Dickinson native becomes only active female professional boxer in North Dakota

DICKINSON, N.D. (KFYR) - This fall, Isis Sio will become the first professional female boxer from North Dakota to compete in North Dakota since 2019.

Strapping up to turn pro is no easy feat, just ask Sio. She is making the jump from amateur to professional boxing, joining a lineage in the ring.

“It was hard, because you don’t really want to disappoint people,” Sio said. “You want to show them that you’ve been working this hard to get this far.”

She grew up around the sport and is now paving her own path between the turnbuckles.

“My dad’s side of the family, they were all fighters, so my uncle trained them all. Then my dad, he trained me,” Sio said.

Originally from Wyoming, Sio now owns her own gym in Dickinson. The Queen City is also where she won her first amateur boxing match.

“It makes me proud of myself because I’m over here making people mad because they see me succeeding over everything,” Sio said. “I have my own gym, my own businesses, and they didn’t expect an 18-year-old to be having everything they wanted in life.”

Sio is the only active female professional boxer in North Dakota. A title that brings heavy weight with a lot of doubters.

“‘You’re a woman, you can’t do this or that,’” Sio explained. “I’ve had many of those like that, ‘you’ll never become pro.’”

Out of the ring, Sio is a normal 18-year-old who finds relief on social media. A video went viral of her dressed in a Pikachu costume running in the snow in 2018. It was the first thing that ever took off on her social media pages. Now, she uses her platform to inspire other female boxers.

“I do have pride in it,” Sio said. “It makes me happy seeing that a bunch of young girls want to get into it.”

An inspiration is another title she gladly holds, but she hopes it’s far from the last as she chases one big goal.

“It’s to become a world champion within two years,” Sio said.

Sio said she expects ups and downs just like she faced in her amateur career, but she’s ready to put the work in.

“I’m basically the type of person that I have to earn it to get there. So if by then I get it, then I’ll be more proud of myself for going that far with it,” Sio said.

Sio will have her first pro fight in Minot in October. She will be the first pro female boxer from North Dakota to compete in North Dakota since Mariah Prussia did in March 2019.