(APRIL 13)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND, - A collection of Boxing
leaders from National Federations across the world have created
a new, not-for-profit, international federation, World Boxing,
which aims to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the
Olympic movement.
World Boxing has been established in response to the persistent
issues surrounding Olympic-style boxing’s existing international
governing body, whose failure to address the IOC’s longstanding
concerns over sporting integrity, governance, transparency and
financial management has placed boxing’s future as an Olympic
sport in doubt.
World Boxing will seek recognition from the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) and plans 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 sustainable
and inclusive global sporting structure where boxers from around
the world can compete knowing that the integrity of the sport is
guaranteed and competition is fair.
As part of its launch announcement World Boxing, made five
pledges detailing its priorities for the sport, its commitment
to boxers and its aims as an organisation. The five pledges are:
• World Boxing will keep boxing at the heart of the Olympic
movement
• World Boxing will ensure the interests of boxers are put first
• World Boxing will deliver sporting integrity and fair
competitions
• World Boxing will create a competition structure designed in
the best interests of the boxers
• World Boxing will operate according to the strongest
governance standards and transparent financial management
World Boxing will ensure the views of athletes are represented
at the highest level of decision-making and have a male and
female boxer (with voting rights) on its Executive Board which
will be elected by members at the organisation’s inaugural
Congress in November 2023.
In the period between the launch of World Boxing and the
inaugural Congress it will be led by an interim Executive Board
made-up of representatives from boxing organisations in Germany,
Great Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines,
Sweden and the USA. It will be overseen on a day-to-day basis by
Interim Secretary General, Simon Toulson, who has extensive
experience in international sport having previously led the
International Canoe Federation (ICF) and the International
Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
The two Athlete Representatives on World Boxing’s Interim
Executive Board are Tokyo 2020, middleweight gold medallist,
Lauren Price from Wales and the USA’s super-heavyweight silver
medallist, Richard Torrez Jr.
To ensure that boxers have a strong voice in shaping the work of
World Boxing, the two athlete representatives on the Executive
Board will be supplemented by an Athletes Committee, made up of
three men and three women, that will be responsible for
representing the views of boxers worldwide and providing advice,
guidance and opinions to World Boxing.
Lauren Price said: “From being eight-years-old it was my
ambition to go to the Olympic Games and once I took up boxing,
everything I did was focused on working towards that goal. To
finally achieve it and then win a medal has been the highlight
of my career and even though I am now a professional, I do not
think anything will ever match what I did at the Olympics.
“Going to the Olympics is life changing and I cannot imagine a
Games without boxing. It provides a massive platform for the
sport and for the boxers. Without it, the boxers will suffer and
the sport will be damaged so something has to be done to make
sure boxing continues to be part of the Olympic Games.”
Richard Torrez Jr added: “Winning a medal for my country at
Tokyo 2020 was the best moment of my career. To take that
opportunity away from the next generation of boxers would be
devastating for them as athletes and disastrous for the sport.
It is absolutely vital that boxing remains part of the Olympic
Games and I am going to do everything I can to make sure that
happens.”
World Boxing will be led by an Executive Board and a President
who will be elected by members at the organisation’s inaugural
Congress in November 2023. Membership applications are open and
many National Federations, across the world, have already
indicated their interest in joining World Boxing and running for
election.
In the period leading up to the inaugural Congress, World Boxing
will be led by an Interim Executive Board made-up of
representatives from eight countries across four nationalities.
It includes a male and a female Athlete Representatives and an
Interim Secretary General, who does not have voting rights.
The current members of the Interim Executive Board are:
• Matthew Holt, Chief Executive, GB Boxing
• Tyson Lee, President, USA Boxing
• Karin Mattsson, Board Member, Swedish Boxing Federation
• Michael Mueller, Secretary General, German Boxing Association
• Karina Picson, Boxing Competition Official, the Philippiines
• Lauren Price, Athlete Representative
• Richard Torrez Jr, Athlete Representative
• Boris van der Vorst, President, Dutch Boxing Federation
• Keith Walker, Chair, Boxing New Zealand
• Simon Toulson, Interim Secretary General (without voting
rights)
Matthew Holt, Chief Executive, GB Boxing explained: “It is vital
that boxing continues to remain at the heart of the Olympic
movement and to achieve this we need to re-establish a
relationship of trust between those that the govern the sport
and all of its stakeholders. World Boxing aims to deliver this
by creating a financially transparent organisation with strong
governance structures that delivers sporting integrity and fair
competition and acts in the interest of boxers and the sport.”
Tyson Lee, President, USA Boxing, said: “The loss of Olympic
status represents an existential threat to boxing that will have
a negative impact on the sport at every level from grassroots
clubs to the higher ends of professional boxing. World Boxing
aims to prevent this. It will create a sporting structure
designed to suit the best interests of boxers and ensure they
continue to have the opportunity to compete at the Olympic
Games.”
Boris van der Vorst, President, Dutch Boxing, added: “World
Boxing represents a coming together of people whose interest is
solely in creating a better future for boxers and ensuring the
sport continues to be a major part of the Olympic Games. Honesty
and integrity will be central to World Boxing which is
underpinned by strong governance procedures and has embedded the
principle of independent, third-party oversight into its
constitution to ensure it has rigorous, enforceable, governance
structures that will drive ethical and transparent decision
making.”
World Boxing’s Statutes have been developed following
wide-ranging research of best practice in global sporting
governance and cover every aspect of World Boxing’s operations
including: safeguarding; the health and safety of boxers;
refereeing and judging; competition manipulation; election
protocols; codes of behaviour and equality and inclusion. World
Boxing’s statutes and all its rules and policies are publicly
available on its website at www.worldboxing.org.
Central to all of these is the principle of independent,
third-party oversight and enforceability which World Boxing will
ensure by working with the leading independent provider of
sport-specific arbitration and mediation services, Sport
Resolutions, to create a third-party ethics and judicial
procedure that is completely separate from the organisation and
will oversee any potential issues and disputes.
To ensure sporting integrity, World Boxing’s competitions will
also be subject to independent, third-party scrutiny with the
appointment of external assessors who will oversee and report on
all aspects of competition management including refereeing and
judging and the appointment and role of officials.
This operating structure reflects the approach taken by the
IOC’s Boxing Task Force (BTF) for Tokyo 2020 when Price
Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) was appointed to provide an independent
assessment and review of refereeing and judging at the
qualification events and the Olympic tournament.
It will make sure that all World Boxing competitions are subject
to independent, third-party oversight and deliver fair
competition for the boxers where the outcome is determined
solely by performance in the ring.
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