Last month, Canadian boxer Katia Bissonnette made waves around the world when she withdrew from her fight against transgender fighter Mya Walmsley. And one Irish boxing legend doesn’t think she ever should have been slated to fight against a transgender woman in the first place.
This week, Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan was asked for his thoughts on transgender athletes competing in boxing, and he made it clear that he is not happy about it, saying that he thinks it is “completely unfair” to allow transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
“It’s completely unfair to allow men who have transitioned to compete against women in ANY Sport which involves a competition of physical strenght [sic] and endurance,” McGuigan said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.
It’s completely unfair to allow men who have transitioned to compete against women in ANY Sport which involves a competition of physical strenght and endurance. https://t.co/SFptK9g6JP
— Barry McGuigan (@ClonesCyclone) January 13, 2024
Nicknamed “The Clones Cyclone” for his hometown of Clones, Irelend, McGuigan held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 to 1986 and he also held the British and European featherweight titles between 1983 and 1985. He is also the founder and the current president of the Professional Boxing Association.
After his prolific professional boxing career, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.
