Footage of a trans boxer beating up on a female opponent has gone viral, just hours before the trans athlete in question will fight a female opponent, this on Thursday of this week. Imane Khelif of Algeria, will box Carini Angela of Italy on Thursday, this despite the fact that Khelif has documented male XY chromosomes. Khelif – along with Lin Yu-Ting, of Taiwan – was banned from boxing at the world championships last year, this because of the fact that Khelif, and Yu-Ting, was proven to be a biological male.
Footage of Khelif dishing out hefty punishment on Mexico’s Brianda Tamara, the bout taking place in December of 2022, shows how much stronger Khelif was in comparison to her female opponent. Now, with plenty of fans taking to social media to express their outrage, and with experts and former fighters such as Barry McGuigan also letting their strong feelings be known, groups such as ‘Fair Play For Women’ have also objected.
“On Thursday a male boxer will fight a female boxer while the crowds cheer and the TV audiences watch on. Sex testing confirms Khelif has male XY chromosomes,” reads a message from FPFW.
As to the footage of Khelif hitting Tamara, the words Tamara spoke after the fight have also been making the rounds:
“When I fought her I felt very much out of my depth,” Tamara wrote on social media. “Her blows hurt me a lot, I don’t think I had ever felt like that in my 13 years as a boxer, nor in my sparring with men. Thank God that day I got out of the ring safely, and it’s good that they finally realized.”
When Tamara wrote “it’s good that THEY finally realized,” she was speaking about the powers that be, who ejected Khelif, and Yu-Ting, from the world championships last year – because they “finally realized” that both boxers are in fact male. But now, with the IBA, who made the decision to ban both Khelif and Yu-Ting from the world championships no longer calling the shots at the Olympics, the organisation having been replaced by the IOC, both trans fighters – as per the IOC’s ruling – will now be fighting in Paris, and of course, against female opposition.
And for many people, this is of course nothing short of a disgrace. And it goes without saying how we all hope no physical harm comes to any female opponent who ends up sharing the ring with Khelif and/or Yu-Ting. God forbid, Angela, or any future foe of Khelif or Yu-Ting, gets badly hurt, this as the whole world watches.
“It should never have got this far,” McGuigan wrote this week when hearing how both trans fighters will be swapping blows with women boxers. Indeed. How to defend this? Why should anyone even try to defend this?
Bottom line: you are either a man or you are a woman, and if you have XY chromosomes, you are a man. End of discussion or debate. There is no in-between. Certainly not in the very, very dangerous sport of boxing.
