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For many boxers, maintaining the right image means fighting in full makeup and wearing revealing clothing both in and out of the ring. White wore a red velour suit and matching red lipstick, with her hair pulled back in a severe ponytail. So far, there was just one exercise machine and a desk.

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I met her in a sparse three-room basement in the Anacostia neighborhood of D.C., where she was putting together a community boxing gym that would offer free classes to community members. Because of a perceived lack of interest in women’s boxing, trainers, managers, promoters, and sponsors are all reluctant to work with women.Īfter I read about a female promoter named Cassandra White, I was eager to hear her impressions. The trainers, in turn, know what the promoters are looking for and are likely to select their fighters with that knowledge in mind.Īnd sponsorship-well, sponsorship has less to do with ability than it does image and existing fan base, which are rather hard to build if you can’t even get a fight. Promoters gauge audience and premium cable demand and then arrange the fights according to what they believe will generate the most interest (and thus, money). The business of boxing involves a supply chain that’s relatively unique in the world of sports.

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These days, pro women boxers are lucky if they can so much as convince a promoter to put them on the cards-forget about making decent prize money or finding a sponsor. As Nelson put it, “We get our two minutes of fame, then it’s over.”

The sport’s inclusion in the 2012 Olympic Games didn’t spark as much public interest as many had hoped. John, and Christy Martin briefly captured the media’s attention, but women’s boxing never quite broke through to the mainstream. About a decade ago, female fighters like Laila Ali (Muhammad’s daughter), Mia St. The sport, once a cultural institution, has seen a sharp decline in popular support since the heydays of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Sponsorships aren’t easy to come by for any boxer.

“Now I can go home.” A few hours later, we’d meet again at the gym. Nelson got word from another server that the inspection was over. There are still so few women in the sport that the training gyms pair men and women out of necessity. Nelson, like nearly all female boxers, began training by sparring almost exclusively with men. Then she added, referring to the men, “Maybe I gotta fight them to make that.” She estimated that the winnings for equivalent male fighters start off between $20,000 and $30,000. I asked Nelson about the prize winnings, and she said she makes between $5,000 and $10,000 for a fight. She said Under Armour had recently expressed interest but ultimately chosen to go with a male boxer instead. Nelson has been sponsored before, by an energy drink called Bounce Back and a local law firm, but neither of the sponsorships were enough to support her in any substantial way. We’d been in contact for about a month already, so I knew that she’d been desperately searching for sponsors. (“Punch-drunk,” they call it.) She’ll flit from one subject to another, and then she’ll interrupt herself, asking good-naturedly, “What was the question again?”Īs Nelson refilled my coffee mug, I asked how her sponsorships were coming.

She often loses her train of thought-a symptom, she says, of being hit in the head too many times. It wasn’t hard to get her talking she’s got a contagious, effusive energy and is extremely extroverted.