Patricio Manuel, a transgender male boxer, improved his professional record from 3-0 to 3-0.
The 37 year old’s amateur boxing career included five wins of national titles, and she was selected to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Women’s team.
Manuel’s hopes of competing at the London Olympics were ruined by an injury. He began his transition to male in 2013, taking hormones and underwent top surgery one year later.
Manuel won a four round decision over Hugo Aguilar in an event promoted Oscar De La Hoya.
Manuel’s opponent only found out about the history-making aspect of his latest fight two days prior but insisted he approached it no differently than any other.
“For me, it’s very respectable. It doesn’t change anything for me. In the ring, he wants to win, and I want to win too,” Aguilar said in Spanish at the time.
Manuel returned to boxing in March, 2014, with a second victory. This time, he won by a technical decision after an accidental head collision ended his fight against Hien Huynh.
Earlier this month, ‘Cacahuate’ kept his momentum going with another four-round win over Alexander Gutierrez at Golden Boy Fight Night on June 8 in California.
The super-featherweight fighter has returned to the sport at a time when one of boxing’s governing bodies is making moves to Transgender and Cisgender are not welcomeFighting between fighters is prohibited.
In January, Manuel publicly criticised the World Boxing Council over the organization’s decision to create a separate category for transgender boxers.
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“It is heartbreaking to me to have the WBC, a leader in my sport, argue that I don’t have a place in the ring as a man,” he said in a statement through Athlete Ally.
“Given the WBC’s stated values of sportsmanship, diversity, and respect (via their philanthropic arm WBC Cares), I trust this intended new policy was made with the best of intentions to be inclusive of transgender boxers.
“Yet, in reality, the WBC is inherently dehumanizing transgender people by implying that trans men aren’t men and trans women aren’t women.
“This rhetoric flies in the face of both existing policies at the highest level of governing bodies in the world of sports and my own lived experience.”
