Quick quiz - which Olympic sport, flouting the notion of gender equality, is the only one without a women's programme? Boxing is the answer. Despite the male pugilists getting to pound eachother into the ground, women's boxing (not to be confused with foxy boxing) remains on the outside looking in.
That may change come 2012. The Amateur International Boxing Association is planning on making a proposal to introduce female fighters at the London games, hoping that a renewed interest in the discipline, sparked by the popularity of famous daughter pair Laila Ali and Jackie Frazier-Lyde, will sway the IOC. A decision will have to be reached by 2009 for inclusion four years from now, but the Association is hoping to hear either way by year's end.
And really, what better country to introduce female boxing as an Olympic sport? We'd have plenty of candidates to claim the gold - police are already complaining about violent women stretching their meager resources, while any night-crawler who's watched a couple of Lambrusco-lashed ladies lunge at eachother after closing time at the Hippodrome will know that British females are natural fighters.
Image from Jared Kelly's Flickrstream via the Creative Commons Attribution license
