USA Boxing announced that it will begin accepting transgender athletes to the sport.
According to a new ‘Transgender Policy‘ written in August 2022 and to be officially implemented on January 1, 2024, transgender boxers will undergo consistent testing and be required to meet a series of conditions to become and remain eligible. In one example, a biological man who identifies as a transgender woman must have undergone gender reassignment surgery and have a testosterone reading of fewer than five nanomoles per liter for two years prior and through competitions.
Conversely, a biological woman who identifies as a transgender man must also be post-op and have a testosterone level of higher than ten nmol/L for two years prior and through competitions.
Any transgender boxer who is found in violation of the policy will be suspended from competing for one year.
However, boxers under 18 must compete in the category aligned with their biological sex. Still, adult boxers can switch to the category of their preferred gender, so long that they meet the requirements.
“The purpose of this policy is to provide fairness and safety for all boxers,” the organization told the Daily Mail in announcing the new rule.
USA Boxing Will Likely Stand alone in its decision
USA Boxing’s decision will certainly spark some backlash, particularly as multiple international organizations, including the World Boxing Council, have sought to establish a separate category specifically for trans athletes to compete.
“It is the time to do this, and we are doing this because of safety and inclusion,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told Telegraph. “We have been the leaders in rules for women’s boxing — so the dangers of a man fighting a woman will never happen because of what we are going to put in place.”
Sulaiman added that trans entrants identifying as women have overwhelming male physical advantages and thus, should not be allowed to compete against cisgender women.
“In boxing, a man fighting a woman must never be accepted regardless of gender change,” he said. “There should be no gray area around this, and we want to go into it with transparency and the correct decisions. Woman to man or man to woman transgender change will never be allowed to fight a different gender by birth.”
Popular female boxer and former IBF bantamweight world champion Ebanie ‘Blonde Bomber’ Bridges pulled no punches in her take on the controversial ruling, saying:
I wonder if these people in USA boxing who agreed to this were women who have sparred a man the same size as them that’s not held back on them and felt the difference in speed and power and punch resistance…. And that’s with big gloves and head gear.. I f*cken doubt it prob a bunch of c*nuts who’ve not even boxed lol
I wonder if these people in USA boxing who agreed to this were women who have sparred a man the same size as them that’s not held back on them and felt the difference in speed and power and punch resistance…. And that’s with big gloves and head gear.. I fucken doubt it prob a…
— Blonde Bomber
(@EbanieBridges) December 30, 2023
(@EbanieBridges)