Signed by Oscar De La Hoya in 2018, World’s First Trans Male Boxer Remains Undefeated Against Cis Men

The world of sports is witnessing a rise in transgender athletes making remarkable achievements. Meanwhile, the sport of boxing is no exception to the same; Patricio Manuel, a super featherweight boxer and a transgender male, competes in the sport against Cis men. Manuel is 37 years old and has impressive accolades inside the squared circle.

Manuel won 5 national titles in the women’s Olympic team in 2015. Manuel, who was born a female, transitioned into a man and made his professional men’s boxing debut in the year 2018. Manuel made history as he became the first-ever transgender male boxer in the sport back when he fought and defeated Hugo Aguilar. Since then, he has remained undefeated and fought twice. Not to mention, he also caught the attention of Oscar De La Hoya; CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, who signed him back in 2018. Recently, Manuel won his third fight and the boxing world took notice of the same.

Patricio Manuel’s recent win and plea to WBC

Despite being signed with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, Manuel found it difficult to find opponents for him. Subsequently, in the past 7 years, Manuel has competed as a professional only thrice. Back in January, as per talkSPORT, Manuel demanded the WBC to have a separate category for transgender boxers. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has been vocal about making a separate category for transgender athletes to ensure fair competition.

However, for now, an exclusive category does not exist. On June 8, Manuel fought Alexander Gutierrez on a Golden Boy fight card. He defeated Alexander via unanimous decision. The bout was sanctioned for 4 rounds and he reportedly managed to win every single round. In March of this year, Manuel fought another cisgender male boxer; Hieu Huynh, and defeated him. The fighter remains undefeated and continues to make headlines in the boxing world.

Apart from fighting inside the ring, Manuel continues to fight for the rights of transgender athletes and their opportunities. There is a lot of scrutiny and debate around transgenders competing with cisgender athletes. Manuel contends to have a separate category.

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