Press Release

STATEMENT FROM WORLD BOXING

Following the statement by the IOC today which called-on Boxing National Federations to act now to secure the Olympic future of the sport, World Boxing has issued the following statement:

“World Boxing welcomes today’s statement (HERE) by the IOC which made it clear that National Federations (NFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) need to act urgently and immediately if they want their boxers to continue to have the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games after Paris 2024.

“In its statement, the IOC made it clear that for boxing to be included at Los Angeles 2028, it needs to have a “recognised and reliable IF partner” to work with that “respects the IOC’s conditions for recognition” and that “every National Boxing Federation and NOC that wants its boxers to make their Olympic dreams a reality and win medals at Los Angeles 2028 will now have to take the necessary decision”.

“With this statement, which follows a recent meeting between the IOC and World Boxing (6 May 2024) when discussions took place about developing a pathway for ensuring boxing remains part of the Olympic Games, the IOC has sent a clear and unambiguous message to all NFs and NOCs that if they want their boxers to have the opportunity to compete at an Olympic Games after Paris 2024 they need to take immediate steps to join World Boxing. 

“This is the only path that will see boxing remain in the Olympic Games after Paris 2024 and all NFs must act now if they want boxing to have any chance of boxing still being part of the programme at Los Angeles 2028.”

World Boxing and Nike Boxing agree to exclusive deal for the sportswear giant to supply sporting apparel and footwear to the new International Federation

World Boxing has signed an exclusive agreement with global Nike licensee, Athlete Performance Solutions, for it to supply Nike Boxing sporting apparel and footwear to the International Federation.

The long-term deal will see Nike Boxing provide all of the clothing and footwear worn by officials on the field-of-play at competitions and create a collection of co-branded apparel and products for sale to consumers.

The President of Athlete Performance Solutions, Eddie Brown, said: “This is a milestone moment for our company. We are thrilled to partner with World Boxing at such a pivotal time in the sport’s history.

“This relationship will allow us to work closely with athletes, teams and coaches to create products which maximise the performance of boxers. We look forward to collaborating with World Boxing in their effort to ensure the stability and longevity of the sport of boxing on the international stage, where the incredible athletes in this sport truly belong.”

World Boxing’s Secretary General, Simon Toulson, added: “To secure an agreement with such a highly regarded brand is a major coup for World Boxing, and the sport of boxing, as it shows that globally admired organisations want to work with us and share our values and vision for the future of the sport.

“This agreement will deliver significant benefits for World Boxing.  It is a major endorsement of the massive progress we have made and a sign that World Boxing is continuing to go from strength-to-strength.”

The agreement with Nike Boxing is the second major commercial partnership secured by World Boxing in less than 12 months.  In November 2023 it announced an exclusive, four-year sponsorship deal with the equipment manufacturer, Sting, to provide all the gloves, protective clothing, handwraps and training equipment used by boxers at World Boxing tournaments and competitions.

World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with the aim of ensuring boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement. It held its first meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in May 2024 and plans to work constructively and collaboratively with all boxing stakeholders to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s ongoing place on the Olympic competition programme at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.

Athlete Performance Solutions is a global footwear and apparel licensee of Nike Inc., marketing, distributing, and selling Nike’s pinnacle, performance footwear, competition apparel, and word mark apparel for several sports. Athlete Performance Solutions, has operated as a global licensee for Nike Boxing for over 15 years, actively engages with athletes, federations, and retailers in the sport of boxing around the world.

World Boxing meets the International Olympic Committee to start Olympic Journey

World Boxing reached an important milestone in its development by attending its first formal meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the goal to ensure boxing is in the Olympic Games for LA28. 

Monday’s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland at the Olympic House, headquarters of the IOC, between the key figures from the IOC and World Boxing addressed the pathway for the future of boxing at the Olympic Games. 

As of today, boxing is not on the Olympic Programme for LA 28 which is an alarming fact for all involved in boxing. During the meeting the IOC clearly indicated that the new International Federation had to be supported by a global body of National Federations and the new International Federation had to show evidence of proper governance and leadership for the sport for the IOC to consider to put boxing back on the Olympic programme of LA28. 

Currently World Boxing is the only suitable International Federation to fulfil this mandate and is grateful to the IOC for starting a formal dialogue and outlining a future pathway to keep the sport in the Olympic Games. 

