A former female boxer sounded the alarm about USA Boxing’s decision to allow trans women to compete against women.
USA Boxing is the latest sports organization to make allowances for transgender competitors to compete in the gendered divisions they identify with. After the regulations were first drafted in August 2022, the policy went officially into effect on January 1, 2024.
“I can’t believe that USA boxing would allow transgender [individuals] to compete. I mean, basically, you’re letting a man fight a woman,” Christy Martin, one of the most prominent former female boxers to compete, told Fox News Digital.
Martin was the first woman to get inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016 and has been inducted into six other Halls of Fame, including the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. By the time she retired in 2012, Martin had completed her career with 49 wins and 7 losses, with 31 of those wins by knockout.
“Your body, your bone structure, the density, it’s just different. And I think someone’s going to get seriously injured,” Martin said.
She also cautioned how there could be a possibility of lethal effects as a result of the new allowances.
Christy Martin poses for a portrait in March 1996 in New York. The Ring Magazine via Getty ImagesThe new USA Boxing policy states that both transgender men and women are allowed to compete in the biological divisions. The requirements to compete in each category include:
- A declaration by the athlete that their gender is either male or female, and they have completed gender reassignment surgery accordingly.
- The athlete in question has completed quarterly hormone testing for a minimum of four years post-surgery.
- For transgender women competitors, the athlete must demonstrate testosterone levels below 5 nmol/L for at least 48 months prior to the first competition.
- For transgender men, testosterone levels must be maintained at a level above 10 nmol/L throughout the period of the competitor’s eligibility to compete in the male category.
Martin detailed how these new regulations could deter new female boxers from entering the field, citing how women’s boxing is having a “tough time” growing and this act by the organization could potentially stunt further growth.
Christy Martin connects to the body of Dakota Stone as referee David Mendoza looks on during their welterweight bout at Staples Center on June 4, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images“We need to have a bigger pool of opponents, and we don’t have that. So now if someone’s out there training, and they’re training their butt off, and they realize they’re going to go into a tournament, they’re going to be competing against a male, basically. This is not fair. This is not the way we do things,” Martin said.
The former boxer also touched on the idea of how this could even play out in the men’s division by having transgender men compete, “we’re all focusing on male to female. But this also goes female to male.”
“In that case, transgender women are loading up on testosterone, of course. So maybe they are actually at an advantage against a male competitor because their testosterone levels, would kind of be like juicing, and we know that’s illegal,” she said.
Thai transgender Muay Thai boxer Nong Rose (L), fights against French champion Akram Hamidi, in Paris on January 6, 2018. AFP via Getty ImagesMartin is not the only person in the boxing world to be upset by this decision. Current female boxing champions Ebanie Bridges and Amanda Serrano, for instance, have also shared discontentment with the organization’s decision on their social media.
“The general reaction to this decision is negative. I haven’t talked to one person that thinks this is a good idea,” Martin said about the consensus within the boxing community regarding this matter.
Martin explained how fathers of female boxers have expressed to her that they would “never” want their daughters to compete against a transgender person.
Patricio “Pat” Manuel, the first openly transgender man to box professionally in the U.S., fights Hien Huynh at Walter Pyramid on March 18, 2023, in Long Beach, California. Getty Images“I’ve had coaches talk to me, [say] they’ll never let their boxer compete against a transgender person. Again, this is going to hurt women’s boxing more than it will ever help,” she added.
The boxing champion elucidated how we all have choices to make in life, and how sometimes, because of our choices, there are sacrifices we have to make and consequences we must face as a result of those decisions.
“I’m 100% for someone who wants to be transgender. That’s their business. That’s their right if that’s what they want to do,” she said.
“But, you give up some opportunities when you make that decision. And, this is one of those opportunities, to compete in sports,” she said, stressing how this idea is especially important for a combat sport like boxing, where physical differences become critical factors. “You’re [transitioning] because you’re going to be happy as a male. And that way outweighs competing in boxing. To me, competing in boxing would be something that wouldn’t even factor [in] on the scale, or competing in any sport,”
USA Boxing was reached for comment but they have yet to respond.
