WBC planning to implement category for transgender fighters in the coming year

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has indicated that his organization is planning on spearheading a new initiative which will feature a new category for transgender fighters, all in an effort to support inclusion and to ensure no professional bout will ever feature a man fighting a woman.

Behind this new category will be something referred to as the ‘birth rule’, which indicates that a person who was categorized as a male at birth will only ever be able to face other transgender individuals who were also male at birth, and vice versa for those designated as females.

“The World Boxing Council, through its medical committee and technical committee, reached a determination after studies and an important talk during the WBC annual convention, an absolute and total confirmation was reached to not allow fights between people born men against people born women regardless of their current gender,” Sulaiman told ESPN via audio message. “That is the main determination to not allow fights between men and women for the protection that we have always had of women’s boxing.”

Sulaiman would continue by saying that the WBC is against any type of discrimination, and wants to proactively provide a pathway for transgenders who wish to fight by providing some structure and parameters for what that would look like in the professional ranks.

In the coming year the WBC is expected to recruit individuals who are interested in participating in their new category, and expect to create some sort of league or tournament surrounding it.