Global Courant 2023-05-02 15:09:53
International Boxing Association (IBA) president Umar Kremlev has blasted the national federations that broke away from the body to form a new world boxing federation, describing the officials as “black sheep” and “hyenas” who don’t belong in sports.
A group including the United States and the United Kingdom announced a new federation – World Boxing – last month in a breakout aimed at securing the troubled sport’s Olympic future while seeking recognition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
With representatives from Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sweden and the US, World Boxing has an interim board and it said there would be no impediment to a national federation being a member of either body.
But Kremlev, who is in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for the Men’s World Boxing Championships, said the IBA is the only international association governing the sport.
“We say there is always a black sheep in our family, there are always people who go their own way… Someone tried to register an international association from their garage, why should we even consider them,” the Russian told a press conference.
“If you want to leave and go to another club, I can only say: we only have one club. We have the right to govern boxing and the IBA has the right to organize tournaments.
“Some officials decided they wanted to start their own association, but I think it’s all clear and simple. Some sports officials are like hyenas, like predators, they need to understand that they don’t belong to the sport.”
The US tops the all-time Olympic boxing medal list with 50 golds and 117 medals, while the UK is third.
USA Boxing ended its IBA membership last week, declaring its “full support” for World Boxing’s efforts to gain provisional IOC recognition.
The IBA was suspended by the IOC in 2019 over governance, finance, refereeing and ethical issues.
The IOC has stressed that it has “no problem” with boxing and boxers, just with its governing body. Relations deteriorated after 2017 when national boxing federations helped to remove long-time IOC member CK Wu as their president.
Tense relations between the IOC and the IBA, which was sponsored by Russian energy giant Gazprom, deteriorated further after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The IBA led by Kremlev defied the leadership of the IOC and last October lifted a ban on Russian and Belarusian boxers fighting under their flag.
Meanwhile, an independent investigation found that the IBA was on “the brink of financial ruin” due to mismanagement by the previous government until Gazprom’s sponsorship saved the body.
On Monday, however, Kremlev said Russia’s state-controlled gas giant was no longer a sponsor after its contract expired.
“Our contract with Gazprom expired in December 2022. We are grateful to them for helping us through a difficult period,” he said.
“In June or July we will have a new sponsor, but as of now there is no contract with Gazprom.
“We did not terminate the (Gazprom) contract because there were obligations to complete.”
The IOC has refused to confirm boxing’s place in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and has banned the IBA from hosting the qualifying and final tournaments for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The IBA will respond to the IOC’s latest request for details on governance reforms and changes by Friday, CEO George Yerolimpos said Monday.
Asked for details of the IBA’s financial future without Gazprom, Yerolimpos said Adidas signed a four-year licensing deal and 10 other “big names” he did not identify wanted to support boxing.
Yet even some IBA members were not happy with the organizers of the Men’s World Boxing Championships. Kosovo, whose independence is not recognized by dozens of countries, said it has been denied entry visas by Uzbekistan.
“Are you IBA Boxing or IBA Politics?” the Kosovo Olympic Committee wrote on Twitter, citing visa issues at previous boxing championships in Serbia and India since 2021.
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