier and the non-profit she set up - has turned her into one of the more well-known women's boxers. It's been a highly-paced career for the 33-year-old- junior featherweight who was born in Somalia and raised in London. In that fight she showed more potential, too, knocking out Crystal Garcia Nova in the first round. Ali became one of the first women fighters to box professionally in Saudi Arabia. The fighters are listed in alphabetical order.Īli's inspiring story has been well-documented and she proved in 2022 she's willing to take on history. They are ones, in many cases, who already have world titles but by the end of the year could end up pushing for a spot on the pound-for-pound list or could become bigger stars in the sport - similar toBaumgardner and Jonas in 2022. On the whole, these aren't fighters who are prospects. The caveat with this list is this: If a fighter is in the current ESPN pound-for-pound top 10, they were not considered for this list - so those six names above, along with Chantelle Cameron, Jessica McCaskill, Franchon Crews-Dezurn and Natasha Jonas were not eligible. This list is more about who you might be talking about at the end of 2023, that you weren't quite as familiar with at this point in the year. You know the Serranos, Taylors, Shieldses and Alycia Baumgardners. There needs to be more than just the biggest names at the top of the women's boxing world to connect with fans. Which can happen with the current group of well-known names, like Claressa Shields, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano continuing to fight.īut in order for there to be real growth, sustainability and stability in the sport, there needs to be depth. ![]() And this is something for the sport to build on in 2023. There were exciting fights and moments, some that fans are still talking about months after the fights occurred. Fighters who had spent years - in some cases over a decade - fighting for relevancy and a chance to push their names and the sport into the spotlight have finally accomplished it. Women's boxing made considerable strides in 2022. Women's boxing: Ramla Ali, Ebanie Bridges, Gabriela Fundora and others to watch in 2023 You know what I mean? So that is the frustration.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser Another problem is it became new and fresh and fun, because it was on someone else other than a black woman. Black women have been wearing braids for a very long time. As Zendaya recently pointed out, “'Braids are not new. To be clear, everyone can rock french braids, extensions, cornrows, and candy-colored hair, but let’s not buy into the idea that this “trend” is new, or that these celebrities made it hot. Sure, our celebrities set trends that become popular once other people do it, but the glut of black female Youtubers who’ve been giving braiding tutorials - for years - is pretty much invisible to those who think “boxer braids” are new, or “KKW Signature braids” are actually ![]() One reason we continue to face such obstacles is because the mainstream media never actually sees us. Our hair can still keep us out of jobs, our names can limit our opportunities, and our skin color makes us vulnerable to profiling. While our nation has made great strides, people of color continue to be marginalized in just about every space we inhabit. Just like plump lips and big butts are now en vogue because of the popularity of the Kardashians, and folks are perfectly happy buying dark brown skin from a bottle, the rush to link Sasha’s very black, very classic hairstyle to Katy Perry or UFC Fighters or anybody else but the black women and girls she grew up around feels very deliberate.
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