In early November, a Golden Gloves championship fight between Katia Bissonnette and Mya Walmsley was to have taken place in Victoriaville, Canada. However, an hour before entering the ring, Bissonnette made the decision to withdraw upon discovering that her opponent is a transgender person.
It was her coach, Denis Gravel, who communicated this information to her and they decided to withdraw. A courageous decision and correct, as they did not have enough information about testosterone levels and other factors that could have tipped the balance of the fight due to physical factors. Katia Bissonnette was present via ZOOM to take part in the traditional WBC “Coffee Tuesday” press conferences, to comment on some aspects of this situation that she experienced.
“On that occasion we decided to withdraw from the fight because it could have been dangerous for me. If we are not fighting on equal terms, there could be serious accidents to regret,” commented Katia.
The President of the WBC, Mauricio Sulaimán, congratulated Katia for her decision and named her Ambassador of the WBC Amateur, in addition to sending her a medal in recognition for her actions.
“In the WBC we are going to continue working for the good of boxing and for equality in fights, in the following graph you can understand what is acceptable and what is not acceptable for us,” commented Mauricio Sulaimán
“The decision that Katia made is the correct one. The WBC is in favor of Non-Discrimination and openness to any minority or ethnic group, so we will continue working for the good of our boxers based on scientific research,” commented Mauricio.
For her part, Katia concluded: “I am happy and grateful with the support of the WBC and very pleased because they truly care about the boxers and their safety.”
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