Jake Paul, an honorary coach of the U.S. Olympic boxing team, sounded off on Thursday.
Paul, the social media influencer and pro boxer, joined a chorus of objectors following an Olympic women’s boxing match that included an Algerian fighter whose gender eligibility has come under question.
The Algerian, Imane Khelif, won her opening bout Thursday after landing a single punch – on the nose of Italy’s Angela Carini.
Soon after, Carini quit − 46 seconds into the bout. She wept in the ring and during interviews with reporters.
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“This is sickening,’’ Paul wrote on his verified X account. “This is a travesty. Doesn’t matter what you believe. This is wrong and dangerous.’’
Paul later offered Carini a fight through MVP Promotions, which he co-founded and has used to promote pro boxers. His older brother, Logan, also took to social media with his own objections, calling it “the purest form of evil.”
The issue of gender eligibility criteria surfaced at the 2023 world championships when Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan both won medals in the women’s competition before tournament officials announced the boxers had failed gender eligibility tests. They were stripped of their medals.
This week the IOC has said Khelif and Yu-Ting have met eligibility criteria to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. But the IOC has not explained what the criteria is other than to say the national passports of both boxers state they are women.
Paul, who spent time with the U.S. boxing team at its headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., as the fighters were preparing for the Games, is expected to arrive here in time for the medal bouts.
