The Curious Case of Karriss Artingstall

The Curious Case of Karriss Artingstall

A former Olympic bronze medallist, an undefeated British champion who is a genuine top-five world-ranked featherweight contender, shouldn’t be going under the radar, but Karriss Artingstall most definitely is.

The curious case of Artingstall is one of the sport’s strangest stories. Undoubtedly immensely talented, but the last two years have just brought her two fights. Large periods of inactivity have stopped all her momentum. In truth, based on talent alone, Artingstall shouldn’t have merely fought for a world title; she should have won one.

Artingstall is coming off the best performance of her career. Last March at the Royal Albert Hall, Artingstall claimed the British featherweight title with a comprehensive points victory over Ravens Chapman live on Sky Sports. The former world title challenger was dropped in the 2nd round, and Chapman struggled to find any semblance of success. It was viewed as a 50/50, but Artingstall won going away against a very good opponent who had challenged Skye Nicolson for her WBC world featherweight title in her previous fight. I thought Artingstall was seriously impressive on the Boxxer all-female card, but she hasn’t fought since.

The excellent win over Chapman should have catapulted Artingstall to a world title challenge of her own, but it hasn’t happened. In fact, nothing has happened.

After winning that bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Artingstall turned professional with Boxxer in 2022 and was instantly hailed as a future star on her side of the sport. By the close of play in 2023, Artingstall had amassed five wins, but everything then ground to a virtual halt. The one fight in 2024 was replicated again last year.

At 31, Artingstall still has time. But 2026 can’t be a repeat of the previous two years. A somewhat forgotten fighter needs to send a few reminders this year, especially when her division is now so wide open. Amanda Serrano is surely closing out her amazing career, and Artingstall, if she can get her career moving in the right direction again, could be in the right place at the right time.

Tiara Brown, who relieved Nicolson of her world title, holds the WBC bauble, and Nina Meinke is the current IBF world featherweight champion. Serrano still holds the WBA and WBO belts, but she is looking more vulnerable than ever. Artingstall is more than capable of beating Brown, Meinke, or even Serrano. The door to world honours has perhaps never been more wide open for Karriss Artingstall. The hope is that she can now get the fights her talents deserve.