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Boxing chiefs are to press for the inclusion of female fighters in the 2012 London Olympics.

They say theirs is the only sport in the Olympic programme without women and they await a decision from the International Olympic Committee by December.

Women did actually box in the 1904 Olympics and the sport has developed a higher profile in recent years thanks to boxers like Laila Ali and Jaqueline Frazier-Lyde, the daughters of old rivals Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.

The International Boxing Association women’s commission vice-chairwoman Bettan Andersson believes having women’s boxing at the Olympics would help improve the overall image of the sport.

“If women come in, people will feel the sport is more common, not so dangerous, and that would be a very good thing for the image of boxing,” she says.

But not everybody agrees.

There are plenty who say that even men’s boxing is too brutal a spectacle to be part of the Olympics and that to see women belting each other in the ring would be even worse.

Better to open the door to the sports like golf and rugby that are lobbying for inclusion in the Games.

Do you think women’s boxing should be included in the London 2012 programme?