The person at the top of the heavyweight mountain is generally regarded to be the No.1 man in boxing. Canelo may be P4P the best in the sport, but against the heavyweight king, Tyson Fury, size rules, and the Mexican would have little chance.
In women’s boxing the landscape is different. The sanctioning bodies have scrambled to replicate a similar number of weight classes and belts to match the men’s side of the sport, but in truth, this isn’t necessary. It may make financial sense to churn out as many champions as possible, but this has segregated the talent, devaluing what should be viewed as the greatest title in women’s boxing: The World Heavyweight Championship. The biggest and best fighters among the heaviest female boxers over the last 20 year have all been able to fight below 168lbs. Laila Ali fought as low as 160lbs, Ann Wolfe as low as 151lbs. More recently, Hanna Gabriels jumped straight from 150lbs to win the WBC Heavyweight title, and Claressa Shields (who has dominated several of the heavier weight classes) claims that for the right financial incentive she could even drop to 147lbs.
Like with the men, to a certain degree size matters, but there are no 6’6”, 250lbs juggernauts in these waters. The best woman above welterweight is generally always regarded to be the No.1 woman on the planet. In the list below, we count down the world’s top fifteen women above 147lbs.
*Each boxer’s most recent fighting weight is written in brackets.
15) Shadasia Green (165lbs)
9-0 (8 KOs) USA
New Jersey’s hard-hitting Shadasia Green has KO’d eight of her nine opponents so far as a professional – her last four haven’t made it through the first round. With every KO victory the 32-year-old is becoming increasingly hard for the big names in and around her weight to ignore.
14) Maricela Cornejo (160lbs)
14-5 (5 KOs) USA
“La Diva,” pushed Kali Reis and Franchon Crews Dezurn to the wire in 2016 middleweight and 2018 super middleweight tussles respectively, losing narrowly on points to both. Since then, 5’10” Cornejo has won two bouts, and lost two (losing, but gutsy performances against high calibre opposition – a rematch with Dezurn and to Alma Ibarra).
13) Hannah Rankin (152lbs)
11-5 (2 KOs) UK
The durable road-warrior from Scotland won the WBA strap at 154lbs by outpointing Maria Lindberg last November. Rankin’s 16-fight resume now has a number of good fighters on it - win or lose, she always leaves everything in the ring.
12) Patricia Berghult (148lbs)
15-0 (3 KOs) Sweden
Undefeated in all 15 of her pro. fights, Berghult has continued to steadily improve, outpointing Rankin in a close, hard-fought battle in 2019, and Olivia Belkacem for the WBC junior middleweight strap in November last year.
11) Femke Hermans (162lbs)
12-3 (5 KOs) Belgium
Hermans is scheduled to take on Savannah Marshall on March 12th in a bout that on paper could well be the hardest test of Savannah’s career so far. Hermans has been the distance with Shields, beaten Nikki Addler, and lost a close one to the respected Elin Cederroos in 2019.
10) Ema Kozin (160lbs)
21-0-1 (11 KOs) Slovenia
“The Princess,” from Slovenia is just 23 years old but has already notched up 22 fights (21-0-1). She has defeated respectable opponents such as Irais Hernandez, Sanna Turunen, Maria Lindberg and Chris Namus, and has shown some decent pop in her punches too, stopping 11 of her foes. Kozin is a good all-rounder and has fairly quick hands too, but up next, she faces a massive jump in class, fighting Claressa Shields in the United Kingdom.
9) Marie Eve Dicaire (153lbs)
18-1 (1 KOs) Canada
Dicaire has beaten several high-level opponents and only ever came up short once, in her one-sided points loss to Shields a year ago. Marie bounced back with a stoppage (the first of her career) of Cynthia Lozano for the IBF belt last December.
8) Elin Cederroos (166lbs)
8-0 (4 KOs) Sweden
The 5’11” powerful Swede had stopped four of her eight opponents, picking up her sanctioning body super middleweight belts with points wins over Femke Hermans and Alicia Espinosa. Her clash with Franchon Crews Dezurn on April 30th for all the 168lbs belts looks set to be an evenly matched fiery dustup.
