Since becoming the first transgender man to box professionally in the U.S. in 2018, Patricio “Cacahuate” Manuel has yet to return to the ring.
Manuel recently opened up about that struggle — and about his rise in the sport — in an in-depth ESPN profile in which he vowed to fight again.
“I waited six years before,” he said. “I’ll wait whatever it takes.”
In December 2018, Manuel won his professional debut — a 12-minute bout with super-featherweight Hugo Aguilar. That memorable slugfest would prove to be his last for two and a half years and counting. Although USA Boxing has permitted him to compete at the professional level, opponents can still decline to spar with anyone they choose based on personal bias.
As ESPN noted, Manuel has struggled to find potential competitors who are willing to fight him after they learn that he is a trans man. The emergence of COVID-19 — and the venue closures that came with it — have also presented logistical challenges, effectively leading to a lost year for many boxers.
“I’m not getting younger,” Manuel, now 35, ruefully told the sports news outlet.
Since Manuel’s professional debut, athletics have become a high-profile playing field for trans excellence — and also a target for discriminatory legislation. A nationwide barrage of anti-trans bills have been lobbed at young trans athletes, aiming to restrict their participation on school sports teams. That issue resonates with Manuel on a deeply personal level.
“They are attacking the most vulnerable population out there by going after children and dismissing the autonomy and agency of children to be able to say, ‘This is who I am,’” he told ESPN.
In fact, as Manuel detailed in the interview, sports have played a crucial role in the emergence of his own identity.
“I wanted to feel capable in my body,” he said of his foray into martial arts in middle school, which came during a time of growing gender dysphoria. That quickly led him to the ring, where his first encounter with a set of mitts was getting clocked too hard in the head by a coach.
“That was when I fell in love,” the Los Angeles native recalled.
Manuel told ESPN that his come-up as a boxer coincided with developing a closer connection to his body, even as the demands of the sport took a toll on his career. Prior to his transition, when women boxers were invited to compete in the London Olympics for the first time in 2012, Manuel’s hopes of qualifying were dashed by a shoulder injury.
Despite the sound of his surname, Manuel is not Latinx, but Black and Irish American. He spoke about the complex dynamics of transitioning as a Black man. “I can’t disconnect my Blackness from my gender identity,” he said. “Who I am, how I have moved through this world when I was identified as a quote-unquote ‘light-skinned, mixed-race Black girl,’ is a very different experience than a light-skinned, mixed-race Black man.”
While he’s eager to take on more professional bouts, Manuel has also found contentment reflecting on his journey in the sport and where it has led him personally.
“Just thinking about myself as a child, I already knew who I was, but society told me I didn’t know,” he told ESPN. “No, I was right all along. I realized I have done something so many people struggle to do, and it has nothing to do with boxing or breaking barriers. I came back to myself … I found my way back and I found myself.”
“And not only do I like myself,” he continued, “but I really love myself. And so many people that can have all of the quote-unquote success in the world, and they still don’t have that. I feel like I’ve made it.”
Even as trans athletes like Manuel find themselves under fire, they are continuing to find ways to thrive, setting new precedents and achieving new benchmarks of success. A record number of trans and queer pros are qualifying for this summer’s Olympic Games, and making names for themselves in professional leagues, too.
For a fighter as accustomed to perseverance as Manuel, this long waiting period for his next opponent is just one more obstacle to overcome. Quitting, he told ESPN, is not in his vocabulary.
“Waiting for my first fight, waiting for my first amateur fight, for my first pro fight, all of these cancellations, all of these injuries, people being like, when are you going to give it up?” he said. “It never crossed my mind that I could give it up.”
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