The maelstrom that has engulfed Algerian boxer Imane Khelif in Paris is a wretched thing. It is humiliating for Khelif, who has always identified as a woman, and crushing for every rival boxer competing in her weight division.

And it should never have happened.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.Credit: Eddie Jim

Although there is a complex backstory to this saga that we will get to, the eligibility rules on gender in international boxing are refreshingly clear.

According to the International Boxing Association’s technical and competition rules, women should compete against women and men against men. They define a woman/female/girl as anyone with an XX chromosome and a man/male/boy as anyone with an XY chromosome.

It is an essential acknowledgement of sex difference in a combat sport where asking women to fight men is unfair and dangerous.

The rules also provide that, to determine eligibility, boxers are subject to random and targeted gender tests. A boxer who fails a test should bedisqualified from competition and prohibited from any other competitions owned and sanctioned by the IBA.

Italy’s Angela Carini fights back tears at the end of her aborted fight against Algeria’s Imane Khelif.Credit: Eddie Jim

According to the minutes of an IBA board of directors........

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