AIBA PRESIDENT DR. WU CONFIDENT PRO BOXERS WILL BE ALLOWED TO FIGHT IN RIO OLYMPICS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 23 May 2016
Dr Wu.
The president of AIBA, the international governing organization for boxing under the International Olympic Committee is confident that professional boxers will be allowed to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson told The Standard that Dr. Wu Ching-Kuo ?sounds dead sure? the AIBA congress scheduled within the next couple of weeks will ratify the change because he had ?spoken to all the national federations and there have been no objections.?
Picson told us that Dr. Wu had called him in January to indicate ?he could swing a ?wild card? entry? for eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao with the approval of the IOC. The Association of National Olympic Committees under npresident Sheikh Ahmad A-Fahad- Al Sabah of Kuwait and AIBA itself.
Picson noted that only five weight categories are available for the ?wild card? one of which is the junior welterweight division that the ABAP has left open in case Pacquiao decides to compete in the Rio Olympics which would be his last chance since he would be over the 40 year age limit for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The ABAP executive director informed The Standard that Dr. Wu told him ?let me know (Pacquiao?s decision) because he (Manny) must decide first, then we talk.?
The deadline for Pacquiao to make a decision is May 27.
In the meantime in case Pacquiao, who was recently elected to the Philippine Senate with over 16 million votes, decides to follow the advice of longtime promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank who said ?Manny owes an obligation to the people who elected him to the Senate and needs to fulfill that obligation ?ABAP is likely to send Dennis Galvan who has been training with the national pool in Baguio City to the final Olympic qualifier in Azerbaijan.
The coaching staff has already decided on Ian Clark Bautista, Mario Fetrnandez and Eumir Marcial.
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