WBC LAUNCHES QUEST TO UNMASK DUBIOUS ACTIONS OF AIBA
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 02 Feb 2015
The World Boxing Council, the premier professional boxing organization in the world, has launched a quest to unmask what it calls ?the imminent threats which AIBA?s actions pose to the detriment of boxing and that task is ongoing.
AIBA is the supposed amateur body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the representative federation for amateur boxing.
The late Don Jose Sulaiman actively searched for solutions and publicly challenged the IOC while making the WBC's position crystal clear to national federations and the boxing community worldwide.
The WBC in a statement received by the Manila Standard/Viva Sports stressed ?that journey will not end until, via united action, we free amateur boxing from the monopolistic actions, restriction of trade and abuse of power that AIBA actively seeks.?
The WBA, IBF and WBO joined the WBC to participate in an Investigative Committee last December that claimed it ?successfully identified the subterfuge and manipulation of the governing law in Spain, that the Spanish Boxing Federation (FEB) tried to implement to place boxing there at the mercy and under the sole control of AIBA.?
The WBC said the European Boxing Union (EBU) has joined the effort, and the five organizations are participating in workshops with the National Sports Ministry of Spain. Those sessions will result in the establishment of a National governing entity to oversee professional boxing. The FEB's activities are supposed to be limited to amateur boxing, which is controlled by AIBA.
The statement asked ?so what is amateur boxing today? AIBA's attempts to control our sport have muddled and muddied that concept. AIBA has eliminated the word ?Amateur? from their name, so amateur boxing, as we all knew it, doesn't exist anymore. That is precisely the point of our united struggle to unmask AIBA's nefarious goals.?
The leading professional boxing organizations charged that AIBA ?has changed its role in the sport of boxing. While receiving the sole and exclusive authority from the IOC to handle Olympic boxing competitions, AIBA has abused that authority and has put a plan in place to sign exclusivity contracts with fighters. Those contracts are in fact commercial instruments geared to stage professional competitions while attempting to maintain the contractually bound boxers' eligibility to participate in the Olympic Games. Only those boxers who participate in a commercial contract with AIBA are eligible to compete in the Olympic Games!?
It noted that AIBA ?has then proceeded to threaten the National boxing authorities of many countries to either work solely with themselves, or to be expelled from International competition and even the Olympic Games! There are countless documented examples of AIBA's reprehensive activities over the past few years.?
The statement suggested that AIBA should return to its roots which is to oversee the good practices of ?amateur? boxing in the world, limiting its activities to: (1) work with National amateur entities; (2) organizing Olympic competition; and (3) dedicating its efforts to make such competitions as honorable as they were in the past.
The WBC is proud that the boxing governing organizations' Summit meetings have led to a united front from the WBC-WBA-IBF and in this case of Spain, the WBO has joined the efforts to protect the integrity of boxing.
In the Philippines the Games and Amusements Board and the ABAP or the alliance of boxing associations in the Philippines are currently embroiled in a conflict caused by the ABAP having two of its best boxers, London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga and Charly Suarez sign contracts to fight in the AIBA?s pro boxing tournament currently taking place in Kazakhstan.
The GAB, which is the government agency under the Office of the President, is tasked to control and supervise to and insists that Barriga and Suarez by participating in the AIBA Pro tournament are professionals and therefore subject to licensing and all other rules and regulations that govern pro boxers.
Even the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission have taken issue with ABAP because Barriga and Suarez won?t be available for the forthcoming Southeast Asian Games because of their AIBA commitments.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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