Round 12: Rescuing Olympic boxing for 2028
By Mauricio Sulaimán – WBC President – Son of José Sulaimán
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have ended, and in my opinion many good things were achieved in general during this, which is the most important event in the world of sports.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has always extremely complicated decisions in its hands, to achieve a balance between what the Olympic Letter says, and the changes it must make to maintain media and ratings interest, in addition to the total financial results and the interest of the new generations, both to practice in various sports and for the audience, to follow these competitions with interest.
I want to share my conclusions about boxing, as this is the sport that is my concern.
Phew! Where to start? As of today, boxing is out of Los Angeles 2028. A titanic task is required, for our sport to be in the Olympic Games in four years.
Why is boxing out? Because of the poor, controversial and even corrupt administration of AIBA for decades. The IOC suspended them as Boxing´s International Federation and then expelled them for good. At this time, there is no International Federation recognized by the IOC for boxing.
What needs to be done?
The first step is to get the national boxing federations of many countries to join the new group called World Boxing (WB), who already has a path with the IOC, and the only thing missing is sufficient affiliation of countries. Mexico, for example, is not affiliated with the WB, as it is still affiliated with the IBA (formerly AIBA).
What happened in boxing at Paris 2024?
Overall, it was a very good Olympic boxing competition, just a couple of issues to discuss that I will underneath.
These were the most important conclusions:
· 32 countries won medals in boxing.
· Uzbekistan won five gold medals.
· The United States won only one bronze.
· China won three golds and two silvers.
· Cuba won only one gold and one bronze.
· Only Three professional boxers participated and they all won medals.
· Men’s boxing was held without headguards.
· All the days of competition were sold-out .
· A very high rating throughout the world proves the great interest of boxing worldwide.
Boxing was practiced in these Olympic Games based on the competition rules that AIBA had. The IOC decided not to get involved in regulatory matters when it disavowed them, and only appointed an internal committee to handle qualification and administration issues during Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
The most serious issue in these rules imposed by the AIBA, since Rio 2016, was to allow professional boxers to be eligible to fight in the Olympic Games.
The reasons were very clear, business, without considering in the least the physical integrity of the athletes and the serious repercussions that such a measure can bring. Boxing is not a game, it is a contact sport. There are no baskets scored here, it is not golf or tennis, and time records are not broken; it is a sport of blows.
They tried to summon Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez, Deontay Wilder and any powerful champion, who, without a doubt, would have hurt a young boxer. The WBC imposed a two-year ban on any professional who participated, and the measure was successful; only three professionals fought in Rio 2016, and they were of low level.
Another problem with the rules is that there is not the slightest measure to guarantee the level of competition, which goes hand in hand with the previous issue. Just as El Canelo is to participate, si is any youngster who then would have to face this super world champion in four divisions.
In boxing, it is very important to have a level of skill. In the professional level, a debutant fights four rounds against a similar opponent, then six, eight and 10 rounds, and then the championship level is 12 rounds. Or like in karate, where there are colors of the ribbons that show the level of that athlete.
One of my complaints about Paris 2024 is that three professionals participated, 2 men, both from Uzbekistan, gold medalists in Tokyo 2020, and who jumped to professionalism and are undefeated. Obviously they won gold at these Olympic Games.
The super heavyweight, Bakhodir Jalolov, with an amateur record of 104-14, and a professional record of 14-0, with 14 KOs, defeated the Spaniard Ayoub Ghaofa, with an amateur record of 37-24.
The other Uzbek, Hasanboy Dusmatov, with 124-13 (amateur), and 6-0 as a professional, defeated the French Billal Bennama, with a record of 74-30.
The Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira went home with bronze medals.
It couldn’t be clearer, NO profesional fighters should be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, Imagine facing a high-level professional, a world champion, it would be barbaric.
Another rule that I find difficult to accept is removing the headguards from the men. Several winners had to go home, having come out cut and not going to the next fight.
The Mexican Marco Verde came out cut on his left eyebrow and had to fight like that for the bronze medal, and in the end, that is giving a significant advantage, a strong handicap to start with a cut!
The issue of women and the scandal that occurred in Paris over two female fighters and their obvious issue of male chromosomes, I already commented on last week.
Both, Imane Khelif, from Algeria, and Lin Yu-ting, from Chinese Taipei, obviously, won gold.
Boxing is a world wide sport, it is the national sport of many countries, it was great following and it serves a huge role in todays society. Boxing must remain in the Olympic Games, please support in any way you can the move to do so
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