The president of the WBA, Gilberto Jesús Mendoza, signed an agreement with Umar Kremlev, president of the [troubled amateur boxing federation] International Boxing Association (IBA) on Saturday morning in Mexico City. [
As a result of documented IBA corruption, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) withdrew the IBA's right to administer the Olympic process, including determination of the qualifying crtieria and the Olympic boxing tournament itself for 2024-- just as it barred IBA from the 2021 games in Tokyo. While boxing is still on the schedule for the Paris 2024 Olympics, it will be governed by an IOC-appointed task force, following the precedent set at the Tokyo Olympics. Even worse, the future of boxing in the Olympics is in jeopardy because it has not yet been approved for the 2028 Olympics. As previously reported by the Guardian and elsewhere, the IOC told IBA in writing that it had “significant concerns” about IBA's governance and financing. This latest alliance between the WBA and IBA may be an attempt to whitewash IBA's corruption and allow the WBA to gain a position as the governing body of Olympic and amateur world championship boxing.]
The WBA announced that it will cooperate with IBA at the world level after reaching an agreement within the framework of the WBA's “One Boxing” project, one of the flagships of Mendoza’s management since he assumed the leadership of the WBA in 2015. “This agreement with IBA is something that will bring many benefits to boxing. I have always had the slogan that Boxing is One and being able to bring the most important entity of professional boxing closer to the most outstanding of amateur boxing is a huge step towards achieving our goals and integrating this great sport,” Mendoza said during his meeting with Kremlev.
Both leaders signed an agreement with 10 key points that seeks to promote amateur boxing and the integration of both branches for the systematic development of the sport. “Within IBA, we are building a global home of boxing. The cooperation between IBA and WBA can provide the future of boxing as a sport, our goal is to build the bridge between the two organizations and give more opportunities to all boxers worldwide,” Kremlev said.
Among the most important points is the development of the WBA Academy, which through integration with the IBA will manage and organize different events. The agreement also includes cooperation in the development of amateur athletes and their integration into professional boxing through specific programs.
A strategy will be studied to implement the World Boxing Tour program, in which the WBA will provide advice to the IBA and which will consist of a series of events that will award points to the fighters for the IBA world ranking. Another important element will be the mutual cooperation on protocols and medical issues for the safety and health of the fighters. In the development aspect, training camps for officials will also be promoted and their training and constant updating will be sought. A WBA/IBA development program for trainers will also be implemented and an analysis of the regulations will be sought to update technical rules in official competitions.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE OF IBA
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022: With boxing in jeopardy as an Olympic sport for the 2028 games, the corrupt governing body IBA has given a vote of confidence to the same president who has brought the amateur sport to the brink of disaster. Here is the announcement just issued by IBA: "The Congress of IBA reconfirmed the vote of confidence for President Umar Kremlev at its extraordinary meeting in Yerevan, Armenia. Congress voted against the new elections. Delegates cast 106 votes against, which is 75%, 36 votes for, and 4 abstained out of 146 eligible National Federations. According to the Congress’ decision, Kremlev is to hold his position for 4-years term.
‘I thank National Federations for their trust. This is the full stop in all governance issues within IBA, Congress showed its will clearly in a transparent manner. I respect the decision of our National Federations and will do everything possible to support them, as well as our athletes and coaches,’ said Kremlev.
‘I want to send a clear message today. IBA is an independent and strong organization. Our Congress has proved today that we are on a right track. Now I will present a 4-years development plan today at the Board of Directors meeting. I have a clear vision of what we have to do to achieve our goals,’ he added.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022: The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that a new boxing qualification system for the 2024 Olympic Games was approved after last week's full update on the situation of boxing, including governance issues within the International Boxing Association (IBA). After deciding last June that the boxing qualifying events and competitions for Paris 2024 would NOT be run under the [corrupt] authority of the IBA, the EB was presented with an additional qualification model, which was approved during its meeting in Lausanne, Switzwerland.
Designed by the IOC in close collaboration with boxing experts, the new qualification system is based on direct qualification through selected competitions, including the use of National Olympic Committee (NOC) regional multisport events as Olympic boxing qualification tournaments. The responsibility for the boxing competitions in the following events will therefore not lie with the IBA, and alternative arrangements will be put in place with the respective event organizers:
Pan-American Games – Santiago 2023;
European Games – Krakow 2023;
Pacific Games – Honiara 2023;
Asian Games – Hangzhou (taking place in 2023); and
ANOCA (Africa) multisport event (to be confirmed).
Following the continental phase of the quota place allocation, two world qualification tournaments are planned to be held in 2024.
The new Olympic qualification process puts boxers first, lowering the complexity of the qualification process by using existing regional events and giving up to three qualification opportunities, ultimately achieving a fair and equal pathway for all boxers.
Remaining concerns over IBA: The various IOC concerns around the governance of the IBA, including the refereeing and judging process and the IBA’s financial dependency on the state-owned company Gazprom, are still ongoing. The EB today received a report on the issues related to competition management and refereeing and judging processes highlighted by independent experts during the boxing competition at the recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
It also noted that no clear efforts have been made by the IBA to respect and fully implement the roadmap set out by the IOC EB in December 2021 with regard to the IBA’s governance.
As a consequence, the EB has sent a letter to the IBA informing it of the IOC’s ongoing grave concern. Boxing is currently not included in the sports programme of the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 and, considering the absence of any real evolution, the IOC Executive Board is not in a position to reverse its decision. This letter will be shared with the NOCs and national boxing federations.
