Female fighters to step in the ring in record numbers at Battle of the Badges FDNY boxing match

They’re taking a swing at the gender gap!

A record number of female boxers will fight in an annual FDNY boxing event — including three New York brawlers who will duke it out at Madison Square Garden Friday.

Badass Bravest Nicole Malpeso, 32, Tara Iannotti, 34, and steamfitter Maria Fogarty, 32, will face off against boxers from the United Kingdom and Atlanta, Ga. at this year’s Battle of the Badges, which pits Big Apple smoke-eaters against cops and firefighters from other cities.

“We spar hard rounds, we beat the s–t out of each other,” Malpeso said of her training regimen. “I have a really awesome group of women that are elite fighters in New York City.”

“I’m confident in my training as a firefighter, I’m confident in my training as a boxer,”  said Malpeso, a firefighter at Engine 158 in Staten Island.

A total of six women will compete in three bouts at the storied slugfest, along with two dozen other service members from the Big Apple and around the world.

Malpeso tipped the scales at 155 pounds during a weigh-in at Mustang Harry’s sports bar in Midtown Wednesday.

The scrappy welterweight said she’s ready to go full-Raging Bull in a match against Alex Turbitt of UK Fire & Rescue.

“I’m just going to go in there and do my thing,” she said.

Iannotti, of Ladder 129 in Flushing, has been hitting the ring to prepare for a much-anticipated rematch against Atlanta SWAT cop Christina McCants, she said.

“Fighting fires. My life is on the line. With boxing at least you have the ref there. They’re not going to let it get that dangerous,” ” said Iannotti, a 147-pound welterweight.

“It’s normal to have some nerves. But once the bell goes off and you’re in it and you ignore everything else around you,” she said.

Fogarty, of Steamfitters Local 638, was not at the weigh-in — but will be fighting her first match, against Lisa Pearson of the West Yorkshire Police in the lightweight category.

The FDNY Bravest Boxing Team will challenge fighters from Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, and Yonkers police and fire departments, along with boxers from Ireland and the UK.

The proceeds will go to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the families of fallen firefighters and was founded in  honor of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who died in the 9-11 attacks.

In 2023, an FDNY firefighter and an NYPD officer became the first women ever to compete in the boxing event, which began in 2005.