Female Fighter of the Year: Gabriela Fundora
One of the most affable fighters in the game today, Gabriela Fundora flips the switch on fight night, bringing the violence with a frightening finality. That’s an impressive feat any way you slice it, but when you consider that Fundora is 112 pounds, her power and willingness to scrap is even more impressive. And she’s just 22 years old and already has all the belts in the flyweight division, so this likely won’t be the last time she sits atop the Fighter of the Year list. In 2024, Fundora halted crafty and unbeaten former amateur star Christina Cruz in January, and after a shutout decision win over Daniela Asenjo in August, she closed out the year in November with her most impressive win to date, a seventh-round stoppage of Gabriela Alaniz that has her thinking even bigger in 2025.
Amanda Serrano is built different than most fighters. Fearless when it comes to taking on all challenges at practically all weights, Serrano continued to push her limits in 2024, most notably by jumping up from featherweight to lightweight to again face Katie Taylor. In that bout, Serrano fought through a horrific cut over her eye to again deliver a performance for the history books. The Puerto Rican star didn’t get the decision that night in Texas, but she’s not the only one who believes she deserved it.
Lauren Price is a special talent, and in a sport where the top fighters on the pound-for-pound list are starting to get up there in age, the 30-year-old is approaching her prime and gearing up to be a face of women’s boxing in years to come. The 2020 Olympic gold medalist made her first big pro moves in 2024, beating Jessica McCaskill in May to win the welterweight title and then stopping Bexcy Mateus in three rounds to defend her belt in December.
Boxers with only one fight in a calendar year don’t usually make lists like this, but when you’ve emerged victorious in one of the best fights ever seen in the sweeter science, it’s a no brainer. In 2024, Katie Taylor repeated her victory over Amanda Serrano, and while everyone wanted to see this rematch of their 2022 epic, few expected it to match – or exceed – the intensity of that first bout. But it did, and while there was some controversy about the final verdict, no one can dispute what Taylor did in roaring back from some early trouble to take the unanimous decision. At 38, Ireland’s finest has less in front of her than behind her, career wise, so let’s enjoy her while she’s here.
Denmark’s Dina Thorslund has flown under the radar for far too long. A former junior featherweight champion who owns wins over the likes of hall of famer Alicia Ashley, and Alesia Graf, Thorslund moved down in weight in 2021 and has not stopped moving. A WBO champ at 118 pounds since June of 2021, Thorslund added the WBC belt in 2023, and in 2024, three dominant wins over Mary Romero, Serin Cetin, Terumi Nuki moved her perfect record to 23-0 and kept her atop the bantamweight division. Here’s hoping that 2025 sees her take her show on the road and let the world in on the sport’s best kept secret.
Like Thorslund, former U.S. Olympian Mikaela Mayer rarely gets the credit for what she’s achieved (and is achieving) in the sport. Maybe if the two controversial decision losses to Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas went her way, that would be a different story. Regardless, Mayer continued to shine in 2024, bouncing back from the split decision loss to Jonas in January to outpoint Sandy Ryan in a September Fight of the Year candidate in New York City.
Canada’s Jessica Camara has always been on the verge of big things, but never got over the hump to a world championship. Yet she always shows up, will fight anyone, and maybe, just maybe, she’s turned the corner after a 2024 campaign that saw her pick up two wins, most notably an April victory over previously unbeaten Hyun Mi Choi in Choi’s South Korean backyard. That upset put her in line for a shot at Caroline Dubois’ lightweight belt on January 11, and while that may be a bridge too far to cross, don’t count “The Cobra” out.
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