Cuban Boxing Federation President Alberto Puig de la Barca has declared that "the fundamental goal is to make sure that boxing is practised massively by women", after the country lifted a ban on female athletes competing in the sport.

World champion Nikhat Zareen and Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain claimed their places at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games after victories in India's national selection trials.

There was a time when boxing was a no-no among certain factions of the medical profession, not least the British Medical Association (BMA). Some British politicians, too, spearheaded by the late abolitionist Labour MP Dr Edith Summerskill. She tried relentlessly, and unsuccessfully, in the 1960s, to get a Bill through Parliament banning the noble art, which she considered notoriously ignoble.

One of boxing's most influential fighters, Britain's Nicola Adams, has been forced to retire from the sport.

Last weekend saw a massive demonstration for women’s rights across the globe.