In the past few years, almost every women’s sport has taken significant strides forward. From female footballers to female cyclists and every sport in between, female athletes have seen their profile rise and their sport gain credibility. There is one sport in particular though, in which the women’s side has seen a meteoric rise; boxing.

As recently as thirty years ago, women’s boxing was banned in Britain. But in November 1996, a 116 year-old ban on women taking part in the sport was lifted, yet women’s boxing was far from an instant hit. Attitudes remained that boxing was a man’s game and it wasn’t something that these delicate, fragile girls should be getting involved with.

These attitudes weren’t just confined to the stands; even the establishment seemed less than keen to encourage women to box. In the 1990s, Jane Couch was Britain’s top boxer but when she expressed an interest in gaining a professional licence, this country’s ruling body of the sport, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC), refused to grant her one.

She took the BBBoC to court and duly won her case, which resulted in her being awarded a pro licence but this did not lead to an acceptance of women’s boxing. Frank Maloney, one of the most successful boxing promoters that this country has ever seen, said of females taking part in the sport: “I don’t do with it. Anyone who wants to watch women fight shouldn’t be given the vote.” Lennox Lewis concurred, calling women’s boxing a “freak show”.

However, when women’s boxing was accepted on to the Olympic programme for the 2012 Games, things began to change. And when female fighters were given a chance, on the most prestigious stage of them all, to show what they could really do, the shift in attitudes was practically tangible. Nicola Adams in particular brought women’s boxing and women boxers to the forefront of people’s minds and to the back pages of people’s newspapers. From that point onwards, women’s boxing has gone from strength to strength and this weekend will see another significant step forward.

Tomorrow, Ireland’s Katie Taylor will fight her first professional bout. Taylor is one of the best boxers in the world, men or women. She has won everything there is to win in amateur boxing; Olympic gold, five world golds and six European golds, as well as being awarded the honour of being Ireland’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. She is one of the biggest sports stars in her home country.

However, the scope of her sport was holding her back. The Irishwoman had achieved everything in amateur boxing yet there were few ways that she could progress further. Until now, that is. Taylor turned professional last month and, at 30 years old, she will take part in her first pro fight tomorrow evening at Wembley Arena against Karina Kopinska from Poland. It will be live on Sky Sports. Tomorrow is only the beginning for Taylor though; she is promoted by the esteemed Eddie Hearn and she will fight again as a pro on December 10 on Anthony Joshua’s undercard and for a third time, in January, at Madison Square Gardens on Gennady Golovkin’s undercard.

Taylor’s move into the pro ranks is huge for the progression of women’s boxing but the vital thing is that she is not alone. The American fighter Claressa Shields, who has won two Olympic gold medals as an amateur, won her first professional bout last Friday in Las Vegas and there is much talk that Adams will announce in the coming weeks that she is to turn professional as well.

The importance of a number of the world’s best female boxers turning professional concurrently cannot be overstated. In the past, women’s professional boxing has been something of a circus act with the highest profile events being fights between Muhammad Ali's daughter, Leila, and Joe Frazier's daughter, Jacqui Frazier Lyde. Let’s not pretend that the majority of fans who turned up to watch that fight in 2001 were there to appreciate the nuance of women’s boxing, particularly considering it was billed as Ali vs Fraser, part 4.

But Taylor, Shields and Adams now promise to change the entire landscape of women’s boxing. With the amateur ranks as the pinnacle of a female boxer’s career, it was inevitable that they were viewed as second-class citizens in comparison to the male fighters who were headlining professional shows across the globe. Whether you agree with women boxing or not – and I find it unfathomable that someone should suggest that they should not fight when men box with, occasionally, the most tragic of outcomes yet few press for an entire ban – it seems the epitome of inequality that female fighters are not offered the chance to make a living through their sport.

Taylor has expressed a desire to break down barriers for female fighters. She has already done this in the amateur ranks; I have no doubt that she will do it in the professional arena too.