Sunday 7 February 2016 20:13, UK
A shortage of female fighters is preventing the growth of professional women’s boxing in the UK, according to promoter Olivia Goodwin.
Goodwin, 25, is the world's youngest female boxing promoter and has promoted 15 shows to date after obtaining her license from the British Boxing Board of Control at the age of 20.
"I think there are still a lot of stereotypes about women fighting which I understand although I think that is unfortunate," Goodwin told Sky Sports.
"But one of the main things is there are simply not enough female fighters. When you don't have enough fighters across the weight divisions it makes it almost impossible to match them up.
"Among the men there are lots of fighters across different weight classes so it's quite easy in that sense for fighters to move forward and progress their careers but there just isn't the supply in women's boxing."
The shortage of competitive female boxers is most evident when a fighter pulls out ahead of a bout, making it very difficult to draft in a replacement at short notice.
Harvinder Kaur, who fights for the UKBC international title at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium in March, admits no-shows are all too familiar in women's boxing.
"I've had a lot of opponents pull out on me and that can be quite disheartening because I train full on," she said.
"It affects my social life. I stop going out, I don't drink alcohol and I'm on a strict diet during fight time. I put a lot of restrictions on myself and I train hard so when you've done all that and you turn up to fight and someone has pulled out it is very upsetting and I've been left in tears many a time."
Kelly Morgan is one of just a handful of professional female boxers in the UK and the world-rated middleweight says the disparity between the amateur and professional ranks is alarming.
There is simply no incentive to make the change and go from amateur to professional like in the men's game.
"There is little or no incentive for the female amateurs - who are absolute pedigree boxers - to turn professional," she said.
"They are very well-funded and looked after and absolutely rightly so, but comparatively, in the female professional boxing game there is no money whatsoever. So in many ways it is quite ironic that the amateurs are the amateurs and the professionals are the professionals, because really it should be the other way around.
"There is simply no incentive to make the change and go from amateur to professional like in the men's game."
Morgan has just returned from the WBC female boxing convention in Mexico where it was confirmed that she will fight for the organisation's silver title in her hometown of Swindon next month.
The trailblazing 35-year-old will headline a show which also features a number of male boxers in action at the Oasis Leisure Centre on March 12.
"Hopefully I can help raise awareness and bring more exposure to women's boxing," she said.
"In the future I hope television coverage will come and that is what will bring money to the game. It's going to be a long road but I see the direction women's boxing needs to go in and hopefully those of us who love the sport can take it there."
