20th July, 2012
Because no story is too strange for boxing, there’s this from Australia where a former women’s world title holder is now no longer a title holder – and possibly might not be a woman.
That’s what officials are wondering about Usanakorn Kokietgym, a 24-year-old from Thailand who lost a unanimous decision last Friday against Susie Ramadan.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the fighter tested positive for three times the amount of testosterone normally found in a woman.
She told officials after the fight that she had not taken steriods, and she refused to take blood test that would have shown whether she is a he, according to the newspaper.
“There is a possibility that she started off as a man and has taken estrogen,” the newspaper quoted Peter Lewis, chairman of the Australian Ringside Medicine Association, as saying.
“Or we could be dealing with a woman who is pumped up on steriods. Or she could be a hermaphrodite, where you have the genes of a male and the body of a female.”
Other medical conditions also could cause her to have such a high level of testosterone, he said.
Despite the fact that this testostorone levels were discovered before the bonut, the fight still went on. Ramadan came out the victor, taking the World Boxing Council female’s bantamweight title.
Kokietgym fell to 11-2 with 10 knockouts, the other defeat coming in 2009 against titleholder Ana Maria Torres.