Boris van der Vorst, World Boxing President stated after the meeting, “Once again, we thank the IOC for their commitment and perseverance with boxing in the Olympic Games having run two Olympic editions themselves. Now it is time for World Boxing and National Federations to learn from their best practices and applied ethical principles.” 

“It is clearly imperative that those boxing nations interested to compete in the Olympic Games in the future need to show urgently their intent and commitment to the Olympic Games by joining World Boxing and retaining boxing at the Olympic Games. Otherwise, the loss of boxing’s Olympic status would be our worst nightmare.” 

World Boxing was launched in April 2023. It will seek recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and plans to work constructively and collaboratively to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s ongoing place on the Olympic competition programme at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond. In November 2023, World Boxing held its inaugural Congress in Frankfurt where it conducted open, transparent and fair elections which saw members vote to elect a President and Executive Board. 

Statement from World Boxing following the decision by CAS to uphold the IOC’s decision to withdraw recognition of IBA

 “World Boxing welcomes the decision by CAS to withdraw recognition of IBA and the subsequent comments by the IOC in which it expressed a desire to partner with a new International Federation that is committed to ‘good governance, the integrity of competitions, transparency of finances and accounts, and autonomy’. 

“That International Federation is World Boxing. The decision by CAS and the comments from the IOC send a clear and unambiguous message to all National Federations that if they want boxers from their country to have the life-changing opportunity to continue to compete at future Olympic Games then they must now support and seek to join World Boxing, which is the last remaining hope for the sport to retain its status as an Olympic sport beyond Paris 2024. 

“There is no alternative and the IOC has made it clear that the ‘National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Boxing Federations hold the future of Olympic boxing in their own hands’. 

“Any National Federation or NOC that continues to think its boxers will have an Olympic future elsewhere and without joining World Boxing is making a grave error that will be ruinous for the sport and hugely damaging for its boxers. 

“For boxing to lose its place at the Olympic Games would be devastating for boxers at all levels in every part of the world. The Olympic Games provides inspiration and an unmatched platform for the sport. Without the Olympic Games, boxing and boxers will suffer. Fewer people will come into the sport at the grassroots and there will be less opportunities for elite boxers. This will damage the sport at every level and cannot be allowed to happen. 

“This is an urgent situation and the clock is ticking. The leaders of boxing’s National Federations now have a critically important decision to make and we urge every one of them that cares about boxers and the future of the sport to apply to join and support World Boxing in its efforts to ensure boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement, before it is too late.” 

World Boxing publishes Strategic Plan 2024-28

World Boxing, the new International Federation set-up to ensure boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement, has published its Strategic Plan 2024-28.

The plan was formally approved by World Boxing’s members at its inaugural Congress and details how the organisation will: keep boxing at the heart of the Olympic movement; ensure the interests of boxers are put first; deliver sporting integrity and fair competitions; create a competition structure designed in the best interests of the boxers and operate according to strong governance standards and transparent financial management.

The plan is built around the delivery of five strategic objectives and sets out a series of action plans detailing how it will:

  • Establish World Boxing as a recognised credible organisation
  • Operate best practice governance
  • Deliver world standard competitions
  • Increase the worldwide media exposure of boxing
  • Achieve financial stability and sustainability 

It contains sections on World Boxing as a business, the core business product of boxing and details the vision, mission and values of World Boxing.

Simon Toulson, Secretary General, World Boxing, said: “Since it was publicly launched in April 2023 World Boxing has achieved an enormous amount in a short time. It has established itself as a credible international sports organisation with nearly 30 member National Federations from all five Continents and staged its inaugural Congress in which it held open, transparent and fair elections that mean World Boxing now has a high-quality Executive Board with many years of boxing experience.

“The Strategy sets out a roadmap for how World Boxing will build on this and deliver on its central goals of ensuring its creates a better future for the sport and ensures boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.”

World Boxing’s Strategic Plan 2024-28 can be viewed here.

Pueblo in the USA to host the second World Boxing Cup event of 2024 as boxers prepare for last chance to qualify for Paris Olympics

The second World Boxing Cup of 2024 will take place at the Pueblo Convention Center, Pueblo, Colorado, 16-20 April 2024.

