The World Boxing Council, one of the four major organizations that sanction professional boxing matches, plans to launch a separate category dedicated to transgender fighters due to safety concerns.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told the British newspaper. Telegraph In an interview published on December 29, a new category is proposed to ensure that “the danger of men fighting women never happens.”
“We will never allow a transgender born male to fight a woman born female,” he said, noting that transgender women have superior physical and physiological advantages over cisgender women. Mentioned concerns about enjoying sex.
In the new category, transgender fighters will be organized by the “at birth” rule. In other words, a transgender female fighter assigned male at birth can only box against the same transgender female, and a transgender male assigned female at birth can only box against it. is allowed to do other transgender men.
“Now is the time to do this and we are doing this for safety and inclusion,” Sulaiman said. “In boxing, men fighting women should never be accepted, regardless of gender change. thinking about.”
Sulaiman said he wasn’t sure how many transgender people would be interested in boxing, but the WBC will “make a global outreach” to future transgender fighters to gauge interest. is.
“We are creating a set of rules and structures so that trans people can do boxing because if they want to box, they should,” he said. “We don’t know how many are out there yet, but we’ll start universal registration in 2023 so we can understand the boxers out there. We’ll start there.”
Once the rules and structure are in place, the WBC will create all transgender leagues and tournaments to determine champions or title holders.
The new rules have come amid controversy surrounding transgender athletes’ participation in sports, with some US states introducing laws banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. Meanwhile, international and European sports bodies are trying to create ‘open’ categories that are not designated for men or women.
NCAA Division I champion swimmer Leah Thomas caused a stir earlier this year when she began breaking long-standing distance records in swimming competitions. Some athletes have feuded about being forced to compete with her. The issue of her transgender participation was also called into question in September, when Alana McLaughlin, the second transgender woman in mixed martial arts in the United States, won her debut match by choking her opponent.
In June, FINA, the global governing body for water sports, voted to restrict transgender athletes from competing in elite women’s competitions. A working group has been set up to consider creating an “open” category for those who do not wish to participate. About the gender assigned at birth. That policy requires a transgender contestant to have completed the transition or at least use a puberty blocker after her 12th birthday. Given that most transgender athletes do not meet these criteria or begin the transition so quickly, the policy effectively acts as a ban on transgender swimmers. event for women.
The British Boxing Control Board responded to this policy and said it had started discussions on a separate category, but much of those discussions were only ‘hypothetical’.
“Just like rugby union is, it’s what you were born for,” said the organization’s general secretary, Robert Smith. Telegraph, referring to the International Rugby League’s decision to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s matches. “If that happens [happen] I’m going to come in with a perfect posture. Medical, and perhaps more importantly, legal considerations need to be taken into account. ”