A young New York-based boxing league is aiming to revamp one of the world’s oldest sports, creating teams of both men and women and making it a point to pay fighters of all genders equal wages.
Team Combat League (TCL) bills itself as “the world’s first boxing league with a franchise team format, co-ed teams, and international teams.” Each match contains “18 three-minute rounds of nonstop action,” according to its website.
The first-ever league championships concluded this past April, with the New York team, known as the “NYC Attitude,” taking home the crown.
“It’s been great honestly,” said Trudy Li, a female featherweight fighter for the Attitude. “I wasn’t able to visualize what it would be like to be on a team, but everyone has been very supportive and we’re all pushing each other and it’s been a great opportunity.”
Li, a Brooklyn native, has been boxing since 2012, when she was beginning graduate school to obtain her MBA in health care administration.
She still works full time in the health care industry, but says she instantly fell in love with the sport and has stuck with it, working her way up to win the 2021 National Golden Gloves competition for her weight class.
After joining TCL via its open tryouts, Li said, she’s been happy with the decision and believes the equal pay for all fighters is an important step in changing the reputation of the sport.
“Women get used to being treated unequally, but we’re doing the exact same thing. We’re giving up just as much of our lives, as our male counterparts,” she said.
“That’s been an issue in boxing for a long time. It’s good TCL is working to change that outlook, and it gives young female fighters a better look at this,” Li continued. “It’s a whole new ballgame now, and we want to make sure they are coming into a better sport.”
The CEO of Team Combat League, Ahmed Sheikh, said the battle for equal pay is personal to him.
“I came to this country as an immigrant and grew up in New York City,” Sheikh said, recalling his family’s move from Pakistan. “I know what it’s like to have that American Dream and want equal rights.”
Sheikh, who began his career on Wall Street and in the Brooklyn real estate industry, already anticipates growing TCL from six teams to 12. He also hopes to expand into Europe where he believes “they love the team concept” because of their familiarity with territorial soccer teams.
One recent viral Instagram video, with a female TCL fighter menacingly eating a sandwich during a weigh-in, gained serious traction overseas, he said.
Ultimately, Sheikh’s goal is to turn TCL into a global format, with a World Cup of Boxing occurring every three years.
For now, he said, he’s focused on continuing to provide guidance to new fighters and creating better and safer communities for boxers.
“Boxing is a very lonely sport … there’s a lot of politics,” he said. “I thought, someone needs to do something about it.”
Team Combat League working to close gender wage gap in boxing
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