From Katie Taylor to Jessica McCaskill: Women boxing's pound for pound top five
- Ryan Allan
- 2 June 2022
Women's boxing is thriving right now with Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields and Amanda Serrano leading the way.
Taylor and Serrano became the first two female fighters to headline Madison Square Garden earlier this year while Shields will collide with Savannah Marshall in September.
To celebrate, we take a look at the five best boxers in the world right now.
1) Katie Taylor: 21-0
What can be said that hasn't already been written about the remarkable and brilliant Katie Taylor?
Unbeaten with a 21-0 record and an Olympic Gold medalist in 2012, Taylor remains the sport's undisputed numero uno following her bedazzling back and forth slugfest with Puerto Rican Amanda Serrano at MSG earlier this year.
Now 35, Taylor's story belies even the most fantastical of sporting melodramas. Forced to hide her female identity as a young fighter in Ireland, The Bray Bomber would quickly become one of the sport's most decorated amateurs, winning Gold medals in London as well as five World Championships between 2006 and 2014.
Having turned pro in 2016, Taylor has enjoyed a similarly stunning rise to the top of professional female boxing.
Becoming a superstar both in Ireland and overseas, Taylor's ascent has been truly the stuff of fairytale, leading female boxing's rapid rise to all kinds of new and perhaps unexpected levels.
Winning a first world title in just her seventh pro bout, Taylor would become an undisputed champion in the lightweight division after just fourteen fights.
Stepping up to win further world honours at 140lbs with a decision victory against Christina Linardatou, Taylor has since gone on to make a further six defences of her WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and Ring Magazine female lightweight titles, including that rollercoaster defence against the aforementioned Serrano.
With a rematch against the dangerous Serrano muted to take place at the giant Croke Park arena in Dublin, Taylor could set the standards even higher, and while the clock could be ticking on her illustrious career, her position as female boxings number one remains undisputed.
2) Claressa Shields: 12-0
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Claressa Shields has quickly established herself as a serious force in the women's game.
An undisputed champion at both 154 and 160lbs, Shields has fought just twelve times but picked up her first world honours in only her fourth bout, earning the inaugural IBF female super middleweight title as well as the WBC title with a fifth-round TKO victory against Nikki Adler in 2017.
In the following eight bouts, Shields has claimed undisputed status at both 154 and 160lbs, while she also picked up the WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles between 2017 and 2018.
A lack of top opposition has been something of an issue, and the self-titled GWOAT even took the decision to dip her toes in the world of MMA.
However, a proposed unification bout with the Silent Assassin, Britsh WBO female middleweight champion Savanna Marshall, should provide genuine fireworks and a true test of Shields supreme skillset.
3) Amanda Serrano: 42-2-1
Boasting an outstanding resume with a 42-2-1 record, Amanda "The Real Deal" Serrano remains one of the sport's most exciting and talented fighters.
Now under the Jake Paul promotional banner at MVP, Serrano has enjoyed a brilliant career since her pro debut in 2009.
While she was perhaps somewhat unfortunate to suffer a narrow split decision defeat against Katie Taylor in April, the Puerto Rican native's stock has never been higher with a rematch against Taylor likely to occur later this year.
A seven-division world champion - who has picked up honours between the 115 and 140lb weight classes - Serrano has displayed extraordinary versatility in jumping around the division throughout her career.
In 2018, The Real Deal won a vacant title at 140lbs against Yamila Esther Reynoso before dropping all the way down to the super flyweight division to knockout Eva Voraberger and claim yet another world title.
In just over a decade, Serrano has vested nine world championships while winning world titles in seven different divisions, from super flyweight all the way up to light welterweight.
Serrano remains a serious force in women´s boxing and could yet earn a position as number one in the sport should she gain revenge against Taylor in their expected rematch.
4) Seniesa Estrada: 22-0
Boasting an unbeaten 22-0 record, Seniesa "Super Bad" Estrada has enjoyed a brilliant period in recent years, winning titles at both 105 and 108lbs.
Turning pro in 2011, Estrada earned her first world honours in 2019 when she overcame Marlen Esparza to claim the vacant WBA interim female flyweight title.
While "Super Bad" fought just once in 2020, that a sensational seven second, first-round stoppage of Miranda Adkins, the California native would enjoy further success during a brilliant 2021.
In March of last year, Estrada would drop down to 105lbs to challenge long-reigning titleholder Anabel Ortiz for the WBA female minimumweight title - eventually earning a well-deserved unanimous decision victory.
Four months later, Estrada moved back up to the 108lb to claim the WBO female junior flyweight title from Japanese whirlwind Tenkai Tsunami (forgive the pun).
Estrada rounded off a superb year by stopping Maria Micheo Santizo as she successfully defended her WBA female minimumweight title at the AT&T Center, San Antonio last December.
Now 29 and likely approaching her peak years, Estrada has her sights set on unifying the minimumweight titles with a bout against IBF champion Yokasta Valle tentatively pencilled in for later in 2022.
5) Jessica McCaskill: 11-2
McCaskill has collected an impressive eight world titles across the three aforementioned divisions.
Our final selection but by no means making up the numbers, Jessica "CasKILLA" McCaskill has made rapid and impressive progress in the super lightweight, lightweight and welterweight divisions.
Having lost two of her first seven professional bouts, including a UD loss to Katie Taylor in her first world-title tilt back in 2017, McCaskill has collected an impressive eight world titles across the three aforementioned divisions.
McCaskill claimed her first world title, the WBC female super lightweight strap, with a unanimous decision win against Argentine Erica Farías before she added the WBA female super lightweight title with a decision victory against another Argentine, Anahí Ester Sánchez.
A closely fought rematch victory against Farías preceded a step up in weight where McCaskill would fight for undisputed glory by claiming the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and IBO female welterweight titles with another hard-earned decision win, this time against Norwegian Cecilia Braekhus.
Cementing her status as one of the sport's pound for pound stars, "CasKILLA" would dominate Braekhus in their subsequent rematch last March.
Rounding off an excellent year, McCaskill retained her undisputed welterweight crown with a seventh-round TKO of Canadian Kandi Wyatt last December.
Now 37, but with only thirteen bouts on her resume, McCaskill's star could yet rise further with a proposed bout against the winner of unified junior welterweight titleholders Chantelle Cameron and Kali Reiss said to be in the works.
