{"id":614325,"date":"2026-04-18T04:13:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614325\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T04:13:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:13:19","slug":"womens-boxing-on-the-rise-but-fighters-still-struggle-to-find-opponents-finance-fights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614325\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s boxing on the rise but fighters still struggle to find opponents, finance fights"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a professional boxer, Jess Messina knows a win in the ring is only half the battle as she works to make a name for herself in women’s boxing.<\/p>\n

Like many female boxers, Jess \u2014 who is based in Port Macquarie on the New South Wales Mid North Coast \u2014 struggles to find an opponent in her weight division.<\/p>\n

The Australian champion in the welterweight division (66.6 \u2014 67kg) dropped down to super lightweight, (63.5kg) for her upcoming bout against Ireland-born Louise Creavan from the Gold Coast, to open more opportunities.<\/p>\n

“It’s actually been extremely hard for me to find opponents to fight \u2014 a lot of the fights \u2026 we’ve had to pay for ourselves,” Jess Messina said.<\/p>\n

This latest fight is no exception, costing the Port Macquarie Boxing Club $20,000 to host, without significant commercial backing.<\/p>\n

Boxing NSW secretary Dean Groth \u2014 who also runs the gym \u2014 said it fundraised to pay for opportunities for local boxers.<\/p>\n

\"Jess<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Jess Messina trains twice a day, six days a week. (ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati)<\/p>\n

“One thing we don’t do is, we don’t restrict someone’s opportunities,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Jess has had nine professional fights, and she hasn’t earned any money.”<\/p>\n

Messina said finding other women to spar was especially tough in the regions.<\/p>\n

“I usually have to travel to spar other women, whether it’s Sydney or the Gold Coast or Newcastle,” Messina said.<\/p>\n

“I usually spar a lot of the boys at the gym, which I’m really grateful for.”<\/p>\n

Being a pro doesn’t always mean getting paid<\/p>\n

Jess Messina said there were very few female boxers earning a high income.<\/p>\n

She said that because professional boxing was a business, “it comes down to how promotable you are”.<\/p>\n

“It does all come back to your saleability and how many people you bring in to watch your event,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Rasa Kabaila, pictured at the MBA Golden Gloves 2023, says has stopped competing due to the pressures and health risks. (Supplied: Masters Boxing Australia Inc, MBA Golden Gloves 2023.)<\/p>\n

Australian National Boxing Federation president Andrew Campbell said professional boxers’ pay varied, determined by the licensed promoters, which was mostly associated with promotability.<\/p>\n

“It very often is not related to capability, but how well the boxers are known,” Campbell said.<\/p>\n

“The general consensus is that men do get paid more than women [boxers].<\/p>\n

“Generally, women fight for a reduced time, and the pay does reflect that, plus the amount of money they bring through the gate and through TV.<\/p>\n

“I think the industry is very conscious of that and are doing what they can to promote women’s boxing.”<\/p>\n

Female participation in on the rise<\/p>\n

Women’s boxing was only legalised in NSW in 2009 when a 23-year ban was lifted.<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Olympic and Commonwealth Games boxer Shelley Watts said she had seen “a very big change” since she started in 2010.<\/p>\n

“Now there’s a lot more girls that are fighting, there’s a lot more women competing and there’s a lot more money that’s going into it,” Watts said.<\/p>\n

Watts won gold when women’s boxing made its debut at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n

The first women’s boxing competition was introduced to the Olympic Games in London in 2012, in which one Australian athlete competed.<\/p>\n

Since 2012, the International Olympic Committee has doubled weight categories from three to six to make the sport more inclusive for women of varying builds.<\/p>\n

Women now have the same number of weight categories as men.<\/p>\n

Twelve years later, the Australian Olympic team said it had six women competing across all six weight classes at the Paris 2024 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Dean Groth says he is hoping to “kick some goals next year with women in the sport”. (ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati)<\/p>\n

Groth said there was still work to do to increase female participation, with women boxers make up 10 per cent of the NSW competitive amateur boxers.<\/p>\n

Boxing NSW has received state government funding for a development day training 20 women officials, coaches and referees, achieving their goal to reach 40 per cent females within the sport.<\/p>\n

“The more women they see in the sport, the more women they’ll get in the sport,” Groth said.<\/p>\n

\"Boxing<\/p>\n

Rasa Kabaila struggled with competing and one reason was the health risks mostly during training. (ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati)<\/p>\n

Health risks of sparring with men<\/p>\n

Nurse practitioner and amateur boxer Rasa Kabaila, who coaches at the same Port Macquarie gym, said the shortage of female boxers could put women at risk.<\/p>\n

“As a woman competing in combat sports, because the pool [of women] is so small, you then have to spar with men, and that’s normal,” Kabaila said.<\/p>\n

“Women can hit hard, however men have an average of 75 per cent more muscle mass than women.”<\/p>\n

Sports medicine expert Andriy Boyko says while research is not specific to combat sports, women are at higher risk of concussion than men by one and a half to two times.<\/p>\n

“When concussed, their symptoms do last longer and often are higher severity,” Dr Boyko said.<\/p>\n

“Repetitive impact at a higher force can increase your risk of concussion, so a woman sparring against a male counterpart will be experiencing a higher degree of force.<\/p>\n

“There are now rules about concussion in boxing and stand-down periods after bouts, knockouts and technical knockouts, now in the last decade.”<\/p>\n

Despite these risks, Jess Messina says she loves her boxing and will not let anything stop her.<\/p>\n

“It’s the competitiveness of it, I love everything about it. I love training, I love sparring, and I just love fighting,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I want to be world champion, that’s all I’m looking forward to.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a professional boxer, Jess Messina knows a win in the ring is only half the battle as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,298256,298254,298251,298252,298249,3860,298250,298255,298253,85,232870],"class_list":{"0":"post-614325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-boxing-nsw","12":"tag-dean-groth","13":"tag-female-pro-boxer","14":"tag-female-welterweight-champion","15":"tag-jess-messina","16":"tag-port-macquarie","17":"tag-pro-boxer","18":"tag-rasa-kabaila","19":"tag-shelley-watts","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-women-in-boxing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}