Olympics gender row boxer Imane Khelif will debut as a professional boxer in December – with the goal of winning a world title.
The Algerian fighter will take on women’s boxer Clarida Sarabia, 21, in Paris – more than two years after being dragged into a controversy at the Olympics there.
Khelif has a naturally high level of testosterone – though takes medication to reduce it – and was engulfed in a gender row at the 2024 Games after failing a gender eligibility test with the International Boxing Association in 2023.
‘It’s been over two years since I last boxed, and I’ve really missed being in the ring,’ said Khelif.
‘The last couple of years have been quite difficult. The time has come to turn professional, and I’m going to give it my all.’
The 27-year-old also said: ‘Days became weeks, weeks became months. I waited, doubted. But deep inside, the fire never died. Behind closed doors, I kept fighting.
Olympics gender row boxer Imane Khelif will debut as a professional boxer in December
‘Because this fight was never only mine. It was for everyone who dared to be, for everyone who refused to give up.’
Khelif’s coach, Kamel Abdesselam, said that Khelif could challenge for a world title within three to five professional fights.
The 27-year-old also hopes to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, but must take a sex test to compete in the women’s category after that was universally mandated by the International Olympic Committee.
Khelif won welterweight gold at the last Olympics.
A fellow gender row boxer, Lin Yu-ting, who claimed the featherweight title in Paris, was cleared earlier this year to return to World Boxing events after a sex test, casting doubt on the fairness of the controversy over her gender.
Khelif has not competed since sex tests were introduced by World Boxing in 2025, taking the fight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a bid to compete without being tested, for which a hearing is yet to be held.
But the fighter is happy to take a sex test for the next Olympics, saying to CNN in February: ‘Of course, I would accept doing anything I’m required to do to participate in competitions.
‘They should protect women, but they need to pay attention that while protecting women, they shouldn’t hurt other women.’
Last year, Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’. The United States President referred to Khelif as a ‘male boxer’ who had ‘transitioned’ and ‘stole the women’s gold medal’ by competing in Paris.
The President doubled down on calling Khelif a ‘male’ during a speech to Republican lawmakers in January.
Trump has previously claimed that Khelif is transgender. Our current understanding is that that is incorrect. The boxer was, as far as we know, born female, but is believed to possess the SRY gene, which is associated with male sex chromosomes.
‘I respect everyone, and I respect Trump because he’s the president of the United States,’ Khelif told L’Equipe. ‘Trump cannot distort the truth. I’m not trans, I’m a girl.
‘I was raised as a girl, I grew up as a girl, people in my village have always known me as a girl.’
