Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in LGBT sports history.
Boxing, 1993. Savoy Howe shot into the sports world out of a cannon. She first stepped foot in a boxing ring in 1992; A year later she was fighting in Toronto’s first-ever sanctioned women’s boxing event. And in 1993 she agreed to talk about being a lesbian boxer for a TSN documentary.
A struggling actor, Howe decided to teach boxing to women to make extra money. In 1996 she started the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club, which quickly exploded with popularity. In 2006 Howe opened her own gym dedicated to women's boxing; It's now the only all-female gym in Canada.
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in LGBT sports history.
Boxing, 1993. Savoy Howe shot into the sports world out of a cannon. She first stepped foot in a boxing ring in 1992; A year later she was fighting in Toronto’s first-ever sanctioned women’s boxing event. And in 1993 she agreed to talk about being a lesbian boxer for a TSN documentary.
A struggling actor, Howe decided to teach boxing to women to make extra money. In 1996 she started the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club, which quickly exploded with popularity. In 2006 Howe opened her own gym dedicated to women's boxing; It's now the only all-female gym in Canada.
Her latest crusade, according to a Centennial Sports TV report (which you can watch below), is to welcome trans people into her gym and find a place for them in the competitive boxing world.
For me it was really important to do outreach to the trans community because some of the trans people I know face violence every day of their lives, and they don't get a lot of support.
Howe has embraced her sexual orientation and her place as a role model for lesbian boxers for two decades. By all accounts, she's not going to stop anytime soon.
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