Alycia Baumgardner is fighting for gender equality for women in the ring - BERITAJA

When Alycia “The Bomb” Baumgardner steps into the ringing astatine Madison Square Garden connected Friday night, she won’t beryllium fighting only South Korean boxer Bo Mi Re Shin for the women’s ace featherweight belt.

It will besides beryllium different information successful Baumgardner’s bout for gender equality arsenic she pushes boxing to adopt the aforesaid rules for women’s fighters that it does for men.

“As you turn arsenic an individual and a look and a crippled changer successful the athletics for illustration boxing, you want to spot really you’re capable to instrumentality caller changes, right?” Baumgardner told Beritaja up of Friday’s showdown successful New York City. “This is my chance to really showcase who I am.”

A emblematic men’s prizefight lasts 12 rounds, pinch each information lasting 3 minutes. For women, about fights are 10 rounds, pinch each information lasting 2 minutes. Baumgardner is pushing for women to conflict the aforesaid magnitude of clip for a fewer reasons.

For one, she said, it benefits her arsenic a boxer.

“You would deliberation 1 infinitesimal doesn’t alteration much, but it changes drastically erstwhile you are a combatant who has a group of skills that allows you to return your clip and to group up a trap,” she said. “Boxing is about a saccharine science, really you could group up a play. It’s for illustration chess. Me being capable to conflict 3 minutes has allowed maine to slow everything down, group up what I want to group up and return my time.”

Then there’s the business. Self-promotion and boxing person ever gone manus successful hand. The boxers who are capable to pull much eyeballs usually participate successful bigger fights. Bigger fights could lead to bigger paydays, and Baumgardner doesn’t want a cognition of women’s fights to limit her imaginable successful the sport.

One of the friends successful Baumgardner’s push is the promoter she’s signed to: Most Valuable Promotions, the institution founded by YouTuber-turned-manosphere influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul, who has been vocal about earning amended salary for fighters successful some boxing and MMA.

Paul has besides taken a keen liking successful women’s combat sports. MVP promoted the first women’s conflict to header Madison Square Garden, erstwhile Katie Taylor squared disconnected pinch Amanda Serrano successful April 2022. Next month, MVP will put connected its first MMA showcase, erstwhile Ronda Rousey returns to the athletics successful a superfight against Gina Carano.

Baumgardner’s bout pinch Shin is the first U.S. boxing lucifer for MVP nether a caller woody it signed pinch ESPN. Baumgardner said portion of the logic she signed pinch Paul is that MVP ist focused not only connected her equality arsenic a fighter, but besides connected her equality arsenic a businesswoman.

“Boxing is simply a dog-eat-dog athletics astatine the extremity of the day. They don’t attraction about you,” she said. “You person to cognize that you person to return attraction of yourself first. And there’s a measurement of doing it, and that’s teaming pinch group who spot you for you.”

Alycia Baumgardner punches Leila Beaudoin successful their unified ace featherweight world title during Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua astatine Kaseya Center connected Dec. 19, 2025 successful Miami.Leonardo Fernandez / Getty Images file

In a caller interview pinch Sports Illustrated, Paul compared his extremity of building up women’s boxing pinch the WNBA, which he said needed stars for illustration Caitlin Clark to statesman competing pinch the fame of the NBA. Paul wants to velocity up the process by putting connected fights specified arsenic Friday’s.

“I judge successful the agelong tally that each of these women will want to activity pinch MVP,” Paul told SI. “We person the champion distribution for women’s fighting and the biggest platforms and the biggest paydays and the about magnitude of followers to beforehand these women, too.”

One of the ways Baumgardner could beforehand her business interests is to book bigger and bigger fights, which she is keenly alert of. Paul told SI he is pushing down the scenes for Baumgardner to conflict Serrano, who is the unified champion astatine featherweight, 1 weight people supra Baumgardner.

Baumgardner was besides precocious called retired by Caroline Dubois, the unified lightweight champ, who asked for a conflict pinch Baumgardner aft she defeated Terri Harper this month.

“People opportunity she hits hard,” Dubois said aft the Harper fight. “I cognize I deed harder.”

Baumgardner said of Dubois’ challenge: “I’m good alert of being called out, but I besides americium alert that I’m successful my section and you’re successful your division. The truth that you’re calling maine retired arsenic a 135 pounder and you’re calling retired a 130 conscionable tells maine that you’re worried about the nickname and the attraction and the clout disconnected of my name.”

She added: “I’m not a kindness fighter. I americium a prizefighter. Put immoderate tegument successful the game, build a résumé, person immoderate much banal successful your sanction truthful that the conflict could beryllium built and beryllium bigger.”

What overmuch of Baumgardner’s information comes down to is clip and really overmuch she values it and really overmuch worth could beryllium added erstwhile she proves she could conflict conscionable arsenic agelong arsenic men. She’ll get different chance to show really valuable she is astatine “the world’s about celebrated arena” connected nationalist tv Friday night.

“Women are told to beryllium a definite way. They’re put into a box,” she said. “When you show a female she can’t do anything, she proves why she can. And I deliberation it’s conscionable a infinitesimal of self-belief and also, honestly, to beryllium a point. I could do this, too.”