There are few halls as hallowed as the Royal Albert: the rotund, revered home of concerts, ceremonies, and now a historic night in women’s boxing.

Under the domed roof of one of London’s most regal structures, Lauren Price and Natasha Jonas jousted for world titles, respect, and a place in history. It was Price – too young, slick and smart – who stepped out of the venue and into a mild March night with all the belts, and with even more respect than she garnered through her Olympic triumph. Truthfully, though, each woman’s exact place in history is hard to determine: they have both achieved so much, now including a headline bout on Britain’s second-ever all-female boxing card.

That card, the night before International Women’s Day 2025, played out on Sky Sports and in front of a unique crowd.

Boxxer founder and CEO Ben Shalom, the event’s promoter, tells The Independent that the gender split on tickets was almost 50-50. That comes two-and-a-half years after Boxxer produced Britain’s first-ever all-women’s boxing event: Savannah Marshall vs Claressa Shields. The O2 Arena show drew two million viewers as Sky’s most-watched women’s sporting event ever, with around 40 per cent of tickets bought by women.

“That was the first time, for me, boxing had felt like a real family event,” Shalom says. “I think younger families, females feel like they can go to a show [now]. It was a focus from the start: ‘How can we make boxing less intimidating?’ For a long time, boxing has been seen as this old school, murky, masculine world. But for us, nothing’s been more successful than women’s boxing in changing how partners, crowds and broadcasters view the sport.”

On the 2022 event at the O2, Shalom reflects: “It was a complete risk. People forget very quickly where [women’s boxing was]. I think the only women’s fighter that had headlined a show was Katie Taylor, until we started to headline with Marshall, and that was seen as pretty bold. When we built Savannah vs Claressa, there was talk, ‘It can’t be an all-female show,’ because it was almost seen as disrespectful to them. ‘You need a heavyweight fight on the undercard,’ to bring in the audience. ‘Is this going to completely bomb?’ Even Savannah and Claressa were unsure, but in the end, it comes down to talent. We thought the reaction would be big, but that was one of the biggest moments, I think, in this decade in boxing.”

The event’s spiritual sequel at the Albert “felt culturally relevant, in a place like that”, Shalom says, adding that one proud higher-up in British boxing “probably thought he wouldn’t see that in his lifetime”.

While Boxxer and Sky deserve credit, the intention here isn’t to label them responsible for transforming women’s boxing. The fighters drove this change, of course, partly by doing what their male counterparts long would not (until the introduction of staggering sums of Saudi money). The women were the first to engage in genuinely 50-50 fights, risking records, reputations and rewards.

“We have to [take risks],” Mikaela Mayer told The Independent in 2024. “We don’t have the privilege of sitting back and collecting one big cheque. We haven’t had the opportunity or platform. We still have to prove to a lot of people that we belong in this sport. That starts with making fights that fans want to see, winning them over. We’ve got to hustle a little harder. This generation isn’t just changing the game for women, we’re changing the game for boxing as a whole.”

Jonas, meanwhile, told Indy Sport: “There are certain fights where you remember where you were, what you were eating while you were watching! In 10 years’ time, I’d love people to look back and say: ‘I was there.’” In March, Price told us the night she first became a world champion – against Jessica McCaskill in Cardiff – was “the best night of my life, in terms of atmosphere and support”.

Caroline Dubois, who retained her world title on the Jonas vs Price undercard, also discussed the matter with The Independent in 2023, on International Women’s Day: “We have a chip on our shoulder a bit more than the men. For so long we’ve been fighting on small shows; if you listen to [Amanda] Serrano’s story, she was a multi-division world champion and was fighting for $ 5,000 – it’s a joke.

“I remember [promoter] Bob Arum saying a female fight will never sell. Shakur Stevenson fought on the same night as Taylor-Serrano, and he said they should move the women to another night because they were never gonna make money. It sold out, but the women [still] had to have a proper dust-up to shut up the doubters.”

Dubois’ references to Serrano are pertinent, given the Puerto Rican and Taylor recently announced their trilogy bout. It will take place at Madison Square Garden, the iconic New York City venue which also hosted their first fight – an instant classic that gave way to a gripping rematch at AT&T Stadium in Texas. While the trilogy fight will be a main event like the first edition, the second bout was not, but it did take place in front of 70,000 fans on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson undercard. Averaging 74m viewers live on Netflix, it was the most-watched live event in the history of women’s sports. And when Taylor and Serrano clash in July, they will do so atop their own all-women’s card.

Furthermore, positive change begets positive change. Shalom notes that women are joining the pro ranks at a younger age than ever; Fran Hennessy, 20, was a standout at the Royal Albert Hall. Things have come a long way since Dubois had to pretend to be “Colin” when she first joined a boxing club. “If you go into any club in England now, there are young girls and grown women at every level,” she said.

Yet there are still some qualms about women’s boxing and barriers to its growth.

One qualm is a lack of stoppages, tied to shorter fights and rounds than on the men’s side. But Shalom points to the women’s structure “creating firefights more often than not”. “Also, you want to give [fans] something they can consume easily. The short format is 100 per cent a big [part of that]. Three-minute rounds should be an option for certain things, but the status quo should be two minutes. And I think the modern-day female fighter is starting to add [more stoppages] to their armoury.”

A barrier, meanwhile, is the increased dependence on Saudi Arabia to fund top-level boxing events – a nation whose laws have allowed just two women’s fights in the Kingdom.

“They wanted to disrupt the sport at the top level, men’s boxing makes a lot of sense,” Shalom says. “Is women’s boxing there yet? No, but it’s our responsibility as promoters. Everyone’s got their own ambitions, women’s boxing is a massive part of ours. Last year it suffered a little, because men’s boxing was so good, but women’s boxing is back on the agenda. I do expect to see it on shows in Riyadh, but in the meantime, hopefully it can headline and sell out here; the UK has been at the forefront.”

Wherever the next step is taken, that step is to develop bigger stars and rivals. Shalom points to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in tennis, and Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in F1. “We’ve had Shields-Marshall, Taylor-Serrano. Jonas, Marshall and Taylor are coming to an end. We’ve got to get bigger talent and bigger rivalries more consistently, rather than just flagship events once a year. I think we’re getting there.”

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