Public Project
Transgender Boxer
Pat Manuel is the first U.S. boxer to fight as both a woman and man.
Pat started fighting at the age of 16, but during that time, Pat was a completely different person. “I’m a competitor. I’m always looking to take myself to the next level. I was an excellent female fighter. One of the best in the world,” says Pat Manuel. He was a female fighter who felt trapped in the wrong body. He says, “I was told I was a girl my entire life. But in my head, I was a boy. I never resonated or was familiar at all with wanting to be a girl, a woman. I had no idea that there were any other options.” After overcoming a deep depression, Pat decided to make the change. He says, “I realized I had been lying to myself for so long, I decided at that moment that I didn’t want to live that lie anymore. I wanted to live as I really, truly felt and I wanted to live as a man.” Pat began a long transition and years later, resurfaced and became the first boxer in U.S. history to fight as a woman and then as a man. Pat’s message to any boxers who are hesitant to get in the ring with him? “I say, people, look at me. Do you really think that you’re hitting a girl when you look at me? I’m a man. I walk through this world and people treat me as a man entirely.”
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