READY FOR CRUNCH TALKS
World Boxing ‘con dent’ they can become a reliable partner for the IOC as they build their case for the sport keeping its place at the 2028 Olympics
WORLD BOXING say they are ready to talk to the International Olympic Committee about the future of amateur boxing at the Games. President Boris van der Vorst and Secretary General Simon Toulson held a press conference last week on the first anniversary of World Boxing forming as a rival governing body to IBA.
The IOC banned IBA from running Olympic boxing events over concerns about their finances, their ties to Russia, and the controversial refereeing and judging of bouts. The IOC is organising events for this year’s Paris Games, with a final world qualifier set for Bangkok in May. But they have warned they will need a new partner governing body in place if there is to be boxing at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, setting a deadline of early next year.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this month in Switzerland upheld the IOC’S decision to ban IBA from running Olympic boxing and Toulson says “lots of countries” have been in touch with World Boxing since that announcement was made.
World Boxing currently has 28 members and Toulson said: “We are talking with 25-30 countries and there are another group of countries behind them. People have been asking: ‘How do we join?’”
Van Der Vorst said World Boxing are “on track” to prove to the IOC that they should work with them ahead of Los Angeles 2028.
He added: “World Boxing is the only way forward for Olympic-style boxing. It’s very important national federations are applying for World Boxing in the coming weeks and months.”
World Boxing membership covers all five continents and they have staged competitions in USA, Finland, Czech Republic and the Netherlands. They have also run World Boxing Cup events in Cologne and Sheffield, the latter held at the English Institute of Sport in January.
Van der Vorst reported there was positive feedback from the four-day event in Sheffield.
The hope is 25-30 countries will compete at World Boxing’s inaugural World Under-19 Championship in November.
Van der Vorst and Toulson confirmed they have yet to contact the IOC about the future of the sport, but van der Vorst added: “We are ready to start conversations with the IOC to become an official partner. Now is the right time to start formal conversations. With the quality of federations within World Boxing, I’m pretty confident we can become a reliable partner for the IOC. We can start having a dialogue with them.”
Toulson said: “We are ready to say [to the IOC]: ‘You can trust us and you can work with us.’ We need to step up now.”
He added: “We want to get as many members on board before we approach
the IOC” and revealed there was no minimum number required by the IOC before they will appoint a partner.
“The IOC have said we should have ‘a number of federations,’” said Toulson. “There’s no benchmark. We believe we have enough to start discussions with the IOC. We can start having a dialogue with them. We would be looking to get 50 [members] by the end of the year.”
Toulson said that figure would be “almost at double figures” should prospective members be included.
There were questions about countries that have yet to join World Boxing.
Mongolia and the Philippines are the only two countries from Asia who are currently members, and Nigeria the only African country.
Van der Vorst admitted he is “pretty surprised” that the Ukraine has yet to apply for membership. Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko are among those who have previously struck gold for the Ukraine at the Olympics.
Van der Vorst added that the training of referees and judges is set to start in the coming weeks.
He said it will start in the United States this month and the Czech Republic in June.
Toulson said World Boxing are looking to “reduce manipulation in the sport”, and van der Vorst added: “The best boxer’s hand must be raised after the bout. The culture of refereeing and judging is changing.”
Van der Vorst added: “There’s a lot of work to be done. We don’t want any short cuts. We believe we will have things in place for the start of 2025.”