coach (kōch) n. In Sports a person who trains or directs athletes or athletic teams. A person who gives instruction or guidance: a boxing coach; a life coach. A boxing coach is someone who is licensed by the governing body of their province, state or territory. Boxing is a lifelong journey and you really should mentally plan to have many coaches in your life. The hope is to learn the different aspects of your sport, let their mastery become a part of yours as no one coach is the same. Also no single coach knows everything and to support you as a boxer your coach should allow some input and collaboration for the benefit of your progression where possible. There should always be a mutual respect in the relationship. If that’s not the case you might want to think about finding that coach who has your best interest at heart. GJWB is creating a network of female and female supportive coaches, boxing leaders and community that want growth in the sport through positive gender equity. Our coaching philosophy at GJWB is technique is the rule, not the exception. Style is something you develop as you grow, and progression over perfection is the only way to become a better boxer or person for that matter. What is the most important thing a coach has taught you?
team (tiːm) n (sometimes functioning as plural) A number of persons associated together in work or activity: such as: a group on one side (as in football or a debate) b: CREW, GANG TEAM GJWB Is a community first and foremost. Even though boxing is an individual sport, it takes a team to make a fighter. The best fighters have a solid team behind them. GJWB wants to be that TEAM for all females in the sport. When we connect and support each other there is nothing we can’t do together. Teach the sport Connect & find sparring partners Support each other with money by watching fights Create opportunities Grow the boxing community Job creation within the sport Educate – Develop – Connect Be one so they can see one Empowered women – Empower women We are doing this to create a better present day in boxing and we are seeing it move in the right direction finally but we have a long way to go. We are doing this for the future for our lil stars of boxing. We have put together a fantastic group of Ambassadors & Mentors for our TEAM. Each of which brings their own experience, personality, role within boxing, and passion for driving the sport in the best direction.
We can’t wait to introduce you to the stars of TEAM GJWB as we will continue to grow and be the world’s largest female boxing community!
We will be posting profiles of each of them over the next few weeks so stay tuned.
**By following us here – you are already part of the TEAM. If we haven’t said it yet – WELCOME!! 🙂 **
GJWB is a PROUD sponsor of the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame Awards – taking place August 14 2021
It is an honour to help celebrate this decorated list of twenty-four international inductees from 2020 & 2021. They are boxers and women’s boxing enthusiasts who have paved the way for us to continue to do what we love and create the future women’s boxing deserves. This will be the seventh induction celebration and the largest in the history of the IWBHF. This Hall of Fame dinner, induction ceremony and reception will be taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada August 14th at the Orleans Hotel & Casino. The evening kicks off with a meet and greet session for the honorees and invited guests, followed by the IWBHF tradition of having every female boxer sign the historic 7’ ft. high historical pioneer banner.
For anyone in the Las Vegas area or if you were looking for the perfect excuse to go to Vegas – Details and tickets can be found on the website by clicking here.Or reach out to us directly for more information by emailing us: info@girlsjustwannabox.com.
WHO IS Sue “TL” Fox?
Sue is the amazing Founder/Chairwoman/& President of the IWBHF (pictured below) and the creator of the WBAN network. The Women’s Boxing Archive Network where she reports on our sport daily and continually shines a light on all women in the sport of boxing. She has been a fighter and is always fighting for equality and equity for women in the sport we love. Sue herself is a Hall of Famer, former World Class Boxer, rated #1 in the world in 1979, and creator/founder of WBAN™. She was named in the Feb. 2012 Commemorative issue of Ring Magazine as one of the Top-Ten Most Influential female boxers of all time. In 2008, USA Boxing presented an award to Fox for her contributions in developing the sport. Since its inception on the internet back in 1998, WBAN has become the world’s leading authority for resource and information in all things female boxing!
GJWB would like to thank Sue as she is an ‘OG’ of the Girls Just Wanna Box movement and she has paved the way for us. We thank you to the moon and back Sue for all you have done in the sport and continue to do through WBAN and the IWBHF!
Stay tuned for our full coverage of the event – we will go LIVE on IG and totally boxing girl geek out! Hopefully Sue has time to go LIVE with us along with the inductees and special guests!
*Cover photo of Claressa Shields www.essentiallysports.com
We can all agree that 2020 has been challenging, but we can also say that it ignited a new fire for Women’s Boxing that continued to burn bright throughout the year!
