The International Boxing Association (IBA) has slammed the establishment of World Boxing and threatened to exclude countries involved in what it dismissed as a “rogue” organisation.
World Boxing was unveiled yesterday as a new International Federation to rival the IBA with the aim of preserving boxing’s place as an Olympic sport after it was left off the initial list for Los Angeles 2028.
Germany, Britain, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Sweden, New Zealand and the United States are represented on the Interim Executive Board as the new body looks to hold talks with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in a bid to gain recognition.
Simon Toulson has been appointed as interim Secretary General of World Boxing which is set to elect an Executive Board and a President at its inaugural Congress planned for November this year.
The British official worked for the IOC for 10 years and was Secretary General at the International Canoe Federation from 2008 until his resignation last year.
The IBA, led by Russian Umar Kremlev, claimed that the formation of World Boxing “does not come as a surprise” and warned that those participating in the organisation face sanctions or even exclusion from its membership.
The IBA insisted that participation in World Boxing will lead to the exclusion of the National Federation concerned from its membership and officials involved would be declared “non-eligible”.
National Federations, their teams, individual boxers or the competition officials participating in events run by the breakaway IF face sanctions by the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit (BIIU) Tribunal, according to the IBA.
Boris van der Vorst, who heads the Dutch Boxing Federation and attempted to run against Kremlev in last year’s controversial IBA Presidential election, has been named on World Boxing’s Interim Executive Board.-insidethegames
