The National Federations for boxing in the Philippines, Scotland, Wales, Suriname and the US Virgin Islands have become the latest five organizations to have their membership applications approved by World Boxing, the new international federation established to keep boxing in the Olympics. The Philippines is the second National Federation from Asia to join World Boxing which now has 27 members across all five continents that compete in Olympic-style boxing. The five new joiners will be eligible to take part in World Boxing’s inaugural Congress in Frankfurt Am Main on November 25th. The Philippines, Scotland, Wales, Suriname and the US Virgin Islands all completed a rigorous application process to join World Boxing. They are deemed to be in good standing and, through their statutes and operating processes.
All World Boxing’s members will be invited to attend the Congress and have had the opportunity to nominate candidates for the offices of President, Vice President (VP) and places on World Boxing’s Executive Board and the Chairs of the Sport and Competition Committee, the Medical and Anti-Doping Committee and the Finance and Audit Committee. All full members will have voting rights at the Congress.
“To be heading into our inaugural Congress with a minimum of 27 members of such high caliber is a major achievement for World Boxing and a sign of the desire for change that exists across the sport,” said Simon Toulson, Secretary General, World Boxing.
“Our members represent every continent where Olympic-style boxing takes place and includes many nations with a proud and distinguished history in the sport. Most importantly they are committed to creating a better future for boxing, based on the principles of integrity, honesty and excellence and ensuring the sport remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.
“It is clear from recent events that World Boxing is the only international federation that can deliver this. The consistent growth in our membership and continued interest we are receiving from National Federations is an indication of the growing support for our work and the widespread recognition that World Boxing is the only international federation that can enable boxing to keep its place on the Olympic program at Los Angeles and beyond.”
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 and aims to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It 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 program at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.
The first cohort of World Boxing members was made-up of USA Boxing, New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, GB Boxing, England Boxing and the Dutch Boxing Federation. They were joined in August 2023 by the National Federations for boxing in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Honduras and Sweden. The third group to join included Denmark, Mongolia, Panama and French Polynesia. They were joined recently by the National Federations for boxing in Finland, Iceland, Jamaica, Nigeria, Norway and the Czech Republic.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE:
OCT. 22, 2023: National federations for boxing in Finland, Iceland, Jamaica, Nigeria, Norway and the Czech Republic have become the latest six organizations to have their membership applications approved by World Boxing, the new international federation established to keep boxing at the heart of the Olympic Movement and support the growth and development of the sport at local, regional, national and international levels. Nigeria is the first National Federation from Africa to join World Boxing and means the new international federation now has 22 members covering all five continents that compete in Olympic-style boxing.
The six new joiners will be eligible to take part in World Boxing’s inaugural Congress in Frankfurt Am Main on November 24th-25th.
World Boxing’s Secretary General, Simon Toulson, said: “We are very pleased to welcome this latest cohort of National Federations and increase the global footprint of World Boxing which now has members on every continent that participates in international boxing. It is clear from comments made at its recent Session that the IOC is supportive of boxing, as a sport, and wants it to remain part of the Olympic program and that the only way to do this is for National Federations to get behind a new international federation that is committed to integrity, transparency and rigorous governance standards. World Boxing is the only organization that can deliver this and the consistent growth in our membership along with the continued interest we are receiving from National Federations on all continents is a clear sign of the growing support for World Boxing and widespread desire for change that exists across the sport. We are continuing to process membership applications from around the globe and look forward to welcoming more countries to be part of World Boxing in advance of our inaugural Congress.”
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 and aims to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It 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 program at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.
The first cohort of World Boxing members was made-up of USA Boxing, New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, GB Boxing, England Boxing and the Dutch Boxing Federation. They were joined in August 2023 by the National Federations for boxing in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Honduras and Sweden. The third group to join included the National Federations of Denmark, Mongolia, Panama and French Polynesia.
AUG. 25, 2023: The national federations for boxing in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Honduras and Sweden have completed the process to become members of World Boxing, the new international federation that has been established to govern amateur boxing [as a replacement for IBA, a troubled organization that is still in existence with a larger membership]. The addition of these six countries means World Boxing now has 12 members spread across four continents. USA Boxing, New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, GB Boxing, England Boxing and the Dutch Boxing Federation were confirmed as World Boxing’s first cohort of members in early August 2023.
All of World Boxing’s members will be invited to attend the Congress in November 2023 and have the opportunity to nominate candidates for offices within the new international federation including the Presidency and Executive Committee and membership of Committees and Commissions. The full members will have voting rights at the Congress.
World Boxing’s Secretary General, Simon Toulson, commented: “World Boxing continues to attract high caliber National Federations that want to emulate our principles and endorse our policies to put the boxers first and operate with rigorous governance practices. Becoming a member takes time as it is a detailed and meticulous process to ensure that a National Federation is suitable for our organization.
