The Finnish Boxing Association is applying to become a member of the new World Boxing Association. The competitive umbrella organization established this year has member associations from 12 countries.
The Finnish Boxing Association leaves the International Boxing Association (IBA) and applies to become a member of the new World Boxing Association.
Executive Director of the Boxing Association Marko Laine According to The president of the IBA is still a Russian Umar Kremlev.
World Boxing is a federation established this year, which currently has 12 amateur boxing member federations: United States, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, England, Holland, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Honduras.
IBA still allows Russians and Belarusians to participate in its events with their own country codes. Several countries have boycotted IBA events because of this.
According to the law, changing the federation has no effect on the upcoming Olympic qualifiers, because the qualifiers are handled by a unit established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instead of the IBA. The IOC already banned the IBA from organizing the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to corruption scandals.
– The IOC has already shelved the IBA and the qualifying tournaments for the Olympics are events organized by the International Olympic Committee. There should not be Russians or Belarusians involved in these events, Laine commented to Urheilu.
The IBA is still the dominant power association in the number of Olympic-style boxing member countries. However, the IOC decided in June that the association will not participate in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 either. World Boxing is not yet approved by the IOC.
– We want to continue participating in the Olympics and we believe that World Boxing will make participation possible. The boxing association still strongly condemns the Russian war of aggression, says Laine.
According to the rules of the boxing association, the board would have had the authority to make a decision to change the association, but due to the significance of the decision, the old board convened a meeting of the association to decide on the matter.
The federal assembly dismissed the old board and a new board was elected. The new Board of the Boxing Association decided on Tuesday to leave the IBA and apply for membership in World Boxing.
The next Olympic-style boxing qualifiers will take place in Busto Arizio, Italy from 29 February to 12 March 2024 and in Bangkok, Thailand from 23 May to 3 June 2024.
Finland does not yet have a single place in boxing for the Paris Olympics.