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Oh, for Pete's sake. It's not should they box, it's 'can they box?' The actions of the Fleetwood Assassin in Britain and women like Sandra 'the Shark' over here in the US prove that women can dance their feet and throw a punch with style and power. Obviously women's league's should restrict women who're pregnant or have other medical conditions, but the latter condition applies easily to men as well. The BBBC's words stunned me: periods, the pill and pms hinder a woman's ability to fight?! These officials obviously don't have any women in their lives, do they?
Shelly Boman, USA

I believe that as long as the sport of boxing remains legal for men, women cannot logically be denied the opportunity to profit from this legal activity in the same way that men do. The real issue is whether boxing as a sport should be made illegal. I think that perhaps it should but I hope it isn't.
John Adlington, Great Britain

I felt that the excuses that the BBBC gave as to why women couldn't box were ridiculous and insulting to women in general. If a woman wants to box, it should be her choice to do so.
Ruth Dowling, UK

Why should boxing be illegal for one set of the population, and not for the other? If an individual wishes to subject themselves to the incredible physical torture that is professional boxing, then they should be able to do so. But I think a more appropriate question would be; "Should Boxing be legal for anyone to participate in?" Countless examples come to mind about the horrible effects boxing has upon the human body. Look to Mohammad Ali or Jerry Quarry. Both were American Heavyweights, and both are suffering from boxing related physical ailments which they will never recover from. It seems to me that boxing is medically unsuitable for anyone, male or female. So if we do not protect one sex, why should we shield the other?
Jonathan Stanley, United States

What no one seems to realise is that women have always been allowed to box providing it was on an all female card. Why did this never happen? Because there is no public demand to see women fight.
Mike Russell, Engalnd

I do not believe that this is a reasonable question to ask. To deny someone the right to take part in an activity which does not harm non-consenting members of the public is an infringment of liberty. Any person, the question of male or female being irrelevant, should be permitted to box provided that they are fully aware of the potential consequences to their health. It's that simple.
Mark Lawes, UK

However barbaric one believes boxing to be, men have the right to participte if they wish. In a free society women should have that right too. As long as everyone is made aware of the risks of taking part then there can be no complaint.
Darren Stephens, UK

'Should men be allowed to knit'....of course women should be allowed to box, as men are; but is this the road along which young girls should be attracted? Women boxing is not an edifying sight; but then, neither, is the sight of servicewomen marching: it just looks 'wrong'. So does the unedifying sight of women boxing.Womens' Lib: what hath thou spawned? An up and coming army of Amazons?
Richard Longridge, UK

No-one should be allowed to box. It is simply too dangerous. It is not sport, it's fighting. Anyone who boxes for long ends up brain damaged. No-one should be allowed to risk that. It's the same principle as wearing seatbelts, or not letting unsafe buildings be built.
Adam Nell, UK

Women should only be allowed to box with other women otherwise no.There are different types of strength in men and women.Some women claim to be very strong but that cannot surpass the strength of a man especially when he is furious.
Okey Oyinatumba, USA

If you men think that we women are unstable because of a perfectly natural function of our bodies, why on earth are we not all locked in insane asylums? Are you so ignorant? It seems to me that your testosterone problems make you a whole lot more "unstable" than we females. Grow up!
Anita Zaffke, USA

I think boxing as a sport should be banned since it causes long-term injuries to its participants despite safety regulations. After all, the boxer's main aim is to knockout his opponent or in other words to cause a concussion which can lead to haemorrhaging and brain-cell loss. Mohammed Ali is a prime example. He suffers from Alzheimer's disease resulting from low levels of dopamine caused by the many blows he took in his career. Why introduce this barbaric sport to the women when we have seen its effect on men?
Danny Lim, UK

It's a free country! If two men want to commit into fighting then so be it, and if two women want to also then they should not be denied their right.
Daniel Cuddeford, UK

I am so irritated by these age old gender debates. I mean really, the first wave of feminism, over thirty years ago, liberated women from the idea that men actually have the deciding vote on what women can and cannot do. This is so tiresome. If a woman wants to box, then let her. It's a stupid and dangerous sport. Plenty of men are injured and die from it. I know, as I used to work as a medic on ringside. If women begin to box big time in the UK, as they can in many other countries, it will only be a matter of time before one is seriously injured or dies from injuries sustained. This will not be because she is a woman, but rather because the sport is so dangerous. The question for this "talking point" should not be whether women should be allowed to box, but rather whether men should be allowed to decide what women can and cannot do. The answer to that is a resounding no. It's about time the UK joined the rest of Europe (and most but not all of the Western world) in acknowledging that as a global culture we have transcended the point where we decided what people can and cannot do on the basis of their gender, sexuality or sexual identity.
Benjamin, USA/UK

Women should not be banned from boxing, but you have to ask, WHY would a woman want to box in the fist place? It is strange that people find two men, trying to half kill each other for money, entertaining, let alone two women!
Stuart Blair-Watt, UK

