World Boxing announced Friday that it will require all athletes to undergo mandatory biological sex testing before being allowed to compete in male or female categories.
This move directly challenges gender ideology in sports and aims to protect women’s spaces in a competitive combat sport where men pretending to be women have dominated.
The decision follows outrage surrounding Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, whose eligibility was questioned during the Paris Olympics after winning gold in the women’s welterweight division.
“World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing,” the federation said in a statement.
Under the new policy, all boxers aged 18 and over must undergo a DNA test to verify their chromosomal sex based on the presence of the Y chromosome.
The test can be done through a simple swab, saliva sample or blood draw.
The federation clarified that athletes will only be allowed to compete in categories that match their biological sex at birth, not the gender they pretend to be.
“The introduction of this testing is to protect the integrity of competition,” the statement said.
National federations are responsible for conducting gender tests and must provide certification confirming an athlete’s biological sex prior to competition.
World Boxing will oversee the sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after being granted provisional recognition by the International Olympic Committee.
Other sporting bodies like the International Boxing Association (IBA) have previously banned Khelif from the 2023 world championships after a sex chromosome test rendered Khelif ineligible.
The move by world boxing is being celebrated by critics of gender ideology, such as American swimmer and political activist Riley Gaines, who said, “To all the people that insisted Imane Khelif was a woman because his passport said so, you were wrong, we were right, sincerely people with functioning eyes and a shred of honesty.”
Notably, Khelif hails from an Islamic country, Algeria, which does not recognize gender changes for transgender individuals, bans gender-altering medical procedures, and criminalizes the distribution of LGBTQ materials — some of which are funded by Canadian tax dollars.