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How Would Holly Holm Stack Up Against The Current Crop?

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 15: UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm poses backstage for a post-fight portrait after the UFC 193 event at Etihad Stadium on November 15, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey by KO in second round. (Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Before her UFC career, Holly Holm had been regarded as one of the best female boxers in the sport. With a total of 38 fights — including 33 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws, Holm ended her career on a high-note following her victory over Mary McGee. But looking back, how would she fare in today’s female division?

Holly Holm the MMA fighter

Holly Holm may now be mostly known for her MMA career which saw her become the UFC women’s Bantamweight champion after handing former American superstar, Ronda Rousey, her first-ever career loss, before going on to fight the best fighters in her era, including the likes of Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes. Before her UFC career, Holm also found success before the UFC while she was still an active boxer. She noticeably had a short stint with Bellator, and notably got caught on the radar of the UFC due to her highly-rated performances while fighting for LFC (now known as LFA — Legacy Fighting Alliance).

Her background as a boxer

Before dabbling in MMA, Holly Holm was one of the most decorated female boxers of her era. Her boxing career saw her win a multitude of world titles, face some of the best boxers — some of who are still active today — and win an almost record-breaking of accolades that saw her become the Female Fighter of the Year for a variety of credible boxing institutions.

Holly Holm started her career in 2002 when she debuted with a stoppage win over her opponent while fighting as a Welterweight. Throughout her career, she also fought at 140 lbs where she won several mid-tier titles, and at Junior Middleweight/Super Welterweight where she had a two-fight stint with Mary Jo Sanders, daughter of NFL legend Charlie Sanders.

She was most successful at 147 lbs where she won a total of three world titles — more if the titles beyond the four official governing bodies are counted, and Holm has fought a slew of opponents who had been considered at their very top, including some of who are still active. Just some of the names she fought was Christy Martin — though she was clearly at the backend of her career, Mary McGee — who is currently regarded as the world’s second best active female Junior Welterweight/Super Lightweight and is listed as Holm’s last professional opponent, and former WBC Junior Lightweight/Super Featherweight champion Diana Prazak.

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Holly Holm defeated female boxing legend Christy Martin midway into her career. (Photo by Holly Stein/Allsport//Getty Images)

Despite a successful career that was full of accolades, Holm’s boxing career wasn’t spotless. While she did reign as a world champion, she held none of the four man-credited world titles of the WBA, WBC, WBO or IBF over a long period, and the WBA and WBC titles that she did hold were only defended once. However, it should be noted that the titles she did hold in her time — the WIBA (Women’s International Boxing Association) and the IBA (International Boxing Association) — were regarded in as high of esteem as the four major world titles of today.

The main blemish of Holly Holm’s boxing career was that she never faced Cecilia Brækhus who was the same age, and became became a unified world champion after earning the WBA, WBC and WBO belts during the same period Holm was also active — and a world champion — in. The fact that Holly Holm retired from boxing off the back off negotiating a blockbuster fight with Brækhus for nearly two years doesn’t help her case, especially after Brækhus went on to become the first undisputed female champion of the current four-belt era.

How would Holm fare against the current crop of boxers?

Since Holm’s retirement on May 11th in 2013, which would make it nearly ten years since she departed, female boxing has evolved into what is — or may become — a golden age for the women’s division. With countless talented boxers emerging and fighting each other, Holly Holm would be forced to face at least a couple of these talents if she was active.

Assuming Holm was in her prime in 2023 — assuming her prime was between 2010 and 2013, Holm would likely still find success. In her days as a boxer, Holm was noted for her footwork, jabs and ability to pressure her opponents. While she did win most of her stoppage/knockout wins on accumulation, Holm was unambiguously considered one of the best female boxers of that time.

While both her defeats do count as KO losses, Holly Holm has also been known to be resilient given the many fights she’s had on the inside where she was clearly tagged. Though Holm had never been a super technical boxer, she displayed a ring IQ that belied her lack of a notable amateur boxing career, and in many of her decision wins she proved to have a fair amount of aptitude in boxing in various range.

When taking the full scope of current Welterweights, Super Welterweights and Junior Welterweights into account, Holm would arguably become a world champion, or even a unified world champion, but she would likely struggle against the current women’s Welterweight undisputed champion, Jessica McCaskill. and former division’s undisputed champion Cecilia Brækhus if she fought them prime-to-prime.

She would stand the best chance against winning against Jessica McCaskill due to McCaskill being much more of a brawler than a technician. With Holm’s all-around skillset and own ability to launch devastating combinations when needed, the fight between the two would be even and hang in the balance of who wanted it more.

Cecilia Brækhus would be a different story entirely. Nicknamed ‘The First Lady’ of boxing, Brækhus has fought an overwhelming number of styles that would see her thoroughly prepared for whatever Holm could bring. With Brækhus having the edge by way of skills due to her amateur background, Holm would likely find herself outstruck by the Norwegian boxer if they were both in their primes, but the American UFC star would still have a puncher’s chance of defeating Brækhus.

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Though a fight with Cecilia Braekhus never materialized, Holly Holm was expected to face the ‘First Lady’ given their status as established in the sport and mirroring ages. (Photo by Boris Streubel/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Holm in her prime would find success against most of the current Welterweights which includes former opponents Mary McGee and Diana Prazak, but her fight would McGee would be decisively closer given McGee’s improvement over the past decade. However, Holm’s last career fight against McGee suggests she would be able to score some clear victories over the division’s top fighters such as Sandy Ryan and perhaps even Ivana Habazin.

When looking at the Super Lightweight and Super Welterweight divisions where she fought in, Holm would face similarly tough opposition against the top fighters of those divisions. At 154 lbs, champions Natasha Jonas and Terri Harper would be 60/40 fights for Holly Holm in their favor. Jonas, a decorated amateur boxer herself, would make Holm struggle with her punch variety and work rate, while Terri Harper is known to for endlessly pressuring her opponents.

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Natasha Jonas would be a significant challenge to overcome for Holly Holm at any stage of her career, but especially now with Jonas arguably being regarded as being in her prime. (Photo by Cameron Smith/Getty Images)

Then there are also the likes of Hannah Rankin, Ema Kozin and Marie-Eve Dicaire who would all give Holly Holm a run for her money. She does stand a better chance against them then the other two champions of the division, however, and would have netted at least one world title had she fought in this era during her prime.

Then finally we have the division of 140 lbs where Holly Holm won her first world title (IBA). Chantelle Cameron, the division’s current undisputed champion, would likely defeat Holly Holm through a decision, but she stands a very good chance against top contenders such as Victoria Bustos, Magali Rodriguez and Sarah Achieng.

How would Holm’s career look overall?

She would definitely be on course to become a world unified champion, but perhaps not in the Welterweight division in which she had found the most success during her original career. It would be none too surprising if Holy Holm moved down or even up to test her true capabilities and potential — as most female boxers are prone to do, and though she would have stood a decent chance to defeat a fighter like Jessica McCaskill at Welterweight, Cecilia Brækhus was always a bit too experienced and skilled for Holm to win against if they were both in their primes, though as circumstances would dictate, questions would forever be left as to who would really win.

Overall, Holm would likely still be regarded as one of the best active female fighters in the sport, but there are some doubts as to whether she would be regarded to be on the same level as the likes of Claressa Shields, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.

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