Buttrick was born in
Cottingham,
East Riding of Yorkshire, England on 3 December 1929. She became a
shorthand typist in an office in the
West End of London. Known as "The Mighty Atom of the Ring", Buttrick, at 4′ 11″, fought from 98 lbs. to being the World's unbeaten flyweight (112) and bantamweight (118) champion from 1950 to 1960. Buttrick started her boxing career in 1948, touring Europe with carnivals as a bantamweight in the boxing booth. She went to the United States in the mid-1950s, joined the carnival circuit, but left because the American carnivals were rougher than the European ones. She then fought professionally in Canada, Chicago, and southern Florida. One of the Canadian matches became the first women's bout to be broadcast on radio. In 1954 she was part of the first boxing match between two women on American national television. In 1957, she moved to Dallas. She and opponent
Phyllis Kugler won the state's first boxing licenses for women, and a world title bout was held in
San Antonio. Buttrick won a unanimous decision, making her the first women's world boxing champion. By then, she had fought more than 1,000 exhibitions with men and 18 professional women's fights, only one of which she lost—outweighed by 33 pounds and stricken with the flu. Buttrick allegedly fought many exhibition bouts against male opposition. Buttrick reportedly had one career loss, to
JoAnn Hagen, in 31 pro bouts before retiring in 1960 at 30–1–1. After an absence of 15 years, she briefly returned to the ring in 1977. ==Career after boxing==