Women’s boxing finally received more television coverage and although there were a couple of shut outs, we saw GREAT, EXCITING and sometimes controversial fights that will be remembered as amazing displays of talent from women’s boxing
We hope you enjoy this month by month recap of women’s professional bouts in 2020 that finally got the eyes they deserve – even more so during all this quarantine madness!
Once again letting the world know that #girlsjustwannabox & #girlsjustwannaboxforreal
Photo by Edward Diller via www.forbes.com
JANUARY: 10: Claressa Shields vs Ivana Habazin – Claressa UD win and earned her WBC & WBO super welterweight titles; making her the fastest fighter to win world titles in 3 different divisions #goat 10: Alicia Napoleon-Epinosa vs Elin Cederoos – Alicia unifies the IBF & WBA super-middleweight title with a UD 28: Amanda Galle vs Shelly Barnett – Amanda (Canadian) wins in an 8-round super bantamweight bout
JULY: 14: Mikaela Mayer vs Helen Joseph – First ever women’s main event on Top Rank; Mikaela with the UD decision in the junior lightweight division 21: Kim Klavel vs Natalie Gonzalez– Kim (Canadian) defeats by UD in light flyweight division 24: Seniesa Estrada vs Miranda Adkins – Controversial bout as Seniesa knockouts out Miranda in 7 seconds. Opponent approval is in question.
Photo by Ed Mulholland via www.theguardian.com
AUGUST: 7: Terri Harper vs Tasha Jones – Teri retained her WBC world super-featherweight title in a draw decision 16: Cecilia Braekhus vs Jessica McCaskill – Jessica becomes the new undisputed welterweight champion with a majority decision
Photo by Team Sauerland via www.worldboxingsuperseries.com
SEPTEMBER: 26: Sophie Alisch vsEdina Kiss – Sophie managed to achieve the UD; leaving Edina with her 4th straight defeat
DECEMBER: 18: Hyun Mi Choi vs Calista Silgado – Hyun Mi’s pro debut with Matchroom & retained her WBA super-featherweight title 18: Christina Hammer vs Sanna Turunen – Christina with the KO in round 7 to keep IBF World super-middleweight title 19: Jelena Mrdjenovich vs Iranda Paola Torres – This Co-main event ended the year with a fantastic display of women’s boxing outside of the iconic Wildcard Boxing Club in LA. Iranda ‘La Fiera’ (19 pro fights) the underdog vs. Jelena ‘Canada’s Champ’ a seasoned pro with 53 fights. Jelena wins by decision for the WBA world featherweight title.
2020 was 🥊🔥
We can’t wait to see what 2021 brings for women’s boxing!!
Let us know in the comments below any fights you’d like to see next year?👇
The Webster definition of a role model is: a person whose behaviour in a particular role is imitated by others.
Being a role model is a very serious and impactful job, but on the other hand, it is also an extremely rewarding and fulfilling job.
As adults and coaches, I understand our influence on our young girls, teens and even the adult women we coach. As much as we teach the sport of boxing to improve their physical fitness and boxing skill, we are responsible for guiding them through a comprehensive healthy lifestyle which may include: nutritional advice, mental strength and fortitude, self love, and the importance of overall health to help them in their daily lives while forming habits to last a lifetime.
In 2013, Coach Kristina was introduced to the Fast & Female by her dear friend and Olympian boxer Mandy Bujold. She fell in love with all of it and shortly after became a R.E.A.L Role Model with Fast & Female – an organization whose mission is to keep girls healthy and active in sports; a mission that GJWB also embodies. Fast & Female introduces self-identified girls aged 8-14 to inspiring athlete role models at non-competitive, fun-filled events all over North America. I joined the program later in 2018. R.E.A.L Role Model refers to: Relatable, Empowered, Active Leaders.
41% of girls age 3-16 don’t participate in any sport. Without the introduction to sports, they are unaware of the benefits. Especially for girls in that age group it is vital that they are exposed to women in sport – whether these women are: athletes, coaches, sports broadcasters, officials, Olympians, nutritionists, therapists, etc – to show options for when they go grow up. There are many opportunities to be involved with sports outside of going to the Olympics and many opportunities and careers after the Olympics. Without visible women in these roles it may seem unavailable, unachievable or not even and option. You have to see one to be one.
Coach KJEM and I have been VERY lucky to partner and work on Fast & Female champ chats and other events (including virtual!) to introduce boxing to girls and help encourage them to stay in sport. Sport not only has physical benefits, but also helps young girls and teens develop the confidence, leadership and teamwork skills that are essential for life.
