It鈥檚 5 o鈥� clock on a summer week night, and the boxing gym at Toledo鈥檚 Believe Center is packed with kids doing a series of warm-up exercises: squats, sit-ups, slow motion mountain climbers, a hundred push-ups.
In the sea of sweaty boys, 16-year-old Sophia Billman is the only girl.
For her, that鈥檚 pretty typical.
鈥淗onestly, this is more of a male sport,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou don't really see a lot of girls.鈥�
Billman comes from a family of boxers. Her dad is a coach. Her brother is training with her.
Like them, she has big dreams. She wants to be ranked first in the nation for her weight class.
But unlike them, there aren鈥檛 many chances for her to compete.
That鈥檚 because, according to the , she has to face a female opponent around her age and in her weight class鈥nd there aren鈥檛 many to come by.
鈥淚'll go to all the teammates鈥� fights, but there's not one fight for me to fight,鈥� she said.
Finding female competitors
Billman has been boxing since before she can remember. She took a break around the time she turned seven, then returned to the sport three years ago.
Since then, she鈥檚 practiced with boys nearly every day.
But rarely has she been able to step in the ring during a tournament.
鈥淚t was April 2020 when I started boxing again,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd not until February this year was my first fight and we went to Missouri for it. It was our national tournament for a week long, and I fought twice there.鈥�
She won the first fight, lost the second. Since then, she鈥檚 fought one other time.
鈥淏ut now I'm ranked number eight in the United States,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat with three fights and that's it.鈥�
Billman鈥檚 story is familiar to female boxers across the country.
鈥淪ay you have two twins that come into the gym at the same time 鈥� 10 years old, male and female,鈥� said Mike Campbell, USA Boxing鈥檚 manager of events and operations. 鈥淎fter two years, the female boxer will be lucky to have five bouts, whereas the male boxer will have 15 to 20 bouts.鈥�
This is why USA Boxing decided to host the inaugural women鈥檚 championship.
鈥淭he idea of having a women's only event is there's no waiting around,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淢ost women's events only have one ring. At this event, we're going to have three rings set up. So, there's opportunities to box every day.鈥�
While there have been women鈥檚-only boxing competitions before, Campbell says they鈥檝e mostly been standalone events. The hope is for this women鈥檚 championship to become an annual event.
He says this tournament is also unique because of its size. He anticipates the first day of competition alone will have more than 100 contested matches, more than previous all-female boxing events.
The tournament is bringing of all ages together, along with 170 coaches. They鈥檙e coming from all over the state, the country and the world.
鈥淲e have some deep brackets,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淲e've got some experienced international boxers, and we've got boxers that you should expect to see in our Olympic trials and then probably on some of our Team USA moving forward.鈥�
The rise of women鈥檚 boxing
USA Boxing鈥檚 inaugural women鈥檚 championship comes at a time when women鈥檚 boxing is growing in popularity.
Women like Claressa Shields, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano have and for the first time, are
鈥淚t used to be very difficult to even find a women's match on television,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淏ut now almost every card has got at least one women's bout.鈥�
But the road to success was a long one.
USA Boxing didn鈥檛 recognize female boxers , when it settled a lawsuit with the ACLU.
鈥淭hat took a long time, much longer than it probably should have,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淎nd it set back the growth.鈥�
Women鈥檚 boxing didn鈥檛 debut as an Olympic event until nearly two decades later, 鈥� more than 100 years after men鈥檚 boxing was introduced.
鈥淣ow every time women can compete in the Olympics and little girls see that, it's recruiting,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淚t's sending more girls to the gym.鈥�
He says female membership in USA Boxing has risen to about 12%, and the organization鈥檚 goal is to continue that growth.
Tom Urbina, one of Sophia Billman鈥檚 coaches and founder of the Toledo Boxing Association, predicts this women鈥檚 championship will help.
鈥淵ou can believe after this tournament, that gym is going to go crazy with girls,鈥� he said.
For now though, when Billman steps into the ring to spar, there are no girls for her to practice with.
Instead, a coach pairs her with a boy.
鈥淩eady, here we go, Soph and Blaze,鈥� he calls out. 鈥淪et. Box.鈥�
Billman throws a punch, then another.
From the sidelines, a five-year-old girl watches with her father. She鈥檚 wearing boxing gloves too.
When she gets older, maybe she won鈥檛 be the only girl in the ring.