World Boxing Council creating category for transgender fighters in 2023

The World Boxing Council plans to introduce a category for transgender competitors in 2023, according to a report.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said the boxing organization will begin seeking out transgender fighters from all over the world come the new year.  

“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,” he told the Telegraph.

Sulaiman said that this is being done because of “safety and inclusion.” He also made it clear that the WBC plans to adopt an “at birth” rule. 

That means transgender women — or men who come to identify as women — will only be allowed to fight other transgender women, since they were both born as men. That same rule will apply to competitors who make the female-to-male transition.

“We will not allow – ever – a transgender born a man to fight a woman who was born a woman,” the WBC president said. “But we are creating a set of rules and structures so that transgender boxing can take place, as they fully deserve to if they want to box.”

The British Boxing Board of Control also confirmed to the newspaper that it is looking at the WBC’s “at birth” policy for competition classes.

Transgender athletes in sports became a hot topic earlier this year when University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first male-born competitor to win an NCAA Division 1 women’s championship in March.

The win, which came after Thomas had competed for three years on UPenn’s men’s team, created concern about the integrity of women’s sports.

“The NCAA should be ashamed for allowing this to happen,” said Save Women’s Sports founder Beth Stelzer, who attended the Thomas’ winning meet this past spring. “There will not be an [asterisk] in the record books to show that that record is set by a male.”