INSIDE SPORTS - INTEGRITY OF AMATEUR BOXING UNDER QUESTION
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 11 Feb 2013
For some months now we?ve read and heard about efforts by the president of the International Amateur Boxing Association, Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu of Chinese-Taipei, to not merely scrap the division between amateurs and professionals in boxing but to effectively establish a monopoly on which fighters are eligible to compete in the Olympic Games.
Dr. Wu wants to entice the different amateur boxing organizations to drop the word amateur from their association or federation names and to insidiously develop a world professional boxing organization wherein only fighters who compete in their tournaments would be eligible to participate in the Olympic Games.
Should the International Olympic Committee allow such a move then it will surely institutionalize discrimination of fighters ? however talented they may be ? from earning the privilege of representing their country in the greatest sporting event in the world.
What is even worse is that it would foster a monopoly which, by what we?ve heard so far, is designed to become a multi-million dollar business and not a strictly sporting concern.
Surely, the IOC cannot allow AIBA to discriminate against boxers who refuse to submit to the importuning of Dr. Wu and his business-oriented cohorts who in the past have been exposed for allegedly receiving huge financial contributions in exchange for favors in competitions.
We can never forget what happened to Filipino boxer Charly Suarez who had to win a gold medal in the last AIBA qualifying tournament to gain a berth in the London 2012 Olympics.
In a close fight which many felt Suarez won, the judges scored it a draw and after a count-back awarded the decision to Suarez? Chinese opponent much to the chagrin of Filipino fight fans.
The highly respected patron of both amateur and professional boxing, Antonio ?Tony? Aldeguer of the famed ALA Promotions put it succinctly when he said ?Suarez didn?t lose. China won.?
The late Anwar Chowdhry was certainly not a paragon of virtue and discredited the AIBA by some of his actions and his corrupt stewardship. Now it seems it could be even worse and being developed in an insidious manner.
We recall that the Philippines was incited to join the WSB and to pay a huge franchise fee which the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines under the well known and highly respected Ricky Vargas, son of former Philippine Olympic Committee president and the now defunct Southeast Asia Treaty Organization secretary general, very correctly turned down.
Should the IOC remove the distinction between amateurs and professionals just as it did in basketball, then all professional boxers who fight under the aegis of various international organizations who have developed the sport and kept it alive, must be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
In this manner, some of the best and most exciting fighters in the world could be seeing action in the Olympics which has benefited from the appearance of NBA stars in the Games since the original USA ?Dream Team?.
Imagine an Olympic Games with fighters like Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Danny Garcia, Timothy Bradley, Mikel Kessler, Amir Khan, Nkosinathi Joyi, Saul Alvarez, Andre Ward, Carl Froch and many others seeing action.
Frankly, what Dr. Wu needs to do is to strengthen the integrity of the organization he heads, make sure that referees and judges don?t bow to the dictates of rich and powerful nations and stop wheeling and dealing with rich nations.
Indeed the World Series of Boxing in which fighters are ?imported? to don the gloves for certain countries goes against the grain of amateur boxing and national identity.
When you look at the on-going competition it seems only the wealthy nations are competing while the poorer countries are mere onlookers. How can amateur boxing develop under such discriminatory circumstances?
It's time the IOC took a stand, put Dr. Wu in his place as AIBA president and not the sole ruling czar of professional boxing. To do less would be to corrupt the spirit of the Olympic Games.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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