NEWS

Japanese amateur Sewonrets Okazawa vows to become the face of boxing ahead of LA28

Okazawa
Sewonrets Okazawa competing in the 70kg final of the World Boxing Championships Liverpool 2025

“I was laughed at for my colour,” recalled Japanese-Ghanaian Sewonrets Okazawa when discussing his upbringing and the adversity that came with being a rare Japanese schoolboy of African heritage.

Rather than allowing the prejudice he experienced to define him, Okazawa learned to embrace the visibility that came with standing out. “My skin colour attracted attention,” he explained. “This made me happy. I like being the centre of attention.”

Perhaps, that familiarity of being over-analysed and constantly under the microscope as a youth has served Okazawa well in his boxing career, as opponents attempt to dissect his awkward style and develop plans to overcome it. Nevertheless, it is additional attention that Okazawa continues to yearn for, keen to bring more Japanese eyes to the amateur version of the sport by medalling at the Los Angeles 28 Olympic Games in two years’ time.

Who is Sewonrets Okazawa?

The Olympics has always been the target for the Yamagata-born southpaw, who originally aspired to represent Japan as a wrestler until an intimidating boxer approached him at his school and asked him to join the local boxing club. Without hesitation, more due to fear than excitement, Okazawa nodded his head in agreement and never looked back.

Okazawa
Sewonrets Okazawa posing at the World Boxing Championships Liverpool 2025

From that point onwards, he has grown to love the sport – or ‘art’ as he calls it – inspired by Cuban standouts such as Guillermo Rigondeaux and Lazaro Alvarez, taking influence from their fights whilst simultaneously building a reputation of his own.

Olympic experience and international glory

Okazawa picked up the silver medal of the 2019 Asian Championships in Bangkok before achieving his dream of competing at the Olympics and doing so on home soil at Tokyo 2020, only to be eliminated in the second round of the welterweight (63-69kg) tournament. However, the now 30-year-old bounced back and claimed two high-profile tournament victories, including the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou to re-emerge as a threat to the Olympic podium. 

Despite those feats, at Paris 2024, Okazawa was left wanting again, eliminated in the second round once more, this time as a light-middleweight (71kg).

Still, his goal is clear and his will is as infectious as ever as LA28 and a third consecutive Olympic Games loom. In an interview with World Boxing, Okazawa, who trains alongside pound-for-pound Japanese professional boxing star Naoya Inoue at Kanoya Gym in Kagoshima, explained that his burning desire to claim gold in the United States also serves a wider purpose.

“I am obsessed with amateur boxing, I love this sport. I want to make amateur boxing a more popular sport in Japan, that is why I appear on such a variety of shows. My greatest achievement was the World Championship gold, it was the biggest title for me but I felt sad after it.

“I thought winning a gold medal at the World Championships [in 2021] would bring about a major change, but the public simply wasn’t interested. The reaction back home was even greater for the Asian Games victory than for that [World Championship win]. 

“Yet, the event that had an even bigger impact, despite the loss, was the Paris Olympics. Witnessing the influence of Olympic-related competitions, I vowed to win an Olympic gold medal and become the face of the sport, not just for me but for all Japanese amateur boxers. 

“If I can take gold in Los Angeles, I can be a star in Japan, I am sure of that. It’s not something that I want, it is something that I need.”

Okazawa
Sewonrets Okazawa receives his World Boxing Championships silver medal

Since his Paris 2024 elimination, Okazawa has responded well, finishing as the runner-up to the highly rated Odel Kamara (ENG) at the World Boxing Cup Finals Sheffield 2024 before adding another silver medal, from the World Boxing Championships Liverpool 2025, to his growing list of accolades – trumped only by Torekhan Sabyrkhan (KAZ) in a razor-tight final.

These experiences, alongside Okazawa’s mentality and the company in which he surrounds himself with at Kanoya make him one to watch during the run-up to Los Angeles, where he hopes his long-standing thirst for Olympic glory may finally be quenched. 

Tom Eaton for World Boxing

WORLD BOXING PUBLISHES UPDATED RANKINGS FOLLOWING WORLD BOXING CUP IN CHINA

WORLD Boxing has published its latest rankings for elite men and women: https://worldboxing.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/World-Boxing-Ranking-2026-July.pdf.

The rankings, which cover performances from July 2024 – June 2026, have been updated to include the recent ‘World Boxing Cup: China 2026 – Guiyang City’ which has seen a number of boxers make progress following their success at the tournament.

