WBC PRESIDENT SULAIMAN BLASTS AIBA MOVE TO INCLUDE PROFESSIONAL BOXERS IN RIO OLYMPICS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 02 Mar 2016
World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman has blasted the plan of AIBA, the international amateur boxing organization, to include professional boxers in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio some four months from now.
Sulaiman said the move shows ?great ignorance and lack of information of what has happened in amateur boxing in recent years, which has positioned amateur and Olympic boxing and its world structure at its worst level.?
Assailing the system to determine boxers who could qualify for the Olympics, Sulaiman said ?The so-called World Series of Boxing has been an embarrassment, showcasing very low-level fights and dangerous mismatches. So, now AIBA is attempting to include fully developed professionals to compete in the Olympic games.?
AIBA has threatened expulsion or suspension of several countries from international tournaments, up to and including The Olympics, if that country does not accept to be ruled only by the exclusive authoritarian imposition of AIBA rules and regulations. In doing so, AIBA has sought to intimidate and abuse its power, in order to establish a monopoly on professional boxing as well, even by eliminating the word ?amateur? from its own name, meaning that for AIBA, amateur boxing no longer exists. ?
The WBC president stressed that ? Boxing cannot be considered without keeping separate amateur and professional boxing, for the most basic principle of safety, by avoiding such dangerous mismatches between experienced professional fighters and amateur boxers. This is something AIBA is not able to understand, because it seems their leadership does not have a clue of what boxing really means and represents. AIBA?s priority appears to be the commercial and business aspects of the sport. Boxers are obligated to sign commercial contracts with AIBA and its affiliates, which positions AIBA in an undeniable and clear conflict of interest.
For example, by matching amateurs against professionals and eliminating headgear, AIBA is showing that it does not seem to care about the physical well being of the fighters or the correct practice of the sport around the world. How can multi-day boxing be conducted in tournaments safely and fairly without headgear? The youth of the world deserve to have the options and opportunities in amateur boxing. ?
The AIBA president set aside the demand for a qualifying tournament for eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao and said he could enter the games, directly. But unbeaten, former pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr who beat Pacquiao last May 2 in the ?Fight of the Century and won a bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics has turned down the quest for gold emphatically saying ?absolutely not.?
Sky Sports in Britain reported that the International Olympic Committee sanctioned the change made by AIBA.
The move was ?rubber-stamped by the IOC on Tuesday when they said it was up to AIBA to apply its own rules. But the IOC said there was no discussion of Wu?s separate proposal to allow professional boxers to compete in the Olympics.
Dr. Wu has called a special AIBA meeting in May to vote on his proposal which has received mixed reactions in boxing circles but has been bitterly criticized by the leading pro organizations such as the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF.
Photo: WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman (R) and Manny Pacquiao.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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