GOVERNANCE

World Boxing’s Statutes and all of its codes and policies can be accessed in the sections below:

World Boxing was founded on the principles of integrity, honesty and excellence and is underpinned by rigorous governance practices that have been built into the Statutes of the organisation. These are supported by an extensive range of codes and policies that enshrine the principle of independent, third-party oversight and enforcement across all aspects of its work.

The Statutes have been developed following wide-ranging research into best practice in global sporting governance and cover every aspect of World Boxing’s operations, including safeguarding; the health and safety of boxers; refereeing and judging; competition manipulation; election protocols; codes of behaviour; and equality and inclusion.

Central to all of these is the principle of independent, third-party oversight and enforceability, which World Boxing ensures by working with Sport Resolutions, the leading independent provider of sport-specific arbitration and mediation services, to provide a third-party ethics and judicial procedure that is completely separate from the organisation and oversees potential issues and disputes.

This process operates through an external, independent Ethics Chief, Ian Hunt, who was appointed in November 2025 and has more than 40 years’ experience in legal practice covering a wide range of areas.

In his role as World Boxing’s Ethics Chief, Hunt advises on issues and disagreements related to governance and operations; reviews policies and programmes to ensure they are consistent with World Boxing’s ethics and values; responds to complaints and enquiries of an ethical nature; brings issues of ethical importance to the Executive Board and Secretary General; and ensures World Boxing’s operational activities are ethical, fair and transparent.

In this independent position, he is the first point of contact for all issues and determines, in the first instance, whether a complaint needs to be elevated to the approved World Boxing independent third-party organisation for further action or can be dealt with reasonably and fairly within the existing governance remit of the organisation.

If an independent third-party body is required to adjudicate on an issue, it will be comprised of up to three people with relevant expertise and will not include anyone from World Boxing, which will have no involvement in the process. The decision of the third-party body will be final, with the only scope for appeal being to take the issue to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Having this level of truly independent oversight and enforceability represents a gold standard in international sporting governance. It means that the President and Executive Board are subject to the decisions of the independent third-party body and reinforces the principle that World Boxing’s elected officials are appointed to serve and act in the best interests of the sport and its boxers.

This process has been written into the World Boxing Statutes and applies to all aspects of the organisation’s operations. By embedding the principle of independent, third-party oversight into its constitution, World Boxing has established rigorous and enforceable governance structures that will support ethical and transparent decision-making.

The financial transparency of World Boxing is enhanced through the appointment of highly respected Swiss auditors with longstanding experience of working with international sports organisations, Fidurev SA, and by maintaining a Swiss bank account subject to some of the world’s most stringent rules on financial compliance.