Canada has produced some incredible female boxers over the years, but who are the greatest of all time?
Here is our selection of the top six.
Diana Dutra
While Diana Dutra’s career ended with a record of five wins, five losses, and one draw, with no knockout wins, she still deserves a place on this list, if only for her first magnificent bout. Born in Mission, British Columbia, Dutra only became a professional boxer at the somewhat ripe old age of 31. In extremely unlikely circumstances, she became the IWBF’s World Junior Welterweight Champion in 1995 with her very first fight! Dutra beat the defending world champion Helga Risoy via decision over ten rounds. Dutra has now retired from boxing.
Ariane Fortin
Quebec-born boxer Ariane Fortin first took up the sport in 2004. She is now a Canadian southpaw amateur boxer with several achievements to her name. She is a two-time World Boxing Champion. She also notably won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, in the middleweight category, and a bronze at the Pan American Games in 2015.
Mary Spencer
Born in Wiarton, Ontario, Mary Spencer competes as a 75-kilogram middleweight. Over the course of her career, she has won one gold medal at the Pan American Games, three World Championships, and eight Canadian Championships. Spencer, who is a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, has certainly come a long way since she started training in boxing in 2002.
Marie-Ève Dicaire
Marie-Ève Dicaire was born in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, in 1986. In 2013, Boxing Quebec named her Athlete of the Year. Since 2018, she has held the IBF female light middleweight title. As of 2020, Dicaire is ranked as the second-best active female light middleweight in the world by the publications BoxRec and The Ring.
Jeannine Garside
Jeannine Garside, who was born in Duncan, British Columbia, in 1978, began boxing as an amateur after seeing Christy Martin take on Deirdre Gogarty in 1996. Two years later, in 1998, she became the British Columbia champion and was named British Columbia Boxer of the Year. The following year, she defended her title successfully. In 1999, she also defeated Danielle Bouchard at the Canadian National Championships to win her first national title. Garside’s victory won her a place on the Canadian National Women’s Boxing team. Her many accomplishments over the years include holding the WIBA super bantamweight title from 2005 to 2006, the WIBA featherweight title in 2006 and 2010, and the unified WBO and WBC female featherweight titles in 2010. She then retired from boxing in 2010. In 2015, Garside was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame.
Jelena Mrdjenovich
Without a doubt, Jelena Mrdjenovich is one of the world’s best female boxers. Hailing from Hay River in the Northwest Territories, Mrdjenovich has held several world championship titles over the years, across three different weight classes. Her most notable achievements include the WBC female super featherweight title, which she held from 2005 to 2009, the WIBF lightweight title, which she held from 2006 to 2008, and the WIBA featherweight title, which she won in 2011 and 2012. Between 2012 and 2021, Mrdjenovich thrice achieved the WBC female featherweight, and between 2016 and 2021, she has held the WBA female featherweight title. Earlier this year, in February, WBC announced it was awarding her the title of featherweight Emeritus Champion.
