Newsroom
In gyms across Cyprus, a quiet revolution is underway. Women, once told boxing “wasn’t for them”, are lacing up gloves, stepping onto the canvas, and dismantling generations-old stereotypes with every jab and uppercut.
Many of them entered the sport for reasons as varied as the bruises on their shins: self-defense, childhood dreams, family legacy, or simply the need to reclaim strength during life’s darkest moments. According to an article by Maria Karamanou in Weekend by Must, they’ve formed an unexpected wave, one that coaches, gym owners, and the Cyprus Boxing Federation say is reshaping the sport’s future.
Take Natalie James, who began boxing four years ago while seeking self-defense training and found the sport she’d long been denied as “something for men.” The prejudices have softened, she says, but not vanished. With only a small pool of female fighters, matchups are scarce; athletes often end up facing the same opponents repeatedly, or not competing at all. “Equality is still miles away,” she admits, though the ring itself feels like a rare place of true fairness: “There, we’re all the same color and gender.”
For Ioanna Yianni, boxing is family and destiny. Raised by a father who was both fighter and coach, she learned early that the sport demands intelligence as much as strength. The real obstacle, she insists, isn’t biology but belief. “Boxing is strategy, mind, and smart thinking,” she says. What holds women back, she argues, are the stereotypes still clinging stubbornly outside the ring. In Cyprus, the biggest challenge remains the lack of opponents in matching age and weight categories, limiting progress for serious competitors. Still, her message to the next generation is uncompromising: “Start, dare, persist.”
Another fighter, Ioanna Papanagiotou, came to boxing after a traumatic home break-in left her feeling vulnerable. The gym became her refuge, a place to reclaim security and rebuild confidence. She doesn’t fight competitively; for her, the sport is therapy, strength, and equilibrium. Society’s doubts, she says, don’t matter. “If it calls to you, give yourself the chance.”
The structural issues, however, remain. Alekos Alexandrou, head of the Cyprus Boxing Federation, points out that with only about 25 registered female boxers, and just 5 to 6 competing annually, hosting women’s bouts is often logistically impossible. Equal pay and evaluation exist on paper, he notes, and champions like Layla Abdullatif, a two-time European titleholder, prove that Cypriot women can thrive internationally. Still, illegal and unregulated gyms complicate the landscape, and no dedicated women’s programs or facilities exist; everyone trains together by default.
Yet beneath these limitations lies momentum. Gyms across Cyprus report steady increases in female participation, mostly women aged 25 to 50, who seek fitness, confidence, and community rather than medals. At several centers, women now make up half the membership. Coaches say the motivation is shifting: Cypriots are growing weary of traditional gyms and turning to boxing for full-body training, stress release, and self-defense.
