She was believed to be moribund. And even, come on, close to asphyxiation since being sidelined by the IOC from the Olympic movement. But the International Boxing Federation (IBA) is still breathing. Her annual congress, held on Saturday December 9 in a large hotel in Dubai, demonstrated this without nuance: she even displays brilliant health.
The best illustration: its workforce. No less than 170 national federations were represented in Dubai. The exodus anticipated during the creation last April of a rival body, World Boxing, did not take place. The IBA holds its troops well.
Its new competitor, chaired since its inaugural congress last month in Frankfurt by the Dutchman Boris van der Vorst, has stolen a few from it. A little less than thirty, at the last count. But, clever in its strategy of occupying the ground, the IBA is working to recover on the right what it has lost on the left.
Saturday, December 9, the Dubai Congress was dominated by an exercise that is rare in the international sports movement: a game of musical chairs between national federations. Three countries were excluded from the game. Four entered. On arrival, the differential remains positive for the IBA.
Those excluded, whose definitive suspension was approved by vote by an overwhelming majority, are all European. The Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands, all gone to World Boxing, are no longer part of the scene. Sweden, also tempted by competition, also disappeared. But her case was not decided by a vote: she had already submitted her resignation.
Entrants present three types of profile. Tuvalu, a Polynesian archipelago, and the Norfolk Islands, an Australian territory in the Pacific, join the great IBA family with no other ambition than to be numerous. They will be discreet.
Switzerland presents a very different path, especially in the eyes of the IBA and its president, the Russian Umar Kremlev (photo above). Its boxing federation (Swiss Boxing) had initially left the ship, when World Boxing was created. But the decision of its president was contested internally, under pressure in particular from boxers. Saturday December 9, Swiss Boxing was reinstated in the IBA to loud applause from the audience.
Even more interesting case, the United States. The “official” national federation, USA Boxing, also chose the path of split. She is even among the initiators of the creation of World Boxing. A hard blow for the IBA? Without the slightest doubt.
But the body found a solution by bringing the American boxers, or at least some of them, back into the house. Saturday, December 9, the congress voted in favor of the membership of the US Boxing Federation, a new organization created after the departure of USA Boxing. Clarification: the new American federation, which boasts 130 elite boxers, is chaired by former world champion Roy Jones Jr, an ally and early supporter of Umar Kremlev.
The Russian leader explained it without tongue in cheek: the IBA is meeting “ problems " in several countries with existing federations. She decided to suspend them, but without drawing a definitive line on the nations in question. “ We already have applicants interested in applying for IBA membership, as the US Boxing Federation has done, assures the Russian. We are open to candidates from countries that are leaving the IBA or that will be removed by the decision of our congress. »
In Dubai, Saturday December 9, the IBA also announced the creation of a professional boxing committee. He will notably supervise the Champion's Night series, the number of which will increase from 10 to 13 in 2024. The body also announced that it had adopted a new points counting system. Presumed “ revolutionary ", it was developed by UNIXON Systems in cooperation with the Japan Boxing Federation and LiveMedia Corporation.
