(NOV 25) WBAN.com brings you the main news stories from the world of ‘Amateur’ boxing in Europe this past weekend.

1. ABAE agrees to implement AIBA Rules :

Fears that top English boxers such as Olympic Gold medallist Nicola Adams, Natasha Jonas and Savannah Marshall (plus male colleagues) would be banned from major tournaments such as the 2014 European Championships, Commonwealth Games and indeed from all International competition were removed Sunday as the English Amateur Boxing Association (ABAE) agreed to implement AIBA Rules and Regulations in full.

The ABAE said late Sunday night: “At an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) today the membership of the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) voted to accept new Articles of Association and ratify a new Board of Directors.

The acceptance of new Articles and a new Board removes the threat of sanctions by the international governing body, AIBA, and ensures that Sport England will continue to fund the grassroots of the sport”.
The Board of the ABAE added: “This is a momentous day for boxing in England. The decisions to accept new Articles and a new Board are the final parts of a process of modernisation, which has been going on for nearly two years, and now provide a basis for the sport to move forwards with an effective and ‘fit for purpose’ governing body which gives greater influence to grassroots clubs.

“The new Board is committed to driving the sport forward and delivering the whole sport plan for boxing which will continue to grow participation, create opportunities to develop talent and support the clubs, coaches and volunteers who are the lifeblood of the sport at the grassroots.”

Insofar as the A.I.B.A is concerned that is the end of the long drawn out dispute. "On behalf of the entire AIBA Family, I am very pleased with the results of this vote", stated AIBA President, Dr Ching-Kuo Wu.

"I want to thank everyone who has been involved in the Compliance Committee for their tremendous work over the past four months. AIBA is convinced that England now has a bright boxing future ahead of it and we are very much looking forward to working with the new ABAE Board of Directors."

Good news then for English boxing despite the fact that the representatives of the Regional Associations for London, East Midlands and Eastern Counties did not attend and therefore did not vote.

2. Tammer Turnaus Titles for Potkonen and Holdaway.

Finland’s Mira Potkonen and Lynsey Holdaway of Wales took the main female titles at the 34th Tammer Turnaus Tournament which is held annually at the Pyynikki Sports in Tampere and ended Sunday.
In Sunday’s final bout of the 60kg Lightweight division, the home nation’s European Union bronze medallist, Potkonen defeated leading Chinese Taipei fighter, Wei-Hsien Lee TKO1 to take the Gold medal in this Round Robin event whilst AIBA World ranked Lynsey Holdaway defeated another Chinese Taipei opponent Tsai-Jung Hung 3-0 in the 48kg pinweight classification.

Overall Ireland topped the medal table in Tammer with a medal haul of 6 from its six strong team – three golds, a silver and two bronze medals as indeed they did at the 2012 Tammer event but not for the first time, the IABA sent no Irish female representative to Finland.
For Mira Potkonen though this was a final outing before next weekend’s clash in Bray (Nov 30th) with Ireland’s Katie Taylor, a bout which is already a sell out.

Taylor meantime has a new opponent for Friday’s fight at the iconic Mansion House since Melissa Parker, the U.S joint no 3, has withdrawn due it is reported to “travel issues”. She is replaced by 24 yrs old Canadian lightweight champion Caroline Veyre from the Club Boxe de’l Est in Montreal.

The former University of Montreal student took the 2014 Canadian Elite National 60kg title last month in Regina defeating Nova Scotia’s experienced Stephanie Walker on a unanimous 3:0 decision. A tough encounter for Veyre on her first international trip since becoming Canadian champion.

3: Boxing to be included in 2015 European Games in Baku
News of a major new event in 2015 when the inaugural European Games (dubbed Europe’s equivalent of the Olympics) takes place in Baku. There will again be a full boxing programme as per the Olympic schedule thus again but three women’s titles at stake.
In all , Baku will feature over 5,400 athletes from the 49 Olympic nations of Europe and in 18 different sports. The boxing sessions will be organised under the AIBA banner by its European confederation EUBC.

That boxing is to feature was confirmed by AIBA President Wu in a letter to Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committee (EOC).

"It is my great pleasure to inform you that the AIBA Executive Committee unanimously accepted the request of the European Olympic Committee to include the sport of boxing in the European Games Baku 2015 at its 2013 Extraordinary Executive Committee Meeting held in Astana," Dr Wu said in his letter to Hickey.

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