What a mess. The World Championships in Liverpool were supposed to show World Boxing could run the sport better than the IBA ever did. Instead, fight week\u2019s turned into a circus before a punch has even been thrown. Olympic champion Imane Khelif is barred. The entire French women\u2019s team is barred. And the reason? Gender test chaos, missed deadlines, and rules no one can agree on.<\/p>\n
Imane Khelif, 26, hasn\u2019t fought since winning gold at Paris 2024, beating China\u2019s Yang Liu 5-0 in the welterweight final. That should\u2019ve cemented her legacy, but the noise about her eligibility never stopped. The IBA banned her in 2023, claiming she failed gender eligibility checks. The IOC stepped in back then, called that ruling \u201ca sudden and arbitrary decision\u201d, and cleared her to fight in Paris \u2014 where she and Taiwan\u2019s Lin Yu-ting both walked away with gold. Now World Boxing has swung the other way, demanding mandatory sex tests across the board.<\/p>\n
Khelif Speaks, World Boxing Doubles Down<\/strong><\/p>\n Khelif\u2019s stance hasn\u2019t changed. After Paris she said: \u201cI am fully qualified to take part in this competition \u2014 I am a woman. I was born a woman, I\u2019ve lived as a woman and I\u2019ve competed as a woman. There\u2019s no doubt that there are enemies of success, and that gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n