Waiting For The WBC Ebraration, Next Year's Transgender Boxing And New Protocol

Box illustration. (Photo: Pexels/Mikhail Nilov)

JAKARTA - The World Boxing Council (WBC) is ready to introduce the transgender boxing category in 2023. Rules related to the safety of fighters will also be made.

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman in his interview with The Telegraph said his party invited transgender boxers as the first step to encourage greater inclusion.

"We will make global summons for those interested in 2023 and we will prepare protocols, start consultations, and most likely make leagues and tournaments," he was quoted as saying by The Sun.

Later in the new proposal, transgender athletes will not be allowed to compete against non-transgender fighters. There will be rules set 'when born'.

This means transgender boxers born as men will only be allowed to compete with other transgender boxers who were also born male.

"This is the time to do this, and we are doing this because of security and inclusion," said Sulaiman.

He continued, as the authority that makes boxing regulations for women, his party realizes the potential danger if a boxer fights a female boxer.

"In boxing, men who fight women cannot be accepted regardless of gender change. There should be no gray area around this, and we want to discuss it with the right transparency and decision," he said.

"Changes in women's transgender to men or men to women will never be allowed to fight different sexes since birth," he added.

In the world of boxing, transgender boxers are actually not new. This category reminds the name Patricio Manuel.

Before crossing to become a transgender boxer Patricio, who was born as a woman was a United States female amateur champion five times before failing to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

Manuel started hormone treatment in 2014 before undergoing sex substitution surgery the following year and made his professional debut as a male boxer in 2018.

He then beat Hugo Aguilar in California but hasn't boxed since then. If the rules above are set then a transgender duel like this case won't happen again.