Even by the bizarre standards of boxing's tales of the unexpected, the news that the veteran fight promoter Frank Maloney has undergone gender re-assignment and from now on is a woman known as Kellie Maloney ranks among the biggest shocks the sport has delivered. You could have knocked the fight fraternity down with a feather, let alone a right-hander.

I suppose the only more gob-smacking situation might have been if it was one of boxing's other famous Franks, Bruno or Warren, who had changed sex. Or that in the United States Don King was now Donna King.

Some very odd things happen in boxing - probably more so than in any other sport. But nothing could have prepared us for the sight in a Sunday tabloid newspaper of one of the toughest figures in the most macho business of all wearing a blonde wig and a dress and declaring: "I have always know that I was a woman."

Kellie Maloney, formerly Frank Maloney, said she has always known she was a woman
©Getty Images



I confess I have not been as stunned since one lunchtime back in 1971 when a group of us attending the first Ali-Frazier fight were asked at the weigh-in by the wonderfully laconic PR of Madison Square Garden, John X F Condon, if we wanted to meet the screen superstar Burt Lancaster, one of the ringside commentators.

Burt Lancaster? One of my celluloid heroes. Eagerly we agreed and as we approached  the iconic butch idol of Trapeze, From Here to Eternity and countless other smash hit movies turned towards us, he was wearing mascara, lipstick and his cheeks were rouged. "Hi Guys," he simpered.  "Don't ya just love their muscles!"

One of our number, the late Cockney commentator Reg Gutteridge gasped: "F*** me! He's an iron!" (iron hoof - rhyming slang for poof).

Some weeks later Lancaster, thrice-married father of five, was arrested in Hollywood wearing women's clothes and kit and it was revealed he was bisexual and a transvestite.

Thankfully times and attitudes have changed, which may be why Kellie Maloney's  "coming out" has been received with far more sympathy and understanding than opprobrium.

I had got wind of the story on Saturday morning and phoned Maloney to ask if the rumours were true.

The response was polite but guardedly negative. "I don't know anything about it," was the quietly repeated answer.

From the the hesitant tone I guessed there was something in it and subsequently, after the story broke exclusively in the Sunday Mirror, Maloney texted me to say: "Sorry for lying to you but I had no choices they (the Sunday Mirror) did not want me to say anything. I have been living in hell for years but finally found inner peace but I do miss boxing. It was what kept me going."

Kellie Maloney spoke exclusively to the Sunday Mirror about her gender re-assignment ©Sunday Mirror



As it happened, a disillusioned Maloney had walked away from boxing after 30 years last October following the brutal scrapping of his deal with Sky TV and the shock demise of his previously unbeaten Liverpool heavyweight David Price, one of several ex-Olympic stars with whom he had been associated. Price was ko'd twice in succession by ageing American Tony Thompson.

In the ensuing months it has transpired that the cheekly chappie from  Del Boy country in Peckham south London, has undergone hormone  treatment and therapy to change, at 61, from Frank to Kellie.

No-one had seen this coming, and we could be excused for wrongly thinking it was another outrageous publicity stunt pulled by someone who has been a master of this particular art.

Diminutive as he is at 5ft 4in, the ex-apprentice jockey and one time prospective Catholic priest has always been one of boxing's larger than  life characters. But the fact he was haunted by demons over a lifelong identity crisis was something no-one guessed.

I had always known him as very much a ladies' man-twice married, a father of three daughters, and a grandfather.

But his secret life and desires apparently stretched back well before he promoted the Olympic champion Lennox Lewis, in the early 1990s, taking him to the world title - the first British heavyweight champion in a Little and Large doubt act with Maloney always at his side in his trademark Union Jack suit.

Lennox Lewis (right) has said he respects the decision of his former promoter, now known as Kellie Maloney ©Getty Images



When he heard the news Lewis said: "I was just as shocked as anyone at the news about my former promoter and my initial thought was that it was a wind up.

"The great thing about life, and boxing, is that, day to day, you never know what to expect. This world we live in isn't always cut and dried or black and white, and coming from the boxing fraternity, I can only imagine what a difficult decision this must be.

"However, having taken some time to read Kellie's statements, I understand better what she, and others in similar situations are going through. I think that all people should be allowed to live their lives in a way that brings them harmony and inner peace.

