Kim Connor-Hamby (1980–)

Kim Connor-Hamby is a former professional boxer and mixed martial arts (MMA) competitor who competed for multiple world titles in the lightweight and bantam weight divisions in boxing. From 2004 until her retirement in 2018, the five-foot, six-inch, 135-pound fighter, whose tenacity and power earned her the nickname “Killer,” compiled a boxing record of 13–4 with two draws.

Kimberly Ann Connor was born on October 31, 1980, in Waskom, Texas, to Lewis and Margaret Connor; her sister Carol was thirteen years old at the time of Connor’s birth. Connor was five years old when the family moved to Stuttgart (Arkansas County), and she graduated from Stuttgart High School in 1999. Her grandfather Mack Smith was a great influence, teaching her to hunt and fish. He also introduced her to boxing, as they regularly watched Friday Night Fights together on television. When she saw, in her mid-teens, iconic women’s boxing pioneer Christy Martin fighting on a pay-per-view card that also included Mike Tyson, it was a revelation for her, a self-described tomboy.

After graduation, she moved to Little Rock (Pulaski County), where she began training with the ABC Boxing Club. Her first professional bout on August 27, 2004, resulted in a loss, but it would be the last one she would suffer until September 10, 2011, and it was the only one that did not come in a fight for an International Boxing Federation (IBF) crown.

She married Michael Hamby, a contractor and builder, on October 1, 2005. At the same time she was building her career outside of boxing, she was taking on fights whenever the opportunities presented themselves. From February 2008 to July 2022, she held a variety of positions at Elite Framing & Construction, which she co-owned with her husband, including customer service representative and warehouse specialist. This arrangement gave her flexibility to keep training and pursuing her boxing and MMA careers, as well as parenting. The couple had three children: a daughter Mackenzie and twin sons Cash and Cage.

Following the birth of her daughter in 2008, Connor-Hamby took the suggestion of one of her husband’s co-workers to take MMA classes. When, in June 2009, an opportunity to compete arose, she entered and won her inaugural MMA fight. It proved to be the first of the four she achieved in her short, but undefeated, MMA career, which ended in 2010 as she made a focused push to advance her boxing career. On June 24, 2011, in Bryant (Saline County), she defeated Lisa Noel Garland to win the Women’s International Boxing Federation (WIBF) title.

Connor-Hamby won her first two bouts after an extended lay-off after the 2015 birth of her twin sons before heading to Argentina in March 2017 to fight Victoria Bustos for the IBF lightweight title. After a tough loss to Bustos, she returned to the United States, where she notched her thirteenth career victory in July 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In July 2018, Connor-Hamby traveled to London, where she challenged World Lightweight and Olympic champion Katie Taylor in a fight for the titles of both the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Association. Before the match, Connor-Hamby said, “I have a lot of respect for her. I feel like this is a boxer’s dream—I’m the absolute underdog.” But, as Taylor observed, Connor-Hamby came “in as a hungry challenger,” one who was “going to bring her best,” and that would in turn “bring the best out of [me].” In the end, Connor-Hamby suffered a TKO defeat in the third round of what would prove to be her final professional bout. Following her defeat, Connor-Hamby told Taylor, “You’re living my dream, you know. I’m really proud of you.”

Connor-Hamby laid a solid foundation for her post-competition career. In addition to her work with Elite Framing Construction, she had done a short stint as a real estate agent with the Little Rock firm McKimmey Associates Realtors beginning in August 2014. She also periodically worked in the fitness industry as a personal trainer. Just months before her final fight in London, Connor-Hamby started a job as an associate at Central Arkansas Water (CAW) in August 2019. In November 2023, she became director of Shannon Hills Public Works in Shannon Hills (Saline County).

Connor-Hamby and her family live in Shannon Hills.

For additional information:
“Fight Path: Boxer, Undefeated MMA Fighter Kim Connor-Hamby Ready for Hire.” MMA Junkie, July 1, 2011. https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2011/07/fight-path-boxer-undefeated-mma-fighter-kim-connor-hamby-ready-for-hire (accessed July 17, 2025).

“Kimberly Connor-Hamby.” Box Rec. https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/269626 (accessed July 17, 2025).

“Local Boxer Fighting For Female IBF World Title.” Fox 16 News, March 14, 2017. https://www.fox16.com/news/local-boxer-fighting-for-female-ibf-world-title/ (accessed July 17, 2025).

O’Neill, Bernard. “Katie Taylor’s Opponent Kimberly Connor Admits That She’ll Be a Big Under Dog [sic] in Their Bout.” Irish Mirror, July 28, 2018. https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/katie-taylors-opponent-kimberly-connor-12992637 (accessed July 17, 2025).

William H. Pruden III
Ravenscroft School