by Christopher Benedict
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, there isn’t much in the way of news to report in the world of women’s boxing trading cards since part two of this series ran back in May. The only current boxing-related Topps release was the25-card Zuffa set which included no women. This can be attributed to the fact that they didn’t sign a female fighter until decorated British amateur Kayla Allen, who makes her pro debut on September 26, inked a contract with Dana White’s controversial startup company at the end of July.
Will Kayla be in the next set? Will there be a next set? Questions only a mystic could answer. Selling for $60 a box that contains a grand total of 10 cards, you would think that Zuffa may have priced themselves out of the hobby. But not so fast. The values, however arbitrary in most cases, being applied to sports and non-sports cards lately are becoming ever more out of touch with reality, as are the collectors who seem all too eager to pay extortion-like fees for the cards they want to add to their collection.
Before we get around to discussing the small handful of recent cards, I am forced to retrace my steps once again so that I can acknowledge two others from the past that went unmentioned in the first two installments of this ongoing story. A running theme I hope to put to bed for good after this.
First, we travel back in time forty years to revisit the 1986 set of Brown’s Boxing cards which introduced Josephine Abercrombie, an equestrian and entrepreneur whose many business ventures included her roles as boxing promoter and president of the Houston Boxing Association. This predates Christy Martin’s Ringside rookie card by a full decade, making Abercrombie the first woman associated with boxing to be depicted on cardboard in ninety-nine years since female prizefighter Hattie Stewart graced the W.S. Kimball Champions of Games and Sports set.
Fast-forward all the way to 2024 when the Topps Olympic & Paralympic Hopefuls set featured Jennifer Lozano, the multi-time winner of the National Golden Gloves, National Junior Olympics, and Elite National Championships who represented Team USA at the Paris summer games. This past May, Lozano captured a gold medal at the 2026 Copa America tournament by winning all seven of her round-robin bouts.
With that little bit of retrospective housekeeping taken care of, we can now focus on some modern day business. Not that there’s a whole lot of it, but there’s no time like the present and who knows how long it might take for new cards to appear for us to discuss. So, ready or not, here we go.
Shortly before tying Christy Martin’s KO record by stopping Cheyenne Hanson in round two on May 30 and then eclipsing Martin’s career win mark with a hard-fought come from behind majority decision over Lucrecia Manzur for victory number 50, Amanda Serrano released a set of four custom-made trading cards on her website. With designs borrowed from the 1982 and 1983 Fleer, 1987 Donruss, and 1988 Score baseball sets, Serrano’s cards are reasonably priced at $30 apiece, especially considering that each one comes hand-signed and imprinted with a kiss by ‘The Real Deal’ herself.
Jasmine Artiga made a self-created trading card available to her followers as part of a pre-fight social media merchandise launch to help fund the training expenses for her June 13 WBA super-flyweight world title defense against Nataly Delgado. Although Artiga lost her belt in a closely-contested scrap, she has won many admirers not only through her gutsy boxing style but by way of selfless community outreach in her native Florida, specifically her work with children and the elderly. Jasmine is hoping for the chance to regain her title in a rematch with Delgado sooner rather than later.
On the morning of July 18, just five weeks after putting up a spirited challenge for Tiara Brown’s WBC world featherweight title, Hannah Rapp was deliberately and tragically struck and killed by a road rage driver while out for a bike ride with her boyfriend Will. Her positive attitude, illuminating smile, and tireless work ethic made a permanent impression on everyone who was fortunate enough to know her, even if only fleetingly. Hannah had offered self-made trading cards as exclusive perks for the upper tiers of her sponsorship packages, but I don’t know of any that circulated into the general public. Hannah will be dearly missed by her family, friends, and the boxing community. Hanarchy Forever!
Let’s hope the trend of female fighters taking the initiative of producing their own trading cards to sell directly to fans catches on in a big way. If the major brands are going to continue to short-shrift them, this side hustle is a logical and beneficial way for the women to connect with their supporters and pocket some money for themselves. A win/win scenario if ever there was one. As the many generations of female boxers who blazed the trails for today’s stars knew all too well, the establishment will deny you entrance without so much as a second thought into their private domain whether through callous indifference or malicious intent. When gaining access by breaking down the front door and demanding a seat at the table doesn’t have the desired effect, little choice is left but to construct and open your own window of opportunity.
Savannah Marshall, who has been inactive for over a year now since coming out on the short end of a disputed split decision in her super-middleweight title unification fight against Shadasia Green on the Taylor/Serrano 3 undercard at Madison Square Garden last summer, returned to the Big Apple this July for Fanatics Fest at the Jacob Javits Center. Appearing as a special guest to show support for her hometown team Hartlepool United while the World Cup was in progress, Marshall gave away and autographed exclusive trading cards created just for the occasion.
Leaf is certainly getting a lot of mileage out of their licensing agreement with Christy Martin. After being featured on shamrock-shaped cards for their St. Patrick’s Day-themed set, ‘The Coalminer’s Daughter’ returned in the 2026 Independence Day assortment with Fireworks and Statue of Liberty die-cut cards as well as being paired with Jacob Broom on a Founding Fathers card, her placement on the front making it look like Christy is throwing a very intentional elbow over the right eye of the delegate to the1878 Constitutional Convention from Delaware.
Martin was additionally included in Leaf’s Ring Kings set released later that same month, as was ‘Meatball’ Molly McCann, the former UFC fighter who was pictured in boxing gear on a trading card for the first time, prior to her bout against Ashleigh Johnson in Liverpool this past April. ‘Meatball’ Molly, a distant cousin to Katie Taylor, was given the privilege of boxing on the undercard of Katie’s farewell fight at Croke Park on September 5. With a dominant win over Sylwia Doligala in Dublin, a perfect 5-0 record, and the backing of Eddie Hearn, McCann is looking toward a world title opportunity in the not too distant future.
Until next time…collect what you enjoy and enjoy what you collect.
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