OCA backs Asian Boxing
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 02 Jan 2025
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has officially recognized the newly-organized Asian Boxing as the accredited supervisor of the sport at the SEA and Asian Games, a move that brings World Boxing much closer to achieving its goal of gaining IOC’s nod as an affiliate international federation for the Olympics.
ABAP chairman Ricky Vargas said OCA’s decision was announced during Asian Boxing’s first Board meeting which he chaired via zoom last Sunday. Asian Boxing was formed to align with World Boxing and is distinct from the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) which is linked to the discredited International Boxing Association (IBA). Vargas said he expects ASBC to eventually disintegrate since the major member nations have joined Asian Boxing. IBA, however, refuses to go away despite losing recognition from IOC due to charges of financial irregularities and questionable governance, putting up a $10 million fund to entice organizations, including ASBC, to participate in its competitions.
IOC has removed boxing from the Olympic calendar starting in 2028 but is leaving the door open for reinstatement. The condition is a new international federation must be recognized by IOC to take over from IBA. IOC has supervised boxing in the last two Olympics but won’t do it in Los Angeles. World Boxing was formed in April 2023 to fill the void left by IBA and preserve the sport in the Olympics. It now has 60 members and after holding congresses in Frankfurt and Colorado Springs, will stage its third convention in India late this year.
Former WBC supermiddleweight champion and 1988 Olympic bronze medalist Richie Woodhall said removing boxing from the Olympics would be “a massive blow to the sport.” He explained: “If the Olympics isn’t there, it will be hard to keep boxers as amateurs and they’ll turn pro too soon. I’m not against boxers turning pro because I did it myself but they need to turn pro at the right time.”
World Boxing president Boris van der Vorst of the Netherlands said he’s confident IOC recognition is imminent. “World Boxing has established relations with IOC and has developed a pathway to ensuring that boxing is restored in 2028,” he said, quoted by Matt Bozeat in the London weekly publication Boxing News. “It would be devastating for everyone connected with the sport at all levels and in every part of the world (if boxing is left out of the Olympics). Fewer people will come into the sport at the grassroots and there will be less opportunities for boxers at the elite levels of both amateur and professional boxing. It would be a disaster that we cannot allow to happen.”
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