Twenty-six women from across the Midwest will step into the ring this Saturday for Milwaukee's first all-female USA Boxing-sanctioned fight night, a milestone event organized by a Silver City neighborhood gym that opened just two years ago. La Femme Fight Night runs from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at GATHER at Deer District, with tickets priced at $20, and organizers say at least 13 matches are planned for the card.
The event is the brainchild of SheWolf MKE, a dedicated women's boxing facility at 3610 W. Pierce St. founded in 2024 by Donna Gallardo, a first-generation Mexican American immigrant, according to WUWM 89.7 FM. Gallardo, who serves as founder and president of SheWolf MKE, was inspired to host the fight night after attending a similar all-women's boxing event in Chicago, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Women's boxing is on the rise,” Gallardo said, per the same account, framing the event as a catalyst for showing off Milwaukee's youth-girl boxing pipeline.
The venue itself carries its own spectacle. GATHER at Deer District is a 6,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor event space at 333 W. Juneau Ave. featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and a balcony overlooking Fiserv Forum and the Deer District plaza, according to GATHER at Deer District.
A Roster Built From Scratch
For several SheWolf MKE members, Saturday will mark their first official fight, the Journal Sentinel reports. The gym ran members through a training camp ahead of the event that included sparring and skills training, preparing fighters for the sanctioned bouts.
The matchups span a wide age range and geography. Adult bouts include 24-year-old Sarah Swanson of Marquette, Michigan, facing 32-year-old Cheyanne Phillips of Saint Paul, Minnesota, while 38-year-old Anna King of Minneapolis takes on 25-year-old Erica Wiley of Chicago. Milwaukee's own Paula Lovo, 27, squares off against 26-year-old Karley Vega, also of Milwaukee, and Brenda Negron, 29, of Milwaukee meets 23-year-old Isabella Ippolito, also a Milwaukee resident.
A Youth Program Supported by the Event
La Femme Fight Night is expected to include youth bouts, including a Lioness Boxing Academy fighter matched against a youth fighter from Illinois; proceeds directly fund SheWolf's youth nonprofit, the Lioness Academy.
SheWolf's Lioness Boxing Academy offers youth boxing foundations and fitness.
Gallardo's own path into the sport began at age 12, when she took up boxing to build self-confidence after experiencing school bullying, according to Radio Milwaukee. That early experience later shaped her instructional focus on women and young girls, the station notes.
Part of a Bigger Shift in Women's Boxing
Milwaukee's fight night lands amid a broader national surge in women's amateur boxing. Separately, USA Boxing's registered annual membership across genders and roles grew from roughly 16,000 members in 2012 to more than 41,000 by 2022, according to industry research citing the organization's administrative records. That growth follows a long road: USA Boxing only lifted its ban on female amateur boxing in October 1993, after Washington amateur boxer Dallas Malloy won a federal court injunction, per Wikipedia.
To address a persistent shortage of age- and weight-matched opponents for female amateurs, USA Boxing launched its national USA Boxing Women's Championship in 2023, expanding it to a third edition in March 2026, according to WYSO Public Radio.
The momentum extends to the professional ranks as well. Promoter Most Valuable Promotions launched MVPW in March 2026 as a dedicated women's boxing platform, growing its roster to 46 female fighters holding 16 reigning world championship titles by April 2026, Hoodline previously reported. Saturday's card also slots into an active autumn amateur circuit in Southeast Wisconsin, which has already included Conflict Sports Championships 5 in Brookfield on September 26 and will continue with Boxing at the MAC in Milwaukee on October 16, per USA Boxing Wisconsin's schedule.
