Female boxer Dr. Katia Bissonnette withdrew from a championship match in Quebec after she learned that her opponent, Mya Walmsley, is a biological man who was competing under the guise of being a woman, Reduxx reported.
Supposedly, the Provincial Golden Glove Championship took place on October 27 and 29 and was a competition that aimed to “give novices the opportunity to qualify for the Canadian Championship” next month.
Bissonnette told Reduxx:
I came down from my hotel room to head towards the room where all the boxers were warming up. My coach suddenly took me aside and told me he received information by text message, which he had then validated, that my opponent was not a woman by birth. We did not have any other additional information.
As Reduxx noted, Bissonnette said that Walmsley had “absolutely no history of fighting against women in Canadian tournaments and, honestly, he has an incredibly masculine appearance according to images that have circulated online.
Walmsley is originally from Australia, where he would’ve had to compete as a male. But in Canada, Walmsley was permitted to compete with the gender he identifies with.
When Bissonnette quit the tournament and came forward, Walmsley was pissed. According to Reduxx, this was his response:
Rather than turning to me, my coach or the Quebec Olympic Boxing Federation for more information, she decided to turn directly to the media to out me. This kind of behavior puts athletes at risk of being excluded or receiving personal attacks based on hearsay…I am afraid that this type of accusation could eventually be used to delegitimize athletes in the women’s category, and justify arbitrary and invasive regulations.
The funny thing is, Walmsley won the match anyways because the competition couldn’t find a replacement for Bissonnette in the super welterweight (165 pound) category. It seems like these people often win by default. Being a “professional victim” has its pros.
In the Reduxx article, Bissonnette explained how unfair it is to have men in women's sports, and to make matters worse, how unsafe it is. She referenced a 2020 strength study from the University of Utah which indicated that “a male blow has 163% more impact than a women’s, even adjusted for weight,” and among the group studied “the weakest man remains physically superior to the strongest woman.”
Bissonnette also expressed that she’s worried about the future for women in contact sports, like boxing, if they’re constantly faced in fights with men. She worded it best when she said, “Women shouldn’t have to bear the physical and psychological risks brought by a man’s decisions regarding his personal life and identity. There should be two categories: biological male and female.”
Mic drop, queen.
