World Boxing Council Plans to Introduce Transgender Category, According to Report
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World Boxing Council Plans to Introduce Transgender Category, According to Report
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman told The Telegraph the prospective category would adopt the "at birth" rule, meaning that a trans fighter assigned as a male at birth would only be able to compete against a fellow trans fighter assigned as a male at birth.
"We are going to put out a global call for those who are interested in 2023 and we will set up the protocols, start consultation and most likely create a league and a tournament," Sulaiman told The Telegraph.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"It is the time to do this, and we are doing this because of safety and inclusion,” he continued. “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.”
"In boxing, a man fighting a woman must never be accepted regardless of gender change. There should be no grey area around this, and we want to go into it with transparency and the correct decisions,” Sulaiman told The Telegraph. “Woman to man or man to woman transgender change will never be allowed to fight a different gender by birth."
The WBC is an international professional boxing organization, and is among the four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO).
The announcement comes as 2022 comes to a close — in a year that saw the World Swimming Federation restrict transgender athlete participation in women’s meets.