It was heartbreaking to watch Angela Carini at the Olympics. In the first round of the Women’s 66 kg competition in the Olympics, she was defeated by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif in just under forty-five seconds. The Italian broke down in the ring after she decided not to continue after being walloped twice by the Algerian, facing an early exit.

Since the incident, the boxing community has been up in arms claiming the Algerian is biologically male, and therefore should not have been allowed to participate in the women’s category. Reportedly, the boxer was disqualified from the Women’s World Boxing Championship last year for failing testosterone and gender eligibility tests.

Jake Paul was among many who condemned the International Olympic Commission (IOC) for allowing Khelif to participate in this year’s Olympics. “This is sickening. This is a travesty. Doesn’t matter what you believe. This is wrong and dangerous,” Paul wrote on X. On top of that, he invited Carini to fight on his promotion’s undercard, to showcase her talent on a “fair platform”.  

“Angela Carini has an open invitation to fight in an event @MostVpromotions when she will be ready,” he wrote on X (translated from Italian)

“I would love to offer you to fight on an MVP undercard, to show the world your talents on a fair platform and not against a man.” Paul’s tweet on X read.

Carani stated in one of her media interviews that the second punch on her nose “hurt too much” and she decided to call it quits. “I went to the ring to honour my father. I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this,” The Guardian quoted Carani as saying.

Carini wanted to win a medal to honor her late father who died last year. Nevertheless, a “heartbroken” Carini now leaves it up to the authorities to take appropriate action but wants the world to know that she fought with honor, and didn’t want to give up. “It’s not a defeat for me – for me if you go in the ring you have already won, regardless of everything else. I’m not here to judge. It’s not up to me to say if it’s fair or not fair. I just did my job. I managed to leave with my head held high,” she said.

Meanwhile, the IOC informed that Khelif complied with the entry regulations, and she has been “competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category”. Additionally, the organization accused the International Boxing Association (IBC) of changing the rules midway which eventually barred Khelif, and Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting from participating in the 2023 Women’s World Boxing Championship. In a statement, the IOC pointed out that the backlash that both the boxers are facing is based on an “arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure”.

As things stand, there is no clear proof that both athletes are biological males apart from the findings of the IBA which reported last year that both boxers’ chromosome test results returned an XY (male) pairing.

Meanwhile, the Algerian Olympic Committee (COA) has hit back at the relentless criticism and the slander that their athlete has been receiving on social media

Is the attack on Khelif a targeted campaign?

It must be noted that Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting have never identified themselves as biologically male, transgender, or intersex, and have always competed as females in previous competitions. Certain media outlets have reported that Khelif suffers from a rare genetic condition called Swyer Syndrome where the said person has XY (male) chromosomes but a normal female reproductive system.

On that note, the Algerian Olympic Committee condemned “the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete.” The organization further emphasized that Khelif is being subjected to “baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets”, and termed the attack on her character as “unfair”.

As things stand, Khelif has progressed to the next round where she will be facing Hungarian boxer Luca Anna Hamori. Meanwhile, Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting will start her campaign in the Olympics today, facing Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.

Nonetheless, what do you think of Jake Paul’s offer to Angela Carini? Should she take the offer to fight on the undercard of MVP? Let us know in the comment section below.