More than 150 boxers from over 20 countries are registered to take part in the event, which is officially known as the ‘World Boxing Cup: USA Boxing International Invitational’.

National Olympic Committees (NOCs) that have registered teams to take part in the event include: Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Sweden, Chinese Taipei, US Virgin Islands and the Boxing Refugee Team.

The home nation line-up is expected to include the six boxers that have already qualified for Paris 2024:

Jennifer Lozano (50kg), Jajaira Gonzalez (60kg), Morelle McCane (66kg), Jahmal Harvey (57kg), Omari Jones (71 kg) and Joshua Edwards (92kg+).

The Pueblo event follows January’s ‘World Boxing Cup: GB Open – Sheffield 2024’ in England and is part of the new World Boxing Cup format which enables male and female boxers accrue ranking points over several stages of competition throughout the calendar year. It culminates in a year-end Finals event when the stage winners and other top-ranked boxers will compete for the World Boxing Cup trophy.

The five-day competition will take place at all 13 Olympic weight categories, seven for men and six for women. There will be two sessions per day [at 12:00 and 18:00 Mountain Time (MT) / 19:00 and 01:00 Central European Time (CET)] for the first four days and one session for the final day of action (12:00 MT). 

Many of the participating countries will use the event in Pueblo as preparation for the 2nd World Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, 25 May – 2 June 2024, which will be the final chance for boxers to secure qualification for Paris 2024.

The draw for the World Boxing Cup: USA Boxing International Invitational, which is being delivered by USA Boxing in association with World Boxing, will take place on 15 April 2024 and all of the event information, include draw sheets, results, updates, photographs and a live stream of the action can be viewed at: https://www.usaboxing.org/2024-international-invitational.

World Boxing’s President, Boris van der Vorst, said:  “We are committed to delivering high quality competition opportunities for boxers and I am very grateful to our colleagues at USA Boxing for hosting this event.  I am very confident that it will build on the success of the recent World Boxing Cup in England and will provide excellent competition for all of the boxers and support the preparation of those men and women that are planning to compete in the final Olympic qualifying event in Thaliand in May.”

Mike McAtee, Executive Director/Chief Executive, USA Boxing, added: “USA Boxing is excited to host a preview of this summer’s Olympic Games on our home field with World Boxing. This competition will provide boxers with a high-quality experience before representing their respective countries in Paris, with many of these boxers expected to be boxing for a Olympic gold medal this summer. We look forward to showcasing amateur Olympic-style boxing to our community and building a fan base for our team and the other teams heading into Paris.”

More news on the World Boxing Cup: USA Boxing International Invitational will be posted on World Boxing’s social channels in the build-up to the event and throughout the competition at:

Statement from World Boxing following the IOC Executive Board Meeting

“World Boxing welcomes the clear position provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its press conference (19 March 2024) on the status of boxing at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

“The comments made by the IOC send a clear message to Boxing National Federations that they must join and support a new International Federation immediately if boxing is to remain on the Olympic Programme, or the sport will not be part of future editions of the Olympic Games after Paris 2024, which will have devastating consequences for young boxers, at all levels, across the world.

“World Boxing aims to be the new International Federation and has been established with the primary aim of ensuring that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.  It has been founded on the principles of integrity, honesty and excellence and is underpinned by rigorous governance practices, designed to put the interests of boxers first and ensure that the integrity of the sport is guaranteed and competition is fair.

“World Boxing will seek recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and, should it choose to engage with us, we are committed to working constructively and collaboratively with National Federations and all stakeholders to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s place on the Olympic programme at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.

“With its comments, the IOC has sent a direct and unequivocal message to everyone connected with the sport and we call upon all National Federations and everyone that cares about boxers and the future of boxing to join and support World Boxing and work with us to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.”

World Boxing’s Executive Board approves the nominations of Tammara Thibeault and Caitlin Parker to join its Athlete Committee

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
(Photo by Athlete365)

Canada’s Tammara Thibeault and Caitlin Parker from Australia have joined World Boxing’s Athlete Committee after their nominations were approved at a recent meeting of its Executive Board.

The pair, who both competed at the 2020 Olympic Games and have qualified for Paris 2024, join Athlete Representatives, Lauren Price and Richard Torrez Jr, who sit on World Boxing’s Executive Board, to form a cohort of boxers that will strengthen the athlete focus of the organisation.

