Patricio Manuel, a biological woman who now identifies as a transgender man, defeated unknown fighter Alexander Gutierrez via unanimous decision.
Fighting in the men’s category, the fighter formerly known as Patricia Manuel earned a fourth-round victory at Golden Boy Fight Night on June 8 in Indo, California.
Manuel now has a 3-0 record and the other two fights also took place under the umbrella of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
Prior to transgender surgery in 2013, Manuel competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials in the US, but any hopes of performing in London were dashed by an injury. Manuel was a five-time national amateur women’s boxing champion.
“It’s very hard to say my shoulder injury was good for me…but that downtime gave me time to look at myself and see what I wanted to do besides compete,” she said L.A. weekly in 2015.
Patricio Manuel – the first trans professional boxer in US history – reached 3-0 on June 8 by winning
Manuel, from Boyle Heights, competed as a woman in the 2012 US Olympic trials, but a shoulder injury ended an attempt to make the team for the London Games after just one fight
After the identity change, Manuel fought in 2018; becoming the first transgender pro boxer in American history.
Manuel was raised by her white mother and grew up without her absent father.
“I didn’t grow up with my father, so I was kind of brought up in a kind of matriarchy. Actually, I was raised as a white woman and of course that didn’t happen,” she said laughing via LA Weekly. “Sometimes life throws you into trouble and you come out a black man.”
Since then, two more battles have taken place against similar little-known fighters. The 37-year-old Manuel maintains an undefeated record in the men’s.
Manuel has had a hard time finding opponents since the “life I consciously built” began.
Earlier this year, the WBC brought up the reality of a separate competition for transgender athletes.
“The WBC completely rejects any boxing activity between people born male against born female, regardless of their current sexuality; so the creation of a committee to create a competition handbook was approved with the possibility of having a transgender competition that welcomes those who want to participate in our sport,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán said in a statement on Jan. 3.
“This decision is about safety and inclusion,” he added. Unsurprisingly, Manuel was critical of the WBC’s proposal, suggesting it had deeply affected her.
In 2015, Manuel said, “Sometimes life throws you a curveball and you come out a black man”
“It is heartbreaking to me that the WBC, a leader in my sport, is claiming that as a man I have no place in the ring,” she said via a statement in the aftermath.
“Given the WBC’s stated values of sportsmanship, diversity and respect (through their philanthropic arm WBC Cares), I trust that this proposed new policy was created with the best of intentions to include transgender boxers.
But in reality, the WBC inherently dehumanizes trans people by suggesting that trans men are not men and trans women are not women.
“This rhetoric goes against both existing policies at the highest levels of sports governing bodies and my own experience.”
Joe Rogan Said He ‘Could Know’ [Manuel] the f*** out’ and was so clearly a biological female before Manuel’s shoulders were compared to those of petite comedian Andy Dick, on JRE in 2019
Joe Rogan commented on the arrival of Manuel by De La Hoya’s company 2019.
‘My first thought was; this guy will light up when he fights real men. That’s a woman against a man, look at those shoulders; they look like Andy Dick’s shoulders,’ he said, looking at a photo of Manuel.
‘The women fight as men want [Manuel]… I haven’t sparred forever, I’m fucking knocking that guy out.
‘It just can’t be done. There is a difference, there is a huge difference. [Manuel] will never beat Deontay Wilder. He’s never going to beat a real boxer.’