The decision that led to women being allowed to box is very crazy. my reason is embedded in my belief that women are not built the way men are and it is more likely that one of these days somebody is going to fall and die from this madness.Women can play any other sport if they want to but should not be allowed to fight. If this was meant to be equality, I can only say that a terrible mistake was made here.This has to stop and right now.
Abel Gatei, USA

Certainly women should be allowed to participate in any sporting event if they choose to do so.There should be no discrimination. I don't think they should fight men, but women to women, why not.
Mike McAndrew, USA

Yes women should be allowed to fight. My wife can not wrestle very well but you should see her box.
Michael Price, Canada

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. By what law can you prevent women from earning a living??
John Pineda, USA

Yes women should be allowed to box with protective gear because they have more body parts, such as breasts, which will get hurt. As far as getting bashed about and hurting the innards of their brain it is their decision. That is personal. Women will box because men box. It is the case of Jane imitating John.
Mohammad Imran, USA

Why not? It's just another opportunity to gain status in a previously male-dominated area of life.
S.Gilmore, USA

I have an ex-wife who used to box my ears on a regular basis. If I had been smart and put her in a pair of shorts and a padded bra, maybe she would have brought in some money, and I might have had a few less bruises.
Randall Collier, USA

There should be no gender bias in regards to sport, I seem to remember a slogan that was around in the 70s when I attended school in London, it said "SPORT FOR ALL". If some women want to box - amatuer or pro - let them. It is the only right thing to do.
John Clark, CA, USA

I can't really understand why women would want to box, but if they are allowed to participate in other full-contact sports, I see no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to enter the boxing ring.
P. Olohan, USA

Any sport that can result in injuries of a fatal nature must be banned. Worse still is encouraging people who derive pleasure from watching another's pain. To some extent such sports from boxing to violent video games only serve to increase the exposure to, apathy and acquiescence towards, and desire for violence at every step. Adding women's boxing to this list will only highlight how much this society has come to mould violence and the resulting human suffering into its way of life and just how far we are from really preserving the true human spirit.
Nilay K. Roy, US

Women will forever be trying to compete with us males. But at the end of the day we are genetically different and there are just some things woman and men can't do together. Woman were not biologically designed to fight and put their bodies through physical abuse, besides childbirth which has nothing to do with masculinity.
Mike, South Africa

I should think the broadscale training of young women in the sporting art of pugilistic science might go far toward reducing the incidence of domestic abuse. Those women of our household have always been handy with their mitts, in particular Aunt Dorothy, who was ever keen to subdue her occasionally tipsy and abusive seaman husband with a good belt in the chops (I still do not know where the present PC stereotype of 1940s & 1950s women being passive and meek ever came from; the rule then was that divorce was more taboo than murder, but then folk were more stout and of one mind if they were so strong as to have survived the Great Depression and the Second World War). The best defence is a good offense, and a woman has a right to know how to defend herself against all assailants by whatever means available.
Walt O'Brien, USA

By all means let then box. If they fight well I will watch. If the quality is sub-par, I like many, will ignore women's boxing.
Olubi Babalola, Nigeria

This puts me in mind of the Monty Python sketch where a heavyweight boxer (John Cleese) beats the daylights out of his opponent - a little girl. In a more serious vein, professional boxing is unsuitable for either men or women: brain damage plays no favorites.
James Castro, USA

I think boxing is a mindless sport anyway. But if women want to do it, why not!
Ms Nina Sehgal, India

Why not? If they want to box, why stop them?
Henk Prins, Netherlands

Let them box, but without any special privileges, and without creating another boxing league. Instead let them box in the established arena against men and women. If they truly believe they're equal in all things to men they should be able to take on any professional male boxer.
Jesse Duenas, USA

I feel that professional boxing is a dangerous and unsafe sport. However, if men are allowed to do it, I can see no reason why women should not be allowed to fight as well (although I must say that I don't see the point of it in the first place).
Matthew Hardy, England

Having been a rugby player (women's), I can imagine the level of chauvinistic comments that are certainly being bandied about today and whenever women decide to take up sports that are traditionally male. In this instance, as with rugby, there is no logical reason why women should not box professionally, if that is what they want to do. They would not be allowed to enter the ring to fight unless they are fully prepared - this ruling is not going to lead to thousands of women walking off the streets into the ring. It is pure chauvinism that has kept women out of professional boxing this long. I would like to wish all professional and amateur female boxers the best of luck in their careers.
Jenny, UK

If women want to do something which men are permitted to do there is no moral justification for preventing them from going ahead and doing it. They know the risks.
David Cantrell, UK

I consider boxing to be barbaric for men let alone women. A so called sport where one of the principal aims is to disable the opponent, usually by injury, so they can no longer compete is distinctly uncivilised.
Phil Hall, UK

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