Studies from Ernst & Young have found that 94% of women who hold C-suite level positions are former athletes – proving the correlation between athletics and leadership.
Having had many opportunities to be at these events, it is extremely rewarding to see the spark in these girl’s eyes as they learn how to throw punches, have fun, make new friends, and allow us to share our personal experiences in the boxing world. I know first-hand how boxing has changed my life and I just want to encourage these girls to stay active in boxing or any sport!
In the sport of boxing specifically, we need to see more females in all areas: athletes, coaches, cut (wo)man, officials, referees, announcers, commentators, promoters, etc. There are many different path options for girls and women to stay in the sport of boxing as a career even if/when they are not competing. Without these role models we may lose these girls to another sport or career path.
As the community pillar of GJWB and Level 5 of our program, we have a network of women within the sport to assist girls with any questions, sparring, clubs, connecting with other athletes, and more. It is our goal to bridge the gap and help our community with their boxing journey – wherever it may take them! This is also something GJWB will continue to do with the ambassador program launching in 2021. Please sign up to our newsletter below to stay up to date on that program and all things GJWB.
Do you have any role models in your life? How have they influenced you through sport or general life?
In order to fight and compete as boxers we are required to weigh in before the fight and compete within a certain body weight range. Especially as a female boxer, I think this can be harmful in regards to body image and/or the possibility of memories of a former (or current) emotional and/or physical eating disorder.
Food is very important as a boxer and an athlete. You eat to fuel your body before a training session and replenish with food after a training session. Food is used to help you perform at your best.
I personally found being on my prescribed meal plan for my fight training camp to be difficult, not because it wasn’t easy to follow but because there were lots of carbs and a lot more daily food intake than I would’ve normally eaten. Yes I fell into the trap from a young age that carbs will make you fat; so I avoided them at all costs. I also jumped on the ‘do lots of cardio and don’t eat too much’ train as well. So my knowledge prior to this was already incorrect and unhealthy.
I won’t lie and say that eating that amount of food and carbs didn’t ‘scare me.’ However I trusted my coaches to know that this plan was set up by an amazing nutritionist (Coach JVB) who worked with coach Kristina over years to create our ‘Fight Weight’ programs to ensure it worked for boxers specifically and had been successful with hundreds before me. Moments of doubt definitely went through my mind, but then I slowly started to realize the difference in my energy levels while training. As I said prior to this I was eating very little carbs (before and after training), which certainly hindered my recovery and ability to really push through a training session. When I was eating the proper amount for my body and good carbs – I started to notice a difference in my ability to last longer in my training sessions and push myself a little bit more. The food that I thought was a lot ending up not being a lot because I was doing a combination of: boxing, strength training and runs; between all of those my body was asking for food! In the end, I started to better understand what is considered a protein, fat, and carb, what each of these do for my body and how they can help me enhance my training performance and make me stronger.
It helped me create a better relationship with food because I understood its importance and the myths that I was told. Not only was this healthy for my body, but it also tapped into my mental game as well. I was less stressed about the food I was eating and less worried about the amount of food I was eating (or at the time lack there of). Lastly, I was able to make my fight weight by 1 week out and this gave me extra time to focus on my boxing and my strategy rather than making weight.
As athletes we need to put as much effort into our eating and foods as we do our training, as it is just as important. I now have a better understanding of my food, I am able to make better choices, fear (certain) foods less, and maintain a healthy body weight.
Making weight (whether gaining or losing) should not feel impossible– it should be done within a safe timeframe and with a proper nutritionally balanced and packed meal plan. If you are looking for a program that will help get you understand your optimal fight weight and how to get there safe and effectively– please visit our programs pageto request a consultation.
Lastly, one item that makes boxing so special is that there are 11 women’s boxing weight classes (in amateurs). Beginning with light Flyweight weight (up to 106 lbs) to Super Heavyweight (over 201 lbs). There is room for all shapes and sizes and this cannot be said for all sports.
Few questions to ask yourself and/or comment below if you would like to share your experience
Have you struggled with trying to make fight weight?
If you have had either an emotional or physical eating disorder – have you found making weight reminds you of those days?
Has boxing improved your relationship with food?
Have you been able to find a lifestyle in which your walk around weight is 5-10lbs from your fight weight?
Has boxing and reaching your ‘fight weight’ helped you with your fear of the scale and numbers?