7) Hanna Gabriels (177lbs)
21-2-1 (12 KOs) Costa Rica
Costa Rican veteran, “La Amazona Black,” has fought only eight times since 2015, but these have been significant bouts. In 2015 she outpointed Kali Reis, in 2017 she avenged her loss to Oxandia Castillo, and in 2018 went the distance with Shields. In her last bout she stepped up from junior middleweight to 177lbs to win the WBA light heavyweight belt and the WBC heavyweight belt (albeit against Martha Gaytan, who was fresh off a 1st round KO loss and had been defeated in four of her previous five bouts).
6) Danielle Perkins (196lbs)
3-0 (1 KO) USA
At 6 feet tall and just under 200lbs, Perkins is a giant in women’s boxing. The athletic American has solid amateur credentials too, having won bronze and gold medals at the 2018 and 2019 world championships, respectively. She’s 3-0 as a pro. (with just one KO so far) but at 39 years of age she will have to quickly start racking up some fights if she hopes to reach her full potential.
5) Raquel Miller (171lbs)
11-0 (4 KOs) USA
By the end of 2019 the “Pretty Beast” hit 10-0, with a few KOs along the way, and had an impressive victory over Alma Ibarra, but then the COVID pandemic spoilt her momentum. Last November, after over two years away, Miller finally returned to action at a career heaviest of 171lbs - she got the victory, and now seems ready to get her career back on track. Raquel has the talent and power to pose a serious threat to all the top fighters.
4) Christina Hammer (166lbs)
27-1 (13 KOs) Germany
The German’s career has spluttered since her only career defeat (to Claressa Shields in 2019), winning three relatively easy fights, but against a largely unknown trio of boxers with no major sanctioning body titles at stake. Still only 31 years old, Hammer is one of the most experienced and well-rounded boxers among the heavier women and would likely beat most of them.
3) Franchon Crews Dezurn (171lbs)
7-1 (2 KOs) USA
Dezurn’s only official loss as a pro. came on her debut in a 4-round, competitive tear up with fellow debutant Claressa Shields - Shields often still calls this the toughest fight she’s had to date. Franchon defeated Cornejo twice, on points, to win her WBC/WBA super middleweight belts. Next up for the “Heavy Hitting Diva” is undefeated Elin Cederroos, for all the belts at 168lbs.
2) Savannah Marshall (159lbs)
11-0 (9 KOs) UK
A shade under 6-foot, Savannah is a lean, rangy boxer-puncher, who, under the expert guidance of Peter Fury is on a 7-fight KO streak. Can the “Silent Assassin” KO a big, durable, genuine 160 pounder who is still at her best? On March 12th, against Femke Hermans, we will find out. Hermans lost on points to Shields in 2018 and pushed Cederroos to a 10-round majority decision the following year. If Marshall stops her, it will send out a stern warning to the GWOAT.
1) Claressa Shields (153lbs)
11-0 (2 KOs) USA
Right now, the number one spot on this list isn’t up for debate. In just eleven fights Shields has hunted down and carved up the best fighters in the world above welterweight. She dished out career-first losses to Dezurn and Tori Nelson at 168lbs, became Lineal Champion at 160lbs by dominating Christina Hammer and did the same at 154lbs in a one-sided victory over Marie Eve Dicaire. By beating Kozin, Claressa will have defeated nearly half of the women in this top 15. Put simply, if any female fighter on the planet stepped inside a boxing ring with Shields, the self-styled “GWOAT” would rightly be viewed as the favourite. Her biggest rival is number two ranked Savannah Marshall, who is the only person to have defeated Claressa as an amateur. Shields/Marshall is a mouth-watering clash that is on course to happen at some point in 2022.
Article by Adam McMeeking, with special thanks to Yuriko Miyata, Julian Haramboure, David Avila and Ireneusz Fryszkowski for contributing to these ratings.
