- Jelena Mrdjenovich leads the list of the four best Canadian female boxers ever.
- All boxers on the list captured at least one major boxing world title.
- Two boxers are still actively competing today.
Canada has produced several female boxers who became the sport’s biggest stars. These female boxers left their respective mark and even created exciting opportunities for online boxing betting.
Throughout the history of Canadian boxing, fans have witnessed several standouts who successfully transitioned from the amateur ranks and the national level to the world stage, where they fought other boxing superstars.
Names like Jaime Clampitt, Jeanine Garside, and Olivia Gerula are a few included as honourable mentions, but here’s my list of the four best Canadian female boxers of all time.
Jelena Mrdjenovich
Jelena Mrdjenovich is a Canadian boxer from Edmonton, Alberta, competing professionally for two decades. She made her pro debut in January 2003, scoring a TKO win over Cathy Boyes.
Since then, she captured multiple boxing titles, such as the WBC World Super Featherweight title, the WIBF World Lightweight title, the WBC World Featherweight title, and the WBA World Featherweight title. Some of her most notable wins were against Mia St. John, Fujin Raika, Melissa Hernandez, and Marilyn Hernandez.
Mrdjenovich is coming off a majority decision win over Calista Silgado in June 2023 to improve her record to 42 wins, 12 losses, and two draws.
Despite having 12 losses, she hasn’t experienced or received a TKO/KO defeat.
Marie Eve Dicaire
Quebec native Marie Eve Dicaire may only have 20 fights in her professional career, but it’s been enough to win her a world title and fight against one of the greatest boxers ever.
She debuted in 2015, picked up a unanimous decision against Christina Barry, and won 12 straight bouts to earn her shot for Chris Namus’ IBF World Super Welterweight title in December 2018. Her bid to become Canada’s next boxing world champion was successful as she defeated Namus unanimously.
🥊Super Welter/Light Middle World Champs🥊
& latest ratings from WBC, IBF, WBA, IBO, Ring & Lineal Boxing Champion (some need updating)
WBO unavailable@Team_Rankin @EveDicaire @Claressashields @WorldBoxingOrg @IBFUSBAboxing @IBOBoxing @ringmagazine @LinealBoxChamp @WBABoxing pic.twitter.com/vPhgFvZovk
— Women’s Fight News (@WomensFightNew1) January 18, 2022
Dicaire defended her IBF belt three times before facing Claressa Shields in March 2021 to unify all the super welterweight titles; however, she received a unanimous decision loss for the first time in her career. After that setback, she appeared in two more bouts and split the results before officially hanging up the gloves.
Jessica Rakoczy
Jessica Rakoczy was one of the best boxers of her generation, with a 13-year professional career from 2000 to 2013. She fought in 36 bouts during this period and won 33 (including 12 TKO/KO finishes), dropping the other three.
She captured the IBA Lightweight title, the WBC World Lightweight title, and the WIBA World Super Bantamweight titles and fended off multiple challengers during her reign. The Hamilton, Ontario-born boxer officially retired from the sport in 2013 and took her talents to mixed martial arts.
Kim Clavel
Another active boxer on the list is Montreal, Quebec’s Kim Clavel, who currently sports an impressive professional record of 17 wins, with three TKO/KOs and only two losses.
The 33-year-old began her pro career with 13 straight victories to secure her world title opportunity in July 2022 against Yesenia Gomez.
The 33-year-old dethroned Gomez with a unanimous decision nod from the judges and officially became the latest boxing champion from Canada. Unfortunately, her reign was cut short as Yesica Nery Plata beat her in March 2023 to unify the WBA and WBC world titles.
PROGRAMMING ALERT 🚨
Kim Clavel & Jessica Nery Plata clash in a Light Flyweight unification this Friday, Jan. 13 on @ESPNPlus 📺 pic.twitter.com/upcqRJpzOP
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) January 10, 2023
Clavel’s last two fights against Naomi Arellano Reyes and Evelin Nazarena Bermudez resulted in a win and a loss, respectively. When she returns to action, she hopes to earn another shot for a world title.
