The Ten Greatest Female Fights of the Modern-Era

The Ten Greatest Female Fights of the Modern-Era

1: Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano

The biggest female fight of all time. With unprecedented hype and anticipation, an iconic venue, it could all have blown up everyone’s faces. In many ways, it needed to deliver. It did and then some. It delivered everything it promised, and more. All things considered, the greatest and the most important female fight of all time. A true watershed moment in boxing history.

Taylor, after a good start, was badly hurt in the 5th. It looked over. Only a matter of time. Serrano brought power. It looked to be the definitive deciding factor. But Taylor proved once again what an extraordinary fighter she is. Over 19,000 fans packed into the Garden in New York. 1.5 million watched at home. It was some fight. Some night. A special one. An unforgettable one. Taylor recovered, and despite the judges being split, won beyond any reasonable doubt. It was at times brutal and savage, but equally, a thing of absolute beauty. Taylor and Serrano did everyone proud. A fight for the undisputed world lightweight titles. They, in truth, mattered very little. It was just that kind of night. At some point, they may go again. They will have an incredibly hard act to follow.

2: Claressa Shields vs. Savannah Marshall

It was a battle for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world. But in truth, it was a battle for personal supremacy. The narrative of an amateur fight ten years previous. The only defeat on the record of Claressa Shields. Savannah Marshall was the one who inflicted that defeat. Both fighters played their part. They sold the show quite beautifully. A contrast in styles and personalities. Shields a natural in such circumstances. She excels in an environment like this. Shields was made for the big show.

Shields didn’t miss a step. She danced her way to the ring to a chorus of boos from the Marshall vocal faithful. A sold-out O2 Arena in London on a night women’s boxing shined so brightly. Marshall was always a step behind. Shields was simply inspired. A brutal savage fight. But not a close one. The American got her revenge. The boos eventually subsided. Shields left the ring to cheers, and even the London crowd knew what they had seen.

3: Mikaela Mayer vs. Maiva Hamadouche

A fight for unification at super-featherweight in 2021 was an unrelenting war that, even on multiple views, has to be seen to be believed.

Mayer and Hamadouche served up something quite remarkable. And special. Nearly 1500 punches were exchanged in just twenty breathless and ferocious minutes. As a pure fight, without the hype of Taylor Serrano, it was even better than that Madison Square Garden thriller from 2022. The scores were wide, perhaps a little harsh on Hamadouche. But Mayer edged most of the rounds. And deserved her win and her moment. Mayer proved a lot that night. Maybe, even more to herself.

“I certainly think I got a lot of respect for this fight and especially from those people who didn’t think I had the strength or the guts to stand with Hamadouche and just thought I was a hype job. I have a little gangster in me and I can sit there and bang if I have to. I showed that I am a well-rounded fighter and I can do multiple things.”

4: Chantelle Cameron vs. Katie Taylor

It was the long-awaited homecoming for Katie Taylor. It looked in some doubt when Amanda Serrano pulled out injured from their scheduled rematch. But Taylor, to her credit, called out her toughest possible challenge. The undisputed super-lightweight champion of the world Chantelle Cameron had always wanted to fight Taylor. Finally, she had got what she had always wanted.

Cameron faced a passionate, ferocious Dublin crowd on her night of destiny. Cameron had to ring walk first, and her name was on the wrong side of the fight poster, but it was on a night that she just wouldn’t be denied. Cameron needed a good start, and she got one. Taylor was behind early but came roaring back in the second half of the fight, but she couldn’t quite close the gap on the scorecards.

Cameron became the first fighter to beat the Irish hero as a professional. She felt disrespected prior. With her historic victory, in many ways, Cameron had what she needed. It was a fight that more than justified the occasion.

5: Katie Taylor vs. Natasha Jonas

In a re-run of their 2012 Olympic showdown, Katie Taylor and Natasha Jonas gave us a fight-of-the-year contender in May of 2021. In Covid hit times, it lacked for a crowd, a stark contrast to London and those record-breaking noise levels. The lack of a crowd didn’t mean for a lack of action or quality. Jonas started slowly. The first two rounds almost certainly cost her the fight. But she came desperately close to finally winning that elusive world title.

