World Boxing, a new international boxing federation, has been launched this afternoon.
he primary goal of World Boxing is to secure the sport’s future at the Olympic Games. But the move will be interpreted as a damaging split in international amateur boxing.
Currently boxing is not included in the programme for the Los Angeles Games in 2028 due to a bitter despite between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), the current governing body.
World Boxing has no member countries at the present. But it has set up an interim Executive Board comprising of representatives from the national federations of the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden, Germany and New Zealand.
Between now and its first Congress which is scheduled for November it will be overseen on a day-to-day basis by interim secretary general, Simon Toulson, who previously led the International Canoe Federation (ICF) and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
Two Tokyo Olympic boxing medallists, middleweight champion Lauren Price from Wales and US super heavyweight silver medallist Richard Torrez Jr. will also sit on the interim board.
According to Mr Toulson World Boxing has a budget of €900,000 raised through donations and sponsorship which will be sufficient to sustain it for the remainder of this year.
He declined to comment on whether the Olympic Federation of Ireland had made a significant contribution to the start-up.
The OFI is an enthusiastic backer of the new project. The chief executive of USA Boxing Mike McAtee, a key driver of the project, had talks in Dublin last month with OFI officials.
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association, who were the second nation after the USA to announce a boycott of the IBA women’s World championships in India, is virtually certain to link up with the new organisation.
According to a statement from the IABA the final decision will rest with their affiliated clubs: “In February, the IABA Board of Directors and Central Council took the decision not to contest the IBA Women’s World Championships or the IBA Men’s World Championships, as the IBA’s practices and activities are not of the standard required to secure our sport’s future.
“Since that time, the IBA has not engaged in meaningful governance reform or implemented the recommendations,” said Tom Geraghty, acting Chairman of the Board of Directors.
World Boxing will not be organizing an elite World championship this year but will host a world junior championship in 2024 with the first elite event likely to take place in 2025. Legally countries can affiliate to both World Boxing and the IBA.
It its mission statement World Boxing state they will seek recognition from the IOC and plan to work constructively and collaboratively to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s ongoing place on the Olympic competition programme.
“World Boxing will put boxers’ interests at the centre of decision-making and its ways of working will be underpinned by rigorous governance practices designed to create a sustained and inclusion global structure where boxers from around the world can compete knowing that the integrity of the sport is guaranteed and competition is fair,” according to a statement.
Apart from the interim general secretary and the chief executive of USA Boxing others who answered media questions at the virtual press conference included Matthew Holt, chief executive of GB Boxing, Tyson Lee, President of USA Boxing and Boris van der Vorst, President of the Dutch Boxing Federation.
According to Mike McAtee the new organization does not envisage having any difficult recruiting referee, judges and technical officials to work at their championships events.
The IBA had threatened to discipline officials if they accepted an invitation from the IOC to official at the forthcoming Olympic qualifying tournaments
He pointed out that under Swiss law (both the IBA and World Boxing are registered in Switzerland) the IBA does not have the authority to do this as officials belong to national federations.
The involvement of Boris Van der Vorst in the new organization is significant as he was twice prevented from standing in presidential elections against the current Russian born President of IBA Umar Kremlev.
But for the new organisation to gain credibility they need a significant number of countries, particularly those with established reputations in boxing such as Cuba, China, India and Uzbekistan to join them.
However, these counties all have close political links with Russia, and it remains to be seen whether they will jump ship.
At the very least it needs all the countries in the EU as well as Canada, Australia and Ukraine to link up with them.