CarnalNation

For 20 years, Rob Newbiggin has fought as a professional boxer. Nothing that he's done  in the ring, though, has ever caused as much excitement among the public as his recent announcement that he's going to undergo sex reassignment surgery and continue a boxing career as a woman.

Something that most people who have seen Newbiggin in the ring never knew about him is that he was born intersexed. When he was born to South American parents in Pennsylvania in 1964, Newbiggin had male physical characteristics, but high levels of estrogen. When his parents abandoned him, he says, "I got moved round all sorts of foster homes and adoption agencies. I ended up in Canada. My adoptive mum and dad emigrated there from Manchester. My dad was in the Canadian Army and they couldn’t have children, they adopted me when I was about two and half years old."

Newbiggin has lived in Southport, England, since he was four. That's ending now because of an article in The Sun that revealed his decision to have reassignment surgery and become Mercedes. "I have lost every friend I ever had in the world in this town," Newbiggin told the Southport Visiter, a local paper. "My friends don't want to know me. I've got people winding their windows down shouting abuse at me while I go for my run—that's why we are having to relocate. I have to think about my kids."

August 14 will be Rob's last boxing match, but he hopes that he'll be able to get a license to fight as a woman. Other career options for after the surgery include modeling and painting. "I have a future in glamour modelling as a female so now I can give my children a secure and safe future," he says. "I would also love to carry on painting and do interior design."