Patricio Manuel is the first transgender boxer to compete at a professional level and now, a face of Everlast’s “Be First” campaign. The 34-year-old fighter began his career in 2013 as a female boxer.
Everlast has released a promo video for the partnership where Manuel says, “A lot of people in boxing who I talked to they would come to me and say, ‘You could have been one of the greatest female world champions, though you would throw it all away to be yourself.’ And I tell them that’s how bad I felt living that lie … Living your truth is going to hurt, but it’s worth it,”
He continues, “There are so many people that have said that it’s impossible for someone like me, a trans man, to be able to compete against a non-trans man and win and I proved them all wrong that night. I walked out of that fight with my first victory and it was a victory greater than just having my successful pro debut. I think that it challenged a lot of people’s assumptions about what people like me are able to do.”
According to Page-Six, Everlast will also be working with Jinji Martinez, the only above-knee amputee fighter to beat an able-bodied fighter.