“We are receiving more and more interest and requests from National Federations and boxing organizations to join World Boxing on a weekly basis and currently have a number of applications from those wanting to join or going through the membership application process.
“The governance foundations of World Boxing are now set which will culminate in the Inaugural Congress in November. The quality of National Federations that have joined and those waiting to join World Boxing coupled with the hosting of tournaments that are partnered and associated with World Boxing means we are on track to reach our initial objectives of the organization whilst pursuing the overall goal of keeping boxing in the Olympic Games.”
World Boxing was publicly launched in April 2023 and aims to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It 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 program at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.
AUG. 9, 2023: USA Boxing, New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, GB Boxing, England Boxing and the Dutch Boxing Federation have been confirmed as the first six official members of World Boxing, the new international federation established earlier this year to [supplant the corrupt IBA], keep boxing at the heart of the Olympic movement and support the growth and development of the sport at local, regional, national and international levels. All six countries have completed a rigorous application process and been approved as members by the Executive Board of World Boxing.
The application process for National Federations to become members of World Boxing is overseen by the Secretary General, Simon Toulson, and designed to ensure that all applicants are deemed to be in good standing and, through their statutes and operating processes, are able to demonstrate:
A transparent and open election process for the appointment of office bearing roles
The existence and operation of WADA-recognsied anti-doping polices and processes
Evidence of a structured, dispute resolution and appeals process that is either fully independent or subject to external input
Formal recognition by either their National Olympic Committee (NOC) or Ministry for Sport
As each country’s recognised National Federation for the sport, USA Boxing, New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, England Boxing and the Dutch Boxing Federation have been granted full membership status. GB Boxing has been granted Associate Membership as it is reponsible for managing Great Britain’s elite, World Class Programme (WCP) and taking the team to tournaments, such as the European Games and the Olympic Games, where boxers from England, Scotland and Wales compete as Great Britain.
All six members will attend World Boxing’s inaugural Congress in November 2023 and have the opportunity to nominate candidates for offices within the new international federation including the Presidency and Executive Committee and membership of Committees and Commissions. The five full members will have voting rights at the Congress.
The President of USA Boxing and a member of World Boxing’s Interim Executive Board, Tyson Lee, said: “It is very pleasing to see that the first cohort of World Boxing members includes National Federations from three continents as it is vital that World Boxing is a truly global endeavour with nations from across the world playing a role in contributing to the creation of a better future for the sport and everyone connected to it, based on collaboration, consultation and consensus.
“We look forward to working with World Boxing and all current and future members to create a global sporting structure that puts the interest of boxers first and operates with rigorous governance practices designed to deliver fairness and sporting integrity.”
World Boxing’s Secretary General, Simon Toulson, explained: “Transparency and rigorous governance is central to the way we operate as an organisation and all of the new members have been through a detailed and meticulous process to secure membership.
“We are currently processing a number of applications, which can be time consuming and take several weeks, so it is important that all National Federations who want to nominate candidates and vote in World Boxing’s inaugural Congress in November 2023 make their membership applications soon or they may miss the deadline for being able to participate in this event.”
World Boxing will be writing to all National Federations this week (w/c 7 August 2023) to invite them to apply and nominate candidates for the office bearing positions of World Boxing by 25 August 2023.
All nominations will be vetted by an independent third-party and the final list of approved candidates will be published in October 2023 – 30 days before the inaugural Congress. To be eligible to stand for election, all candidates must represent a National Federation or organisation that is a member of World Boxing.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 and aims to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It 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 at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.
JUNE 8, 2023: World Boxing is a non-profit international federation set up to administer the sports of Olympic-style (amateur) boxing, including paralympic boxing (also called “adaptive boxing”) and e-sport boxing. The new organization issued the following statement about IBA being on the verge of being ousted from running Olympic boxing: “IBA’s persistent failure to address longstanding issues over sporting integrity, governance, transparency and financial management has caused huge damage to international boxing and we welcome the clarity provided by the IOC in its statement today which states: ‘The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today recommended to the IOC Session (on June 22nd) to withdraw recognition of the International Boxing Association (IBA), in accordance with Rule 3.7 of the Olympic Charter (OC)’".
“This is a very significant moment as it provides an opportunity for the sport (subject to the decision of the IOC Session on June 22nd) to move on from the corrosive leadership of IBA which has brought boxing to a place where its status as part of the Olympic program is in doubt. The loss of Olympic status would be devastating for boxing and have damaging long-term consequences, across the globe, for boxers and everyone connected with the sport, from the elite level to the grassroots."
