IABA joins breakaway ‘World Boxing’ group
By Chris McNulty
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) has joined a group of breakaway national federations aiming to save the sport’s Olympic status.
‘World Boxing’ was officially launched at a lunchtime press briefing on Thursday.
An Interim Executive Board of the new body comprises representatives from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Philippines and Sweden.
World Boxing launched with five key pillars: keeping boxing at the heart of the Olympic movement; ensuring that the interests of boxers are put first; delivering sporting integrity and fair competition; creating a competition structure designed in the best interests of the boxers; operating according to the strongest governance standards and transparent financial management.
Ireland was one of ten countries to boycott the recent women’s world championships in New Delhi, India and next month’s men’s world championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan both of which are organised by the International Boxing Association (IBA).
In 2019, the International Olympic Committees (IOC) banned the IBA because of issues over governance, finance and questionable refereeing and judging system.
World Boxing will be based in Switzerland and a budget of €900,000 is expected to be ratified at its first congress later in the year.
Tyson Lee, the president of USA Boxing, and Matthew Hold, the chief executive of GB Boxing, are among the leading figures in the new body.
British boxer Lauren Price, the middleweight gold medalist at the Olympic Games in 2021, and Richard Torrez Jr, the US fighter who was the light-heavyweight silver medalist in Tokyo, have been confirmed on the World Boxing board as athlete representatives.
World Boxing will seek recognition from the IOC but this complex process could take anything up to two years and the IOC will run boxing for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
World Boxing will be based in Switzerland and a budget of €900,000 is expected to be ratified at its first Congress later in the year.
It is expected that World Boxing will allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals, which has been recommended by the IOC, who the new body wants to meet with ‘in the next month or two’.
World Boxing said: “A comprehensive competition calendar is being developed that will feature a series of new tournaments designed to create longevity and appeal to potential broadcast and commercial partners.
British boxer Lauren Price, the middleweight gold medalist at the Olympic Games in 2021, and Richard Torrez Jr, the US fighter who was the light-heavyweight silver medalist in Tokyo, have been confirmed on the World Boxing board as athlete representatives.
The IABA has said that it shares the principles of World Boxing and President Gerry O’Mahony said the sport needed ‘a global governing body which places the Olympic movement at its core’.
He said: “The Irish Athletic Boxing Association remains committed to its view that all members deserve a level playing field in tournaments run to the highest possible standard by an organization which has their welfare, their futures, and their sport at its heart. All IABA boxers deserve the Olympic dream, and deserve to hold the hope and potential for climbing atop that podium.”
Interim CEO John Nangle said: “We advised our members in recent months that decisions lie ahead – those decisions will be in the hands of our over 350 clubs, and will guide how Irish boxing develops at home, and on which international stage IABA boxers take to the ring.”
Noting Ireand’s withdrawal from the IBA’s Championships earlier this year, IABA Interim Chair, Tom Geraghty said: “Since that time, the IBA has not engaged in meaningful governance reform or implemented the recommendations of its own experts on fiscal responsibility, fair play, and inclusion.”
In December, the IOC sent a ‘letter of concern’ to the IBA, saying that the ‘drastic change of culture requested’ has ‘not been implemented’
“The issue is not about the sport of boxing or boxers, but IBA and its practices and activities,” the IOC said at the time, reiterating that the sport was in danger of being off the programme for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The rift deepened further when the IOC indicated that further decisions may ‘have to include the cancellation of boxing for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.’
Gazprom, Russia’s state energy supplier, renewed a multi-million euro deal with the IBA and Umar Kremlev, its Russian President, threatened that permission wouldn’t be given to its personnel, including boxers, to be involved in tournaments they weren’t involved in.
At the IBA Extraordinary Congress in September, Boris van der Vorst was prevented from standing against Kremlev – despite a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling to the contrary.
The IBA further raised the ire of the IOC when removing a ban on boxers from Russia and Belarus competing under the flags of their countries.
Just this week, the IBA called on the IOC to annul the 2023 European Games’ status as a boxing qualifier for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“The IOC recognised a continental qualifier for Europe, which totally contradicts the IOC’s stance on Russian and Belarusian athletes, as these athletes are not able to compete at the European Games 2023 and will be denied the opportunity to qualify for Paris 2024,” the IBA.
“For this reason, the European Games 2023 can no longer remain an IOC recognised qualifier for Paris 2024 and must be annulled to counteract the discriminatory actions taken by the EOC against the recommendations made at the last IOC Executive Board Meeting.”
