It was a busy weekend for the International Boxing Federation (IBA). In two days, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December, the body chaired by the Russian Umar Kremlev completed its Global Boxing Forum 2022 in Abu Dhabi, then held its annual congress in the same city of the United Arab Emirates. According to an IBA press release, the congress “demonstrated the unity of the boxing family“. This unity was expressed in a very anecdotal vote to declare the former president of the international federation, Taiwanese CK Wu, persona non grata. The proposal was unanimously approved. In addition, the Canadian jurist Richard McLaren presented his report on the past and present situation of arbitration and judging in international competitions. It showed that international amateur boxing still had 30% of “high-risk” technical officials in 2021, when the refereeing control process began. This has now fallen to less than 5%. Finally, the Congress overwhelmingly approved a reform of the governance of the IBA. It provides for the transformation of the role of Secretary General into that of Director General – a position occupied by George Yerolimpos -, the change of title of the IBA Vice President to First Vice President, and the decision to organise at least six meetings per year of the Board. Russian Umar Kremlev, quoted by the IBA, commented: “The IOC must hear us. We have the same goals as them, to create the best conditions for the athletes. We have to fight for our sport at the Olympic Games. I want to stress that not a single boxer, coach or national federation will participate in the Olympic Games without the IBA. This is a request from the boxers.”
