USA Boxing pummeled for allowing transgender fighters in women’s ring

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Starting Monday, USA Boxing will let male-born competitors fight in women’s matches based on gender identity, but they’ll have to jump through significant hoops first.

USA Boxing, the national governing body, added a transgender policy to its 2024 rule book that permits biological males 18 and older to compete against women, as long as they declare that their gender identity is female; keep their testosterone below a certain threshold; and complete “gender reassignment surgery.”

The rulebook released Friday gave no details on which surgeries would be required.

Only a small percentage of male-to-female transgender people undergo what’s euphemistically called bottom surgery, meaning that USA Boxing’s revised eligibility criteria are likely to exclude the vast majority of such athletes from the women’s ring.

“The purpose of this policy is to provide fairness and safety for all boxers,” USA Boxing said in a statement.

Even so, advocates for single-sex girls’ and women’s sports decried rules letting male-born boxers compete against women under any conditions, saying it places female fighters at risk of serious physical harm.

“USA Boxing to allow men to punch women on camera, under lights, with fans cheering,” Macy Petty, Concerned Women for America spokeswoman, wrote on X.

Conservative commentator Dana Loesch wrote: “They’re going to encourage men cosplaying as females to beat women to death in the ring. No more @USABoxing in my house.”

USA Boxing said it developed its framework after the International Olympic Committee ruled in November 2021 that the world governing bodies of each sport would determine their own transgender policies.

“This means that the international federation for each sport determines the eligibility,” USA Boxing said. “Since boxing’s IF has not determined transgender eligibility and boxing is considered a combat sport, USA Boxing’s overriding objective is the safety of all boxers and fair competition between all boxers.”

USA Boxing introduce new Transgender policy, permitting male boxers who have transitioned to fight in the female category under specified conditions pic.twitter.com/kS9gzLu4Ih

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) December 30, 2023

The newly announced rules require boxers under 18 to compete based on their gender at birth. At 18, male-to-female transgender athletes would need to undergo surgery and present quarterly hormone-testing results to USA Boxing for a minimum of four years following the procedure.

In addition, athletes would have to keep their testosterone in serum below 5 nmol/L for at least 48 months before competition.

“Compliance with these conditions will be monitored by testing at the expense of the athlete,” the policy said. “In the event of noncompliance, the athlete’s eligibility for female competition will be suspended for 12 months. Retesting of testosterone levels will then be required.”

Female-to-male boxers would need to declare their gender identity is male and undergo gender-reassignment surgery, followed by four years of hormone testing. They would also need to keep testosterone in serum above 10 nmol/L for at least 48 months ahead of competition.

Canadian amateur boxer Katia Bissonnette last month withdrew from a championship bout in Quebec after learning an hour before the contest that her opponent, Mya Walmsley, was a male-to-female transgender athlete, according to Reduxx.

Bissonnette cited a 2020 University of Utah study showing that a man’s punch is 163% harder than a woman’s punch, even after adjusting for weight.

Walmsley, who was declared the winner by default, released a statement criticizing Bissonnette for going to the media instead of “turning to me, my coach or the Quebec Olympic Boxing Federation for more information.”

“This kind of behavior puts athletes at risk of being excluded or receiving personal attacks based on hearsay,” Walmsley said.