In the women’s categories, Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Grafeyeva has entered the top three at lightweight (W60kg)after her gold in China, while Ziyi Bao has gone from three to two after her middleweight (W75kg) win at home. A silver medal in Guiyang City has seen England’s Sacha Hickey move from eight to six at welterweight(W65kg), while China’s Liu Yang, has jumped six places from 14 to eight at light-middleweight (W70kg), thanks to her gold at the same tournament.

The main movers in the men’s weights are three boxers that won silver medals at the most recent World Boxing Cup. At light-middleweight (M70kg), India’s Deepak Deepak has gone from 12 to nine; at heavyweight, England’s Isaac Okoh has moved up two places to number eight in the world; and at super-heavyweight Nikita Putilov of Germany has risen from 16 to 12.

Six boxers consolidated their position at the top of the rankings with gold medals in Guiyang City. They included Paris 2024 gold medallist, Wu Yu of China (W51kg), Kazakhstan’s 2025 World Boxing Champions, Sanzhar Tashkenbay (M50kg) and Aibek Oralbay (M90kg+) and Abdumalik Khalokov (M60kg), JavokhirUmmataliev (M80kg) and Turabek Khabibillaev (M90kg) of Uzbekistan.

The new rankings are the fifth set published by World Boxing with points being awarded for performances at the Olympic Games, World Boxing Cups, World Boxing Championships, Continental Championships, Continental Multi-Sport Games and the World Boxing Cup Finals.

The rankings are used for seeding boxers at competitions with the points issued on a three-year cycle. Boxers may not accumulate ranking points from more than four competitions at a given time.

The next ranking event of 2026 will be the European Boxing Championships in Sofia, 15 – 26 September 2026followed by The Asian Games in Aichi/Nagoya, 19 September – 4 October 2026.

World Boxing’s competition calendar for 2026 can be viewed HERE.

World Boxing Extraordinary Congress strengthens governance with new Ethics Committee

World Boxing today held an Extraordinary Congress, at which member federations approved a series of measures further strengthening the organisation’s governance framework.

Opening the Congress, World Boxing President Gennadiy Golovkin underlined the organisation’s continued commitment to transparent, accountable and athlete-centred governance as it builds toward full IOC recognition and boxing’s long-term Olympic future.

With the quorum of member federations confirmed, delegates approved three governance measures.

First, a constitutional amendment on the Ethics Committee was adopted by the required two-thirds majority. It establishes a permanent Ethics Committee, appointed by Congress on the recommendation of the Executive Board, replacing the previous ad interim body.

Second, delegates approved the composition of the World Boxing Ethics Committee, which takes office on 2 July 2026. The Committee will be chaired by Margot Foster, alongside members Norihide Ishido, Daniel Pitt — appointed by the Athletes’ Committee and independent member Kirsty Burrows.

Third, the Congress approved the appointment of Nexio Fiduciaire SA as auditors for the 2025 accounts. 

Each measure was carried with overwhelming support from the membership.

“Today’s meeting is a big step for our future. We must make decisions, which follow the recommendations from the ASOIF Governance Review and support our recognition by the IOC. This is fundamental to creating a strong and trusted International Federation,” said World Boxing President Gennadiy Golovkin.

The decisions reinforce the independent oversight and financial-governance structures World Boxing has put in place over recent months. The organisation’s governance program continues at its Congress in Panama in November 2026, where members will consider the next set of governance and athlete-focused measures, including an Athletes’ Rights Charter aligned with the IOC Athletes’ Declaration.

Boxing competition at Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics will deliver gender parity with 60 men and 60 women from 79 National Olympic Committees selected to compete

The athlete selection process for the Boxing competition at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games has been completed with 120 athlete quota places allocated to 79 National Olympic Committees (NOCs).

The final allocation of 60 male and 60 female athletes achieves full gender parity and will maintain the sporting integrity of the competition while also delivering strong global representation across all five continents.

The allocation reflects the IOC Participation Principles for Dakar 2026 which are based on the six key pillars of:

  • Universality
  • Continental Representation
  • Athlete Performance
  • Gender Equality
  • NOC Representation
  • Event Representation

To support the principle of Athlete Performance, in March 2026 World Boxing organised the World Boxing Futures Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, for boxers under the age of 19. The competition featured more than 450 boxers and demonstrated that the boxers who are eligible for selection for Dakar 2026 possessed the competitive standard required for participation at the Youth Olympic Games.

World Boxing also provided travel and accommodation support to 23 participating National Federations and NOC’s, through Olympic Solidarity funding, to reduce financial barriers to participation and facilitate athlete access to the qualification process.

