Hannah Robinson: Making Up For Lost Time

Hannah Robinson: Making Up For Lost Time

There was a time when women’s boxing was booming. Dates were frequent. The female side of the sport was on trend. But things are very different in 2025. Much of the momentum was lost in 2024, as the money men turned their attention to the Saudi riches. A few highlights aside, many turned their backs on women’s boxing. In simple terms, it went out of fashion. Interest was lost. Fight dates on the ‘big’ shows became incredibly rare. Many a fighter, including world champions, bemoaned their lack of activity. And with good reason.

Boxxer tried a self-titled relaunch of women’s boxing in March with their second all-female card. But in two subsequent Boxxer shows since that night at the Royal Albert Hall, we haven’t seen one solitary female fight. It’s hardly a relaunch, more like a one-night-only headline-grabbing moniker. Matchroom have a much thinner female roster than they did several years ago, although they have recently signed Tiah-Mai Ayton, one of the hottest prospects in the sport. Labelled as the future of women’s boxing, hopes are incredibly high that Ayton could be something special. But a dwindling Matchroom female roster isn’t a good sign.

Jake Paul and his Most Valuable Promotions are the shining light, it seems. Recent big-name signings like Alycia Baumgardner, Savannah Marshall, Ellie Scotney, Chantelle Cameron, and many others indicate that MVP sees something that their promotional rivals don’t. Paul has invested significant time and money into women’s boxing, and he will promote what will almost certainly be the best and deepest all-female card in July at the iconic Madison Square Garden. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will trade blows for a third time with an incredibly stacked undercard.

But away from the bright lights of a Jake Paul extravaganza, many female fighters are struggling for the limelight. Talented fighters who just a few years ago would have gained some semblance of mainstream recognition. Hannah Robinson would certainly fit into that narrative.

A two-time National Champion, Robinson, was contemplating turning professional at the height of the boom in women’s boxing. But her Olympic aspirations proved too much of a temptation, and Robinson stayed amateur in the hope that she could make it to the Paris Olympics. But when those hopes were eventually extinguished, Robinson set her sights on world titles in the professional ranks.

But after starting her new journey in 2024 with big hopes, it’s been a relatively frustrating stop-start beginning in her new world. Broken promises, lack of ring time, Robinson would have been beyond frustrated, and probably wondering if she had missed the boat. Wrong time, wrong place. But Robinson made changes, moved her whole set-up closer to home, and the North-East native is seemingly intent on changing the trajectory of her career.

After just two fights last year, Robinson has been much quicker out of the blocks in 2025. A points win over the Argentinian Erica Juana Gabriela Alvarez in April will be followed by a much more significant test this weekend. The unbeaten Georgia Klein will tell us a little more about the world title hopes of Hannah Robinson. Klein will head to Middlesbrough on Saturday night with her own ambitions, and Robinson knows her professional career gets its first real test. It’s a good old-fashioned type of fight between two unbeaten fighters. The sort of match-up that deserves a grander setting. A few years ago, it would almost certainly have landed on a far bigger platform. But these are very different times. But if Robinson can deliver on all her obvious potential on Saturday night, the bigger promoters could come calling. A statement-making performance will surely get her noticed. A little reminder of what she could offer going forward. Sometimes, you have to force the door open. Robinson has that opportunity this weekend.

The 31-year-old super-lightweight hopeful could be a little gem of a signing for Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, or Ben Shalom. A fighter that has so far gone under the somewhat. That could all change in the not-too-distant future. Time has been lost, but Hannah Robinson seems intent on making up for that lost time.