Boxing is hoping to open up avenues for transgender athletes as a new division is being explored in the sport.
Trans athletes such as weightlifter Laurel Hubbard and MMA fighter Alana McLaughlin have been at the centre of sporting controversies in recent years. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman is taking action to ensure all athletes have a level playing field as he plans to kickstart a category solely for trans athletes to compete in.
"In boxing, a man fighting a woman must never be accepted regardless of gender change," Sulaiman told The Telegraph. "There should be no grey area around this, and we want to go into it with transparency and the correct decisions.
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"Woman to man or man to woman transgender change will never be allowed to fight a different gender by birth. We are going to put out a global call for those who are interested in 2023 and we will set up the protocols, start consultation and most likely create a league and a tournament.
"It is the time to do this, and we are doing this because of safety and inclusion. We have been the leaders in rules for women's boxing - so the dangers of a man fighting a woman will never happen because of what we are going to put in place."
In 2018, Patricio Manuel made history by becoming the first transgender male to compete as a professional boxer in the US. Manuel, who was born female but transitioned to male in 2014, beat Hugo Aguliar by decision to win his pro debut. The 37-year-old had previously competed as a female boxer at the US trials for the 2012 Olympics.
Sulaiman added of the new division: "We are creating a set of rules and structures so that transgender boxing can take place, as they fully deserve to if they want to box. We do not yet know the numbers that there are out there, but we’re opening a universal registration in 2023, so that we can understand the boxers that are out there - and we’ll start from there."
British Boxing Board of Control secretary Robert Smith confirmed they are looking into a transgender policy and that athletes will have to compete against the gender they were born as. "At the moment this is hypothetical but we can see it coming and we are looking at our transgender policy," Smith said. "It is what you are born as, as rugby union does.
"When it does [happen] we intend to be fully prepared. Medical and, perhaps more importantly, legal considerations will have to be taken into account.”