Jonas made it even after 8 rounds, Taylor sensing defeat, boxed quite beautifully in the 9th. But they brawled and went to war in the final round. Jonas went for broke and very nearly saved her night. One round was the difference on the cards. Wafer-thin margins. Maybe even one punch decided it. The rematch never came. Jonas eventually got that elusive world title. When one came, a few more followed.

6: Natasha Jonas vs. Mikaela Mayer

It was a fight that was never going to disappoint. A battle in the early months of 2024 for the IBF world welterweight title. Natasha Jonas seeking her career signature win in front of her hometown fans in Liverpool. The American Mikaela Mayer looking for redemption and a second-world title. In simple terms, Jonas and Mayer went to war at the M&S Bank Arena.

Jonas and Mayer served up a classic. After ten relentlessly savage rounds, Jonas edged it by a controversial split decision. Cries of robbery did the rounds. It wasn’t, but it could easily have gone the other way. Jonas was probably a little relieved. Mayer more than a touch aggrieved. Nobody would have complained if the honours had been shared.

Steve Bunce said of the fight:

‘Jonas was exceptional on Saturday night and so was Mayer. It was a fight that served as a reminder of just how good the game can be – male or female – when the best fight the best in front of a partisan crowd. It was a privilege to be anywhere near that old ring.’ Nobody can disagree with the words of Bunce.

7: Chantelle Cameron vs. Katie Taylor 2

It was a night of revenge for Katie Taylor in November 2023 as she got her revenge over Chantelle Cameron to become a two-weight undisputed champion of the world.

Taylor took away the unbeaten of Cameron, and her undisputed world super-lightweight baubles in another classic in front of a sold-out crowd at the 3Arena in Dublin.

Cameron was denied a clear knockdown in the opening round, and can justifiably complain about the constant holding of Taylor, and equally so a headbutt that left her bloodied from the early rounds. But the Irish hero got her tactics right, while Cameron didn’t quite reach the heights we saw six months earlier. Taylor was inspired on the night and edged it on the cards in another truly incredible spectacle for their sport.

8: Katie Taylor vs. Delfine Persoon

New York seems to bring out something in Katie Taylor that no other venue can. On the night it all went wrong for Anthony Joshua in 2019, it very nearly did for the Irish superstar. Persoon, the wide betting outsider, pushed Taylor incredibly hard. Taylor looked exhausted at the end and a beaten fighter. I had it even, one judge agreed, two others didn’t. Persoon left the ring in tears. Taylor was lucky to some degree. If she had lost, few would have complained. The rematch ended the same way but with a little less controversy.

9: Terri Harper vs. Natasha Jonas

Natasha Jonas was considered over the hill, weight drained, and the perceived lamb to the slaughter in 2020, when she challenged the heir apparent to Katie Taylor for her world super-featherweight titles. At 36, the Liverpool fighter was there to lose and, heavily, make no mistake about that. Jonas didn’t read the script. There was something about Jonas in the lead-up to the fight, that she knew something we didn’t. A quiet confidence that she would defy the substantial odds against her.

A back garden fight that changed perceptions of women’s boxing. And of Jonas. ‘Miss GB’ was inspired. She had Harper rocking and teetering in the 8th and was desperately unlucky to leave the ring with only a draw to her name. Harper more than played her part and did well to survive that awful 8th round and rally to save her title in the 10th round. I had Jonas winning, but I suspected the ‘away’ fighter would be left frustrated. The rematch, which looked inevitable at the final bell, never ever came.

10: Shannon Courtenay vs Ebanie Bridges

The social media hype machine, the lingerie model who would be exposed and sent back to Australia as a boxing fake. That’s when many thought, and said when Ebanie Bridges came over to the UK to fight Shannon Courtenay for the vacant WBA bantamweight title in April 2021. Bridges came over to prove her point. She did.

Bridges was hurt on a couple of occasions, severely hampered by a grotesque swelling over her left eye, but she came roaring back to prove all her doubters wrong, including her opponent. The judges were incredibly harsh on Bridges. The Australian deserved more credit for her work.

Steve Bunce said: “It might have been the best women’s fight we’ve ever seen in this country.”

Without the injury to her eye, Bridges would probably have won. Courtenay has since lost her world title, Bridges then won one and is a much better fighter now. And a vastly underrated one. Yet again, the rematch never materialised, but there is every chance, at some point, it might.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing/Top Rank/Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer