How a women’s revolution changed the fight game

Alex Pattle talks to the CEO behind a landmark Royal Albert Hall event and fighters about punching through glass ceilings

- Alex Pattle

There are few halls as hallowed as the Royal Albert: the rotund, revered home of concerts, ceremonies, and now a historic night in women's boxing.

Under the domed roof of one of London's most regal structures, Lauren Price and Natasha Jonas jousted for world titles, respect, and a place in history. It was Price – too young, slick and smart – who stepped out of the venue and into a mild March night with all the belts, and with even more respect than she garnered through her Olympic triumph. Truthfully, though, each woman’s exact place in history is hard to determine: they have both achieved so much, now including a headline bout on Britain’s second-ever all-female boxing card.

That card, the night before International Women’s Day on 8 March, played out on Sky Sports and in front of a unique crowd.

Boxxer founder and CEO Ben Shalom, the event’s promoter, tells The Independent that the gender split on tickets was almost 50-50. That comes two-and-a-half years after Boxxer produced Britain’s first-ever all-women’s boxing event: Savannah Marshall vs Claressa Shields. The O2 Arena show drew 2 million viewers as Sky’s most-watched women’s sporting event ever, with around 40 per cent of tickets bought by women.

“That was the first time, for me, boxing had felt like a real family event,” Shalom says. “I think younger families, females feel like they can go to a show [now]. It was a focus from the start: ‘How can we make boxing less intimidating?’ For a long time, boxing has been seen as this old school, murky, masculine world. But for us, nothing’s been more successful than women’s boxing in changing how partners, crowds and broadcasters view the sport.”