"I respect Kellie's decision and say that if this is what brings about true happiness in her life, then so be it. #LiveAndLetLive."

In the past five years Maloney has suffered a ringside heart attack,  a suicide attempt, the death of his father and the discovery of arguably his last great fighting acquisition, Irishman Darren Sutherland, like Price an Olympic bronze medallist from Beijing, whom he found hanged in a south London bedsit in 2009. Maloney never really recoverd from the shock.

One of the most surprising aspects in the strange affair - almost as jaw-dropping as Maloney's own sexual transition - is the reaction from people in boxing. You would have expected it to be one of cyncism, disbelief or total derision.

But no. What Lewis has said is typical of a sport which, though intrinsically male-dominated, did not turn a hair when Nicola Adams, the first woman to win and Olympic boxing gold medal, confirmed she was bisexual, a revelation that has not harmed her career one iota.

Boxing has been both supportive and understanding. Certainly more so   than had Maloney been a famous football figure. Imagine the reaction from football fans had Sir Alex Ferguson announced he was now Dame Alexis Ferguson, or Wayne Rooney had become Waynetta!

Actually,Maloney has always been a Millwall supporter. At York Hall or any of boxing's other famous arenas, Kellie Maloney probably would receive a standing ovation should she walk into the arena.

Frank Maloney, pictured celebrating David Price's win over Audley Harrison in 2012, is being supported by the boxing community ©Getty Images



I doubt the reaction would be quite the same down at The Den if  Maloney, in high heels and a skirt, was spotted in the stands.

Inevitably there are jokes, smutty and otherwise, doing the rounds on social media. Someone tweeted that Kellie was back in business as a promoter and had made a purse offer - a Luis Vuitton.

But Maloney is big enough, in temperament if not stature, to rise above them.

Maloney now wants to return to the boxing scene as Kellie, advising young fighters. Why not? If she also wanted to to be a promoter again there would be no problem. Seven women already hold Board of Control promoters' licences.

As well as spending 30 years in boxing, Maloney has also dabbled in politics, standing for Ukip in Barking at the 2010 General Election and in the London Mayoral election in 2004, when he finished fourth to Ken Livingstone.

During his campaign for London Mayor in 2004, Frank Maloney was accused of making homophobic remarks ©Getty Images



Yet I once reminded him that during his Mayoral election bid he was accused of making remarks that were deemed homophobic. His response was interesting in the light of what has now transpired. "I don't think gays do a lot for society...I don't want to see gay policemen walking hand in hand...I'd ban gay pride marches. Yeah, I said certain things about gays but to quote [US promoter] Bob Arum, 'then I was lying, today I am telling the truth'.

"I have looked at everything I said and I know it will come out of the woodwork, but I was inexperienced then and I suppose I just wanted to make people know I was there. It was very silly and in boxing, of course, as a promoter, you often say something outrageous to get publicity. What I said was wrong, I don't have a problem with gay people but I hold my hands up and say I am against same-sex marriages and same-sex parents, I won't change my view on that.

"If you're gay, you're gay. It's not an issue with me. Those remarks were a little bit stupid. I've grown up since then. Once I get out there and start talking to people, they will get to know me because I am quite a warm personality. I will argue my corner and I love solving problems."

That was then. This is now. As we say, times change, as do people. We await the book, the film and the TV spin-offs.

"I've not had a brain transplant," says Maloney." I'm like a chocolate bar and all I am doing is changing the outer wrapping that God got wrong at birth."

Sex changes may be unprecedented among boxing personalities, but there have been a number of gay boxers, including two world champions Emile Griffith and Orlando Cruz, and it has been estimated that at least two dozen of the competitors in the 2012 Olympics were gay.

And after the Gay Gordons in Glasgow, the Gay Games, featuring 7,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes, have begun in Cleveland, Ohio.

Neither of the openly gay English Commonwealth Games gold medallists - Nicola Adams and Tom Daley - are competing. Nor is ex-Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe, the latest big name to "come out" attending, as he did in Glasgow as a TV pundit.

But America's highest-profile gay athlete, footballer Michael Sam of the St Louis Rams, will feature in a video urging people to take part in the groundbreaking study into homophobia in sport.

Like Kellie - nee Frank - Maloney, the world of sport is changing. For the better.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.