USA Boxing to permits trans boxers to compete against cis women

The debate about transgender athletes has been on the table for the past few years and no consensus has ever been achieved in any sport. Usually, this is about allowing runners or swimmers who may have more strength or speed to compete in a category where they can dominate.

Always, almost without exception, it is one-way traffic: trans women competing against cis women. It is rare, if ever, that a trans man wants to compete against cis men. And this is for obvious reasons - to wit: they will be at a physical disadvantage.

When the sport is track and field, or swimming, or tennis, it is already a tricky situation. But when the sport in question is boxing, it is no longer a question of equality or fairness or discrimination. It is now a question of deadly peril.

Boxing is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Two fighters of even size stand toe to toe and pummel each other with their fists. When one of those fighters has a biological edge through denser bone structure, for example, or more muscle mass, then the opponent is not only at risk of losing the bout, but of being killed.

In the most extraordinary policy ever adopted in sport, USA Boxing, the organization charged with overseeing amateur boxing in the United States, has adopted a transgender policy for 2024 which will allow trans boxers to compete with cisgender women.

This decision has caused outrage in the boxing community, who know better than most how dangerous this is for women. “It’s not about being against the trans community, it’s about ensuring fair and SAFE competition,” Jamel Herring, former super featherweight champion, shared in X.

Boxers over 18 years of age who have made the transition will be able to fight under a specified series of rules.

Firstly, they will need to have declared their gender identity as female AND have completed reassignment surgery.

Secondly, for a minimum of four years after their operation, they will have to have undergone quarterly hormone testing, and will have to submit documentation of their testosterone levels to the Federation. Fighters will have to demonstrate that their level of Serum testosterone has been below five nanomoles per litre for at least 48 months prior to their first competition.

“Biological male athletes, even after hormone therapy, often maintain physical advantages that can pose safety risks and create an uneven playing field for natural female athletes,” Herring continued. Underage athletes will have to compete in the gender assigned at birth.

Former bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges said that fighting a trans woman would be like “if Mike Tyson became a woman.” Something dangerous and unfair.

One of the most emphatic examples of how bad an idea this can be was demonstrated when Alana MacLaughlin, a decorated former US Army Special Forces who transitioned and fought in an MMA bout, where she fractured her opponent’s skull.

The IOC announced a framework for transgender athletes in 2021 which stated that transitioned athletes need not reduce their testosterone to compete against women, a policy which came under intense fire from medical experts as “focusing on inclusion not science.”

Mauricio Sulaimán, the president of the World Boxing Council, has announced that they will create a new trans category. This seems to be the most sensible policy and hopefully other sanctioning bodies will follow suit. The future of our sport depends on it.