Carl Froch agrees with Ebanie Bridges that transgender women should never compete against biological females. Bridges compared fighting trans women to boxing a ‘female Mike Tyson‘ as she slammed the idea of allowing transgender athletes to mix in combat sports.
Now, Froch has come out in support of the world champion’s stance, telling Safe Betting Sites:“[Trans women] are stronger and more powerful. Not all of them – you get some masculine women. You get some feminine men. But we’re talking about a trans woman. A [trans woman], born a [biological] man, fighting a [cis] woman shouldn’t happen, ever.
“It should be banned. I agree with Ebanie Bridges saying she would never fight a trans woman. Transgender women, women [biologically born] men, should not compete in [biological] women’s sports, period. Full stop.“
This comes after Bridges told Bitcoin Casinos: “I think it’s wrong, especially in boxing. I think in all sport. I just think a lot of women in sports that are breaking records weren’t originally women and in a sport where you are trying to hurt the other person.
“You’re born (a) man. I don’t care what you say, how many hormones you’re taking, you’re still born (a) man. It’s like saying all of a sudden Mike Tyson wants to be a girl now and he goes and fights you – no way!
“And how do you measure it? ‘They don’t look really masculine so that’s OK,’ No. I even spar with boys or guys smaller than me and they are ‘hella strong.’ So, I think no.”
No professional boxing body has ever cleared a trans woman boxer to compete against a biological woman. However, in MMA, Fallon Fox, a transgender female fighter born a man, competed six times as a professional between 2012 and 2014 before retiring due to injury.
Boxing has seen one example of the reverse with Patricio Manuel, who made history by becoming the first transgender male to compete in the paid ranks. Manuel, who was born female but transitioned to male in 2014, competed in the women’s category at the 2012 Olympic US trials before undergoing gender reassignment surgery and turning over as a pro (3-0) in the men’s division.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman recently announced plans to create a transgender division in boxing that would adopt an ‘at birth’ rule, meaning trans fighters can only compete against other trans fighters who are born the same gender. There have been no updates on this since Sulaiman tabled the idea in December.