Rob Newbiggin, 44, is a British boxer who is being driven out of his town after revealing he will undergo a sex-change operation. Rob Newbiggin will fight as a woman, calling himself “Mercedes”. Read more on Rob Newbiggin below!
Rob Newbiggin will begin his life as a woman following his sex-change operation. But Newbiggin says, “I have lost every friend I have ever had in the world in this town” after a tabloid revealed his plans.
Newbiggin says the tabloid made him out to be “some kind of freak.”
“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,” Newbiggin said.
Rob Newbiggin’s wife Emma totally supports her husband, and will stand by him through the sex change. “Emma has been my rock,” Newbiggin said. “She understands what I’m going through and we are going to stay together.”
Newbiggin feels it won’t matter if he is seen as mother or father, as long as he is a good parent “And I think I’ll be a better parent as a woman. I haven’t provided enough financial stability in my male life for my children.”
Newbiggin is scheduled to fight Michael Gomez on August 14 in his last male fight, but following this fight he will apply for a female license from the Boxing Board of Control so that he can continue his 20-year boxing career.
Rob is also an artist at Dobbies Garden Centre on Bentham’s Way. He is well known for his ural entitled ‘The Scene in the Park’ in Botanic Gardens which raised thousands of pounds for Derian House Children’s Hospice, with people paying to have their faces featured in the mural.
With his hormone replacement therapy well under way, Rob hopes to complete the transformation within six months.
From Liverpool’s Echo:
The 44-year-old father-of-three said he was born with the physical characteristics of a man, but had high levels of oestrogen in his body and was put up for adoption.
He moved to Southport with his new family at the age of four.
Rob said: “My dad said I had to act like a man because people would not accept me as anything else, so I started boxing at the YMCA at about the age of 12.
“He was trying to protect me. I did not find out I was adopted until I was 16 and then about how I was born, but then it all starting making sense. From the age of 10, I was dressing up and watching girls – I preferred girls’ company.
“I have never drunk alcohol and while all my friends were going out chasing girls and getting drunk, I was a bit of a recluse.
“My dad started steering me into painting, which I enjoyed. I was still boxing, but I was not into all that bodybuilding stuff.
“Most men want to bulk up but I was relieved when I lost weight.
“I have lost two stone since last year but I am keeping up my strength for my fight against Michael Gomez.
“It will be over six rounds at the Ritz in Manchester on August 14.
“It will be my last fight as a man, but I am hoping to get a licence to fight as a female.”
Rob, who is married to Emma, 27, now plans to leave Southport to start a new life as Mercedes.
He added: “At the end of it, I will be the woman I want to be, but it will be a huge sacrifice because I’m going to have to leave.
“I cannot stay here now – I thought people would be more supportive, like Emma, but I was wrong.”
Over the next year, Rob will have to take female hormones and undergo a psychological assessment before the surgery.
He said: “While I am going through the transformation my kids will not see me as Mercedes.
