Professional boxers eligible to qualify for Rio Olympics |03 March 2016
This year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will be the first time that professional boxers will be allowed to qualify.
This came after the International Boxing Association (Aiba) discussed and made a number of decisions during one of its congresses in South Korea last month. The congress is held every four years.
The alteration of the ‘professional boxing status’ was one of the most unique and controversial topics discussed and Aiba held its first professional boxing event on October 24, 2014.
Unlike in other sports, athletes competing in Aiba pro matches will be allowed to retain their amateur status with the national boxing federation. This allows them to still qualify as Olympic competitors.
Some critics say there will be conflict of interest given that Aiba is the governing body for amateur and now professional boxing under the APB (Aiba Pro Boxing) promotion, but they are also signing and promoting professional athletes under their own banner.
Others argue that competing through the Aiba gives all boxers hoping to reach the Olympic Games a level playing field and guarantees steady activity for the five years the competitor is under contract with the organisation.
Aiba president Dr C.K. Wu said the reform of Aiba dates back to 2006, when he was first elected to head the organisation.
“As an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member since 1988 and IOC executive board member since 2012, I was committed to bringing the noble art back to its golden age by capitalising on what has been achieved so far and aligning all of Aiba’s competitions with the principles of the Olympic movement,” said Dr Wu.
The Aiba boss added that “after the 1988 Olympic Games, the IOC decided to make all professional athletes eligible for the Olympic Games, subject to the approval of the responsible international federations”.
“Until recently, only professional boxers and wrestlers remained ineligible to compete in the Olympic Games. Up until the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, the only way boxers could qualify for the Games were through participating in Aiba’s Open Boxing (AOB) competition, as Aiba is the only boxing governing body recognised by the IOC. Following the 2008 Games, we wanted to explore ways through which boxers could learn, grow, and prosper within the sport of boxing professionally, while still ensuring their ability to qualify for the Olympics. In short, Aiba sought to provide boxers with stable training and competitive environments that would ultimately reinvigorate the grass roots of the sport, develop youth and elite boxing, and create new opportunities for semi-pro and pro-boxers,” said Dr Wu.
He added that this was one of the driving reasons behind Aiba’s establishment of two new pro-style competitions.
They are the World Series of Boxing (WSB) launched in 2010 and which is the only global pro-style team competition, and the Aiba Pro Boxing (APB) launched in 2014 and which is a ground-breaking new pro boxing competition based on individual rankings. APB is the first and only individual competition in the history of boxing, which allows pro boxers to compete while retaining their Olympic eligibility.
“Rio 2016 will be the first Olympic Games in history allowing pro boxers to compete. Following the introduction of APB and WSB, boxers can now qualify through all three AIBA competition formats: AOB, WSB and APB,” said Dr Wu.
The results of boxers competing in APB matches are reflected in their overall record and Dr Wu explained that boxers have a one-time option to return to the AOB (Aiba Open Boxing) competition format.
“Aiba is not receiving any opposition from other Olympic Sports. In fact, given we were one of the last international federations to be given permission for professional athletes compete in Olympic Games, other sports as well as the IOC have welcomed our introduction of WSB and now APB,” noted Dr Wu who added that since Aiba has expanded the number, and scope, of competitions under its umbrella – such as the WSB and APB – there are more boxers taking part in Aiba events than ever before.
Dr Wu added that Aiba will also continue to focus on developing the grassroots and club level competitors based on the new programmes’ successes.
“Aiba is the sole governing body of the sport of boxing that is recognised by the IOC, and as such, Aiba-sanctioned events are the only possible route for boxers to qualify for the Olympic Games,” stressed Dr Wu.
Compiled by G. G.