She boxed when women weren’t supposed to. The men are recognizing her in the Hall of Fame
When Barbara Buttrick started playing soccer in the 1940s, society frowned upon girls playing sports.
She didn’t pay attention to people’s comments, though, and one day as she cleaned her muddy cleats with a newspaper, she spotted an article about popular boxer Polly Burns. Buttrick, age 13 at the time, read the story from top to bottom.
“I thought to myself: ‘Well, it’s already hard to get other girls to join the team,’ because not a lot of girls played at the time. ‘And if I start boxing, I won’t need 11 others. I could just do it by myself,’” she recalled.
So, she got a pair of old gloves from a neighbor and began training in her backyard. Over time, Buttrick developed a stellar left jab and would go on to become a world champion and pioneer of women’s professional boxing.
In June, the 90-year-old athlete and longtime Miami Beach resident will be inducted as the first female boxer into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Wednesday, the Miami Beach City Commission declared Jan. 15 as Barbara Buttrick Day.
“I am truly honored and humbled to accept this kind gift,” she told commissioners as she stepped up to the podium with an ear-to-ear smile. “It feels very good to be recognized.”
Shortly after she discovered Burns, Buttrick sent her a letter to tell her how much she admired her.
“She told me, ‘You won’t get much encouragement, and there’s not many women in boxing, but you should do it. Do it. Do it.’” Buttrick said.
Born in Cottingham, a small village in Yorkshire, England, on Dec. 3, 1929, Buttrick faced resistance early on because the British Boxing Board of Control refused to issue licenses for women to box until the 1990s. Buttrick had to travel across England and France in a carnival boxing booth, challenging the crowd to fights.
Buttrick, nicknamed “the mighty atom of the ring,” fought as a 5-foot, 101-pound firecracker. She often competed against taller and larger women because she couldn’t find opponents in her size category. She even faced some male fighters in the ring.
In 1952, she met an American trainer from Indiana who sponsored Buttrick and her husband to move to the U.S. to box here. The U.S. didn’t issue licenses at the time either, but more women boxed here, she said.
She eventually heard of a popular gym in Miami Beach — the 5th Street Gym — where women gathered, so she decided to head South in 1956. (Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, trained at the 5th Street Gym leading up to his World Heavyweight boxing title in 1964, in which he upset Sonny Liston at the Miami Beach Convention Hall.)
Despite her passion, Buttrick couldn’t make boxing a full-time career as it didn’t pay women much. She worked as a bookkeeper at Miami Engraving Company. At 5 p.m. after each workday, Buttrick rushed to the gym and trained.
Her efforts led her to eventually become the world’s unbeaten flyweight (maximum of 112 pounds) and bantamweight (maximum of 118 pounds).
She was then named the first woman president of the Veteran Boxers Organization. In 2014, she was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale. This year, in addition to being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (for men), she will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in Las Vegas.
Looking back, Buttrick is shocked at how much the sport has opened up for women. Every time she watches a match on TV, she’s still taken aback.
“I watched the opportunities become better for the women. I watched it over the years,” she said. “It just makes me wish I was born a few years later.”
Buttrick said she supposes younger boxers look at her the same way she used to revere Polly Burns, and feels the same need to encourage them — and everyone else — to follow their dreams.
“I didn’t listen to people who said I shouldn’t do it,” she said. “I was just doing what I wanted to do. And I think everybody should do that. Everybody should have an opportunity to do what they want to do.”
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
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