Jimmy Finn a true pioneer in the sport of Women’s Boxing!

Jimmy Finn, an icon in the history of women’s boxing had his roots in his addiction to running a gym, especially in his local village of Ballyfin in the midlands of Ireland.  Finn represented his club and county for decades and got into coaching, probably because nobody else was interested in supporting the girls who wanted to be part of the local club.  Ironically, his group became amazingly successful and won countless National titles over the years.

In fact two became international athletes. And Anne Keenan represented Ireland at the Seoul Olympics and won European and World Cross Country championship medals. Both Anne and I also managed Irish teams abroad.

So through a process of osmosis Finn became broadly more attached to the cause of women in sport generally.

Finn said, “I happened to see women’s martial arts locally and again noticed the evolving scene of women’s involvement. So I credit martial arts for everything that’s happened in contact sport for women.”

“In any case when Deirdre Gogarty came on the Irish National Radio station RTÉ in 1991, I responded by offering to help and organized a match for her with a friend who ran a martial arts club and events in Limerick. This I believe was the first female boxing event in Europe of the new era. Mind you I was the only one that supported Deirdre then…. So now 30 years later we have 2 Olympic female boxing gold medalist from Ireland and every one is interested, but nobody knows how it began,” added Finn.

Finn later linked Deirdre to Sue Atkins in London and through this she got two matches with my Jane (Jamie) Johnson.

Over time Finn’s networking ability meant that he was making links with martial arts clubs in UK and Europe, with a view to developing their interest in boxing also.

In 1992, Finn discovered that there was an unusual lady from England who had done it all before… she boxed and wrestled and her name was Barbara Buttrick.

Eventually, Finn tracked her down and wrote to her about his unusual fascination with what she had done and what he was thinking.

Finn said that they soon connected and he arranged to meet up in London on her next visit home.

Finn said, “We networked with Sue Atkins and Jamie Johnson and anyone else who was willing to help us get a group together.  Long story short, we founded the WIBF in 1993…. Organized the first all female boxing shows in London 1994 and Las Vegas in 1995…. And with help of others like Jurgen Lutz in Germany we grew the best for female boxing in Europe.”

Together with Barbara and Jurgen they introduced hundreds of women to boxing for the first time and we brought many women over to America also.

“We also took our project worldwide and introduced everyone to the sport.  We encountered every slight and naysayers who put us down at every turn. We had very difficult meetings with the British Boxing Board of Control and the European Boxing Union, who did everything to stop the movement.  I spoke at conferences like the medical conference in Aruba and the WBC in Argentina.  All in all we gained little, and expended thousands in our efforts for recognition and a little equality,” added Finn.

“Today, like in amateur boxing, the big MALE organizations who were so totally against us are now parading their love for women’s boxing as if they invented it. The sport today is the preserve of big interests (male) who are embraced by women who don’t give a curse about the people who really made it happen for them. And that’s not just speaking for me…. YOU and many others were part of this, like Marian Trimiar.  Anyhow, it all forms part of Barbara’s book, that I hope will be published soon when Barbara gets to doing the deal. My work is more or less done and it’s over to the next generation to appreciate or otherwise what happened in history, said Finn.