She’s the one with the beard. Patricio Manuel is a transgender professional boxer.

The path to professional fighting in the men’s ring for Patricio Manuel was not an easy one. He started boxing when he was still a girl – at the age of 17. At that time he won five times at the amateur national championships, and even was at the qualifying stage of the Olympic Games 2012 in London, but because of injury he was not able to take part in the competition itself. Apparently, it was this “defeat” that became the starting point in his decision to change his sex.

How did the sex change take place?

He had thought of himself as a boy since childhood, finally, during rehabilitation, he decided to stop living a “false life” and began the process that fundamentally changed his destiny.

I didn’t see myself among them. And the longer I would put off the surgery, the more damage I would do to myself.

2013 was the beginning of a transformation. Operations and hormone therapy – Manuel did all the procedures that are necessary for a full-fledged sex change. Such a dream costs about $ 6 thousand. His relatives helped him to pay for the operation and did not regret it, because after that Patricio’s professional career went uphill and paid off the costs.

Being true to yourself – it is always a painful process, but the game is worth the candle.

However, the boxer immediately ran into problems. He lost his trainer, his club and two jobs. The athlete was not allowed to compete in the men’s ring until he received a license, and for this he had to pass a huge number of tests. He took hormones for months until his vitals were identical to an adult male. But even a license did not guarantee a fight, because many opponents refused to meet a transgender man in the ring. Apparently because they were afraid of losing.

Besides, to compete in a professional ring, another huge sum of money was needed. This time, the money was helped raised by the LGBT community through crowdfunding.

It wasn’t until December 2018 that Patricio stepped into the professional ring against a man for the first time and won.

The first fight in a man’s body

The bout took place in the American city of Indio. The promoter was the company Golden Boy Promotions. His opponent was Mexican Hugo Aguilar – not the most noteworthy opponent, who had lost all his fights before. But it didn’t matter much, as this was the first fight of a transgender boxer in the male arena.

Aguilar found out about his opponent’s sex change two days before the fight. That was no reason for him not to participate.

To me, it doesn’t change anything. In the ring, he wants to win, and I do too.

In his first fight, Manuel came out from the corner and hit Aguilar with four left punches before he could respond. In this fight Patricio beat his opponent fairly with the score (39:37) and thanks to this, he made boxing history.

I want to pay tribute to my opponent. He fought with me as a man. I respect him for that. I had to put a lot of effort to be here. But this is just the beginning.

What is Manuel doing now?

In September 2019, Everlast, a major sports brand, signed a contract with Manuel. He became the ambassadore of the new advertising campaign “Be First” (Be First). Besides him, it also includes a fighter with an amputated leg – Fransonet Martinez and migrants from Mexico – the Balderas brothers.

In a video published by the company, the boxer talks about what allowed him to overcome all the difficulties, as well as how he decided to change his gender.

It was boxing that brought me back to my body, it was boxing that allowed me to be proud of what I can do physically.