The controversial boxer is celebrating her professional debut at the site of her biggest controversy

Controversial Algerian boxer Imane Khelif returns to the ring after more than two years. The 2024 Olympic champion will make her professional debut on December 15th. So far she has only been active as an amateur. Khelif takes on Clarida Sarabia in the super welterweight division. The fight is scheduled to take place in Paris.

The Algerian is starting her professional career at the site of her biggest controversy. Her Olympic welterweight victory at the Summer Games in the French capital two and a half years ago was accompanied by a heated gender debate that took on a socio-political dimension. At the time, Khelif was portrayed by critics either as a man or as a trans person - for example by Donald Trump, who spoke of a "man who has changed his gender". Khelif herself had made it clear that she was “not a transsexual”. "I'm a girl. I was raised as a girl, I grew up as a girl," she said in an interview with L'Équipe.

Her fight against Sarabia will now be her first fight since the Olympics controversy. “It's been over two years since I last boxed and I really missed being in the ring,” Khelif said at a press conference with her trainer Kamel Abdesselam and her promoter Yacin Berrabah. "The last few years have been pretty difficult. Now it's time to turn professional and I'll give it my all," Khelif continued.

In an announcement video about the fight on Instagram, she also said that she continued to fight “behind closed doors”. "For this fight has never been just mine. It has been for all who dare to be themselves and for all who refuse to give up."

With her path into professional sport, the question finally arises as to whether the Olympic champion can and wants to defend her title at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The qualification procedure is largely shaped by the amateur world association World Boxing - and the association introduced mandatory gender tests in the summer of 2025. Khelif did not elaborate on the question of starting in LA. “I can’t answer that because I filed a complaint with World Boxing about the gender testing,” she said.

However, her coach Abdesselam stated that Khelif "has no interest in participating in the Olympics again. She is already an Olympic champion." Instead, he was optimistic that his protégé would become a professional world champion “within three to five fights”.