Male Boxer Now Fights Like A Woman

[HT/Foxsports.net]

Boxer Rob Newbiggin is preparing for his final bout, but all of his friends are no longer in his corner.

That's because they've all deserted him since learning of his plans for a sex change, he says.

The 44-year-old Southport resident says he'll soon become "Mercedes," as he admitted in an English tabloid.

"The way The Sun treated my story was the complete opposite to what I expected. Maybe I was being naive, but they made me out to be some kind of freak. I should have just spoken to the Visiter," he told the Southport Visiter.

"I have lost every friend I have ever had in the world in this town."

Newbiggin, who has boxed for 20 years and is a former sparring partner of Ricky Hatton, has said he hopes to continue his career in the women's ranks.

Newbiggin says though he has the physical characteristics of a man, he was born with high levels of estrogen that make his gender identity less than clear.

He says that was the reason his adoptive father pushed him toward boxing to begin with.
"My dad said that I had to act like a man because people wouldn't accept me as anything else, so I started boxing at the YMCA at about the age of 12.

"He was trying to protect me. I didn't find out I was adopted until I was 16 and then about how I was born, but then it all starting making sense to me."

In addition to boxing, Newbiggin says he hopes to work as a model after the transformation is complete.

Photo Courtesy: Southport Visiter