Former women’s boxing champion makes comeback as man after transitioning
Shindo Go, the former WBC female flyweight champion, made his debut as a male boxer in a semi-official test fight against Katsuyuki Ishibashi on Sunday. Despite a strong showing from Go, Ishibashi won the fight by unanimous decision after three bantamweight rounds of three minutes.
Go powered through the first two rounds, generally keeping Ishibashi on his heels before the third period. In the final round, Ishibashi caught Go unfocused with a left hook and dropped the latter to the mat.
Although the 36-year-old got up quickly, he lost the round 10-8 and eventually the match. After the fight, the JBC’s Tsuyoshi Yasukochi said that because Go received his license as a male boxer, the JBC should “consider licensing him” as well.
Because the match wasn’t official, the loss won’t count toward Go’s overall win-loss record, which currently stands at 16-4 with 11 knockouts before he transitioned.
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Before transitioning to a male in 2017, Go was the WBC female flyweight champion after making his debut in 2008 against former amateur Japanese champion Masae Akitaya, losing via unanimous decision. After losing his debut, Go won 10 straight fights from 2008 to 2012 before going up against Mariana Juarez for the WBC World Flyweight title.
Go lost to Juarez via split decision. Still, the boxer was able to win the title after beating Renata Szebeledi in 2013, via unanimous decision. This was during a stretch where Go won four straight.
The champion lost his title against Arely Mucino in 2014 and would win the next two contests. In his final fight in June 2016, Go lost to Naoko Fujioka in a unanimous decision.
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In July 2017, Go – formerly known as Megumi Hashimoto – was reported to have had sex rearrangement surgery, changed his family registry and planned to retire as a result. In October of the same year, Go announced his first retirement, though he kept the door open for a potential comeback as a male fighter.
When Go announced his intention to fight male boxers after transitioning, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman explained that it is a “very delicate” situation because of the differences between male and female bodies. “Women are 80 percent or so more susceptible to suffer a concussion than men and all symptoms are much higher and more dangerous,” Sulaiman told World Boxing News in 2017.
After presenting formulas to explain why women should not be allowed to fight men, Sulaiman did say that the organization will look into the situation and take it as it goes. “The WBC is looking into this topic and until there is no medical justification, the WBC cannot allow Shindo Go to fight versus a man,” Sulaiman said.
Fast forward six years later to 2023 and Go has been able to fulfill the goal of competing as a male fighter. Though the fight was a semi-official test, it proved that Go can go toe to toe with a man for three full rounds.
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