More Kiwi women than ever are jumping in the boxing ring or smashing a sparring bag - but it's no thanks to socialite Jaime Ridge and reality TV star Rosanna Arkle who fought on Thursday night.
High profile New Zealand female fighters, a less sexist view of the sport and increased media exposure are factors making the sport more popular with women.
Gym owners told NZ Newswire that more women had been steadily streaming through the doors for at least the past five years and the trend has picked up in the last two years.
Mark Michaels, owner of Ringside in Auckland, says at least 60 per cent of his clients are women, compared to 30 per cent six years ago.
"Women box to release stress that has built up over the day - unleashing it on a bag," he said.
"After that they're back to normal, feeling good."
John Brotchie, owner of Women Sports Fighters Gym in Auckland with about 200 members, says women find learning to fight more motivating than a normal gym workout.
When he started boxing nearly 50 years ago the attitude was: "It's okay for women to be in the boxing ring as long as they're making the tea.
"It was frowned upon for women to fight and the concept of all fighters was that they were big, butch and strong and looked like the back end of a bus."
Boxing New Zealand Association chairman John McKay says women are taking up boxing because the "sexist barrier has been broken", and because female boxers are now internationally recognised.
This month's 2012 Olympics in London will include women's boxing for the first time with New Zealanders Alexis Pritchard and Sonia Fernandes competing.
"Boxing as a form of fitness has been taken up by [women] netball, rugby, rugby league - all sorts of sports - players as a way of getting them really fit," he said.
"There is definitely a big interest in general."
All three men said the fight between Ridge and Arkle, won by Ridge, had not spurred a sudden dash by women to take up the sport.
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