Olympic Champion Imane Khelif Has ‘Many Offers’ For Professional Career
Imane Khelif, the Olympic champion caught at the center of a gender storm, has revealed that she has “many offers” for her professional career.
Khelif secured an emphatic welterweight gold medal for Algeria at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games over the summer, but it was not without controversy.
Khelif had been disqualified from the IBA World Boxing Championships in 2023 after failing unspecified eligibility tests pertaining to her gender. However, the IBA had been stripped of its rights to host Olympic boxing and a special unit created by the International Olympic Committee to run boxing in Paris cleared the Algerian to compete.
The spotlight was soon on Khelif in the French capital when second-round opponent Angela Carini quit their bout after just 46 seconds and tearfully claimed she feared for her life. That set in motion the most divisive and controversial story of the Olympics, with several celebrities including author JK Rowling – a prominent voice in women’s rights – Elon Musk, and even Donald Trump weighing into the debate.
Despite the fierce attention, Khelif boxed brilliantly all the way to the gold medal, defeating Yang Liu of China in the final.
The 25-year-old contested one professional bout in November last year when she stopped Thai journeywoman Suwanun Antanai in Singapore. But she is now entering the paid ranks full-time.
“I would like to hold a press conference to share with you my success story with the media family and young women who watch me,” Khelif said. “There is a documentary being prepared about my success story, and it will be shown on international platforms.
“I will soon enter the world of professional boxing, I have many offers. Currently, I have not made up my mind about where I will enter professional boxing. But very soon I will take this step, we as Algerians, would like to see our level in the field of professionalism.”
Khelif, who has also won amateur golds at the African Championships, Arab Games, and Mediterranean Games, will not be short of offers from promoters given her high profile.
Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn, who is one of the biggest promoters in the game, has previously said he would be interested in signing Khelif “if the facts were laid out, and it was a position where there’s no reason why this individual shouldn’t compete as a female.
“One, obviously, [she’s] a talented fighter. Two, commercially, I think [she’s] up to over 2m Instagram followers from 30,000 or something. The answer is yes, but… there’s probably a lot of facts we don’t know around this situation.
“But certainly if a fighter was deemed female, no physical advantage particularly… But again, I haven’t seen anything; I’ve just seen someone say: ‘Yeah, we did this test and that’s how it goes.’ Do we get to see it, or are you just gonna believe that narrative?”
