Legendary boxing manager comes out as transgender

The legendary boxing manager and promoter formerly known as Frank Maloney has come out as transgender.

Maloney, 61, is now living as a woman named Kellie and revealed in a Sunday newspaper today (August 1) that she is preparing to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

“I was born in the wrong body and I have always known I was a woman,” Maloney told the Sunday Mirror. “I can’t keep living in the shadows, that is why I am doing what I am today. Living with the burden any longer would have killed me.”

Maloney, most famous for managing Lennox Lewis to ‘Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World’ status in the 1990s, explained that she has been keeping a low profile in recent months as she transitions from male to female.

“I took my Facebook down and my Twitter account so that I could transition peacefully. The suicide rates from the pressure on a transsexual woman are very high and I didn’t want to get caught up in it,” she said. “I hope society will be open-minded. I know I could have done my job in boxing as a female.”

Maloney publicly retired from boxing late last year. She split from her second wife in 2012 and has three daughters, two from her first marriage and one from her second.

In the 2010 General Election, Maloney stood as a UKIP candidate in the East London constituency of Barking. She has been criticised several times in the past for her making comments against the gay community, and opposed same-sex marriage during the 2010 General Election.

Photograph courtesy of the Sunday Mirror

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