The Athletes Committee is responsible for representing the views of boxers worldwide and providing advice, guidance and opinions to World Boxing.  The members of the Athletes Committee are regularly consulted on relevant matters to ensure the views of boxers are reflected in World Boxing’s decision making. They also represent the organisation publicly and are invited to attend and contribute to meetings of the Executive Board and the World Boxing Congress.

The two new additions to the Athletes Committee both compete at middleweight (75kg) and have previously boxed each other, most recently in the semi-final of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games when the Canadian edged the bout and went on to take gold. 

Tammara Thibeault is also the current 2023 Pan-American Games champion and won gold at the 2022 world championships in Istanbul.  In addition to her bronze from Birmingham, Caitlin Parker, won a silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the 2014 Youth Olympics. 

Tammara Thibeault said: “I am honoured to be a part of World Boxing’s future and thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the effort to keeping Olympic boxing in the Games. As we manage this significant shift in our sport’s leadership, it is up to athletes like us to speak for future generations. In this new chapter of amateur boxing history, I am dedicated to bringing about change through integrity and excellence.”  

Caitlin Parker added: “I am looking forward to positively contributing to the future of World Boxing, as we work together to secure boxing as part of the Olympic programme.”

Both boxers were approved as members of the Athlete Committee at the most recent meeting of the World Boxing Executive Board on 26 February 2024.

The Executive Board meeting made decisions on a wide range of measures to enable the organisation to build on the success it has achieved since it was publicly launched in April 2023. They included:

  • World Boxing’s Strategic Plan 2024-2028 was formally approved.  This will be published shortly on the World Boxing website
  • The approval of World Boxing’s new Competition Rules which will be published shortly on the World Boxing website
  • The new certification process for Referees and Judges (R and J’s) was formally approved and will be rolled-out amongst National Federation from March 2024 onwards
  • It was confirmed that the next World Boxing Cup event will be in the USA in April 2024 and that discussions are at an advanced stage with a member country to host the season finale of this competition in November or December 2024
  • An update was provided on recent meetings hosted by members of the Executive Board with key sporting stakeholders in Lausanne
  • A series of decisions were made in relation to key committees:
    • Boxing Scotland board member, Daryl Broadfoot, was added to the Marketing and Commercial Development Commission
    • The Sports and Competition Committee was given the go ahead to create two sub-commissions, a Technical Commission and a Coaches Commission, for which member National Federation will be asked to submit suitable candidates
    • The composition of the Continental Confederation Commission was approved by the Executive Board
    • The Medical and Anti-Doping Committee committed to hold a face-to-face meeting at the next World Boxing Cup event in the USA
    • The Finance Committee outlined the financial planning and auditing process

Boris van der Vorst, President of World Boxing said: “Ensuring the views of athletes are at the centre of decision making is core to World Boxing’s way of working and it is fantastic that we have been able to attract two such high calibre candidates as Tammara and Caitlin to join the organisation.  They have both achieved a great deal, inside and outside of the ring, and I am sure they will make a fantastic contribution to the future development of World Boxing.

“As the outputs from Executive Board meeting demonstrate World Boxing continues to make excellent progress across all aspects of its operations, including competition delivery, officiating, commercial activities and continuing to enhance the infrastructure of our organisation.  

“We have come a long way in a very short space of time and I have no doubt, that with the ongoing support of our colleagues and our members, World Boxing will continue to go from strength-to-strength as we work towards our goal of ensuring boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.” 

World Boxing was launched in April 2023 and aims to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement.  It will seek recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and plans to work constructively and collaboratively to develop a pathway that will preserve boxing’s ongoing place on the Olympic competition programme at Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.

27 National Federations, covering every continent that participates in Olympic-style boxing are members of World Boxing.  The first cohort was made-up of USA Boxing, New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, GB Boxing, England Boxing and the Dutch Boxing Federation.  They were joined in August 2023 by the National Federations for boxing in Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Honduras and Sweden.  The next two groups to join included Denmark, Mongolia, Panama, French Polynesia, Finland, Iceland, Jamaica, Nigeria, Norway and the Czech Republic.  The most recent cohort of members in October 2023 was comprised of Philippines, Scotland, Wales, Suriname and the US Virgin Islands.