AIBA to control amateur, pro boxing

Leroy Brown, Sunday Gleaner Writer

The International Boxing Association (AIBA), the organisation that now controls amateur boxing worldwide, has announced that it intends to change the entire structure of the sport of boxing, by controlling not only Olympic (amateur) boxing, but also all professional boxing worldwide.

These plans were announced by the president of AIBA, Chin-Kuo Wu, as a follow-up to another announcement he made a few days before, that AIBA intended to start promoting professional boxing by 2013.

Wu has made it clear that the objective of AIBA is to have an organisation that will take athletes from the amateur to the professional ranks in a seamless manner, and provide opportunities for them that do not now exist. Towards this end, the new plans will encompass all existing combat fighting sports and include an ancillary global sports marketing arm, so as to ensure financial viability.

The plans that AIBA has formulated are set out in a comprehensive 13-page document dubbed - Boxing 16 and AIBA Professional boxing - which states that the goal of AIBA is "to become the true leader in managing and supervising all levels of boxing worldwide". AIBA, the document continues, has plans "to govern all levels of boxing under one integrated set of rules to generate a more respected, exciting and attractive sport for television, our commercial partners and spectators ... and become a controlling and safe financial resource for boxers in developing countries around the world".

New administration

What is now happening is the "next step" in a process that started in 2007, after a new administration was elected in 2006, to run amateur boxing for a four-year period. Led by president Wu and the executive director Ho Kim, the executive committee of AIBA set out on a bold plan to revolutionise the sport, and sent a clear signal as to their intentions when the name of the organisation was changed.

The International Amateur Boxing Association was renamed the International Boxing Associa-tion, but the decision was also taken then to retain the well known acronym AIBA. The World Series of Boxing for teams of professional boxers who maintained their amateur status was launched, and has been doing well in cities all over the world.

Emboldened by this success, the next move has started, and the stated long-term goal is to have a seamless arrangement, where amateurs move into the professional ranks under the aegis of AIBA, and still have the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games, the ultimate sporting achievement for many athletes.

Re-elected

There will obviously be many hurdles to be cleared by president Wu who was re-elected for another four-year term last November, before these plans come to fruition. The goal for AIBA to control professional boxing worldwide will undoubtedly be challenged by the existing controlling bodies in that section of the sport, and there will have to be a lot of accommodation on all sides for this to be achieved, with the year 2016 and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, being the first major objective.

AIBA Professional Boxing (APB) will allow current professional boxers to join that organisation in the first season under certain terms and conditions and the fact that only APB boxers can participate in the Olympics, will be an important inducement for them to join.

Boxing 16 is designed to change the face of the sport worldwide within a five-year period. The plans are revolutionary, and discussions and formal ratification of the various proposals are scheduled to take place at an Extraordinary Congress of AIBA that will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, next month, before the start of the World Boxing Championships.