A full breakdown of NOCs per weight category can be seen below.

Table of Women’s Weight Categories for Dakar 2026:

W48W51W54W57W60
ALGBOTEGYALGALG
NGRKENMARSENEGY
MARALGBENTUNSEN
AZEBELROUHUNNED
GBRPOLGERFRALTU
MGLBHUJPNIRIKGZ
INDJORKAZKAZJPN
COLVENVENECUUZB
MEXPANCOLBRAUKR
TURAUSAUSTPEFIJ
THACANKORPOLCHN
ITANZLUZBUKRSVK

Table of Men’s Weight Categories for Dakar 2026

M50M55M60M65M70
SENTOGSEYALGEGY
NAMMRIMRIEGYGHA
SOMLBAGAMTJKLBA
IRLGEOTURARMLAT
ROUSWESVKESPCZE
INDLBNTHAJPNBAN
TKMKSACHNJORUAE
MEXDOMHONTTOMEX
COLCANGUAMEXECU
NZLAUSFIJISRSAM
IRQFINGEQMDAGBR
HKGTKMPURUZBKAZ

The YOG World Boxing Athlete Selection report is available HERE.

The YOG Dakar 2026 Participation Principles are HERE.

The YOG Dakar 2026 Boxing Quota Allocation Report is HERE.

World Boxing confirms two-year suspension for boxer after three whereabouts failures in 12 months

World Boxing can confirm that Mongolia’s Enkhtur Tegshjargal has accepted a two-year period of ineligibility for an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV).

Following an agreement in October 2024, all of World Boxing’s clean sport activities are delegated to the International Testing Agency (ITA) which provides a high-quality anti-doping programme that includes education, in competition and out of competition testing, and results management.

Under Article 2.4 of the World Boxing Anti-Doping Rules (available HERE) Enkhtur Tegshjargal committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period.

The athlete has accepted the ADRV and agreed with the consequences proposed by the ITA. Accordingly, the case was resolved by way of an agreement on consequences and the athlete’s period of ineligibility is from 10 June 2026 – 9 June 2028.

All of the athlete’s competitive results obtained from the date of commission of the ADRV (29 November 2025) until the start of the period of Ineligibility (10 June 2026) are disqualified, including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.

Details of the ITA’s statement on this case are HERE.

Detail of the agreement between World Boxing and the ITA are HERE.

World Boxing Leaders Attend Historic IOC Session on “Fit for the Future”

World Boxing President Gennadiy Golovkin and Secretary General Tom Dielen attended the 146th IOC Session on “Fit for the Future” in Lausanne today, joining representatives from across the Olympic Movement as discussions took place on the long-term future of sport and the continued evolution of the Olympic Games.

Led by IOC President Kirsty Coventry, the “Fit for the Future” initiative is examining how the Olympic Movement can remain relevant, sustainable and impactful in a rapidly changing world. The process focuses on key areas including governance, athlete welfare, youth engagement, innovation, sustainability and the long-term strength of the Olympic Games and Olympic values.

As a provisional member of the Olympic Movement, World Boxing welcomed the opportunity to observe and learn from the discussions and to contribute to the broader dialogue about the future of international sport.

World Boxing President Gennadiy Golovkin said:

“For a recently established International Federation such as World Boxing, it is a privilege to be part of the continuing dialogue about the future of the Olympic Movement. The ‘Fit for the Future’ initiative demonstrates the IOC’s commitment to ensuring that the Olympic Games and the values they represent remain relevant and meaningful in a rapidly changing world. We also support the IOC’s decision to create a $100 million fund for athletes, allowing those who have competed in the Olympic Games to apply for grants of $10,000.”

Secretary General Tom Dielen said:

“As a developing federation, we know that strengthening governance is a continuous journey. We have made this a key priority and remain committed to learning from best practice across the Olympic Movement. World Boxing fully supports this process and recognises the importance of the themes being discussed, particularly the emphasis on good governance, transparency and accountability. 

The participation of World Boxing’s leadership at the Session reflects the federation’s commitment to aligning itself with the highest standards of governance and integrity while contributing positively to the future development of the Olympic Movement.

World Boxing and Waychamp Sports Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Explore Cooperation in Boxing Technology, Events and Education

World Boxing and Wuxi Waychamp Culture and Sports Development Co., Ltd. (“Waychamp Sports”) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore potential collaborations in events, education and technology deployment to support the continued development, modernization and growth of Olympic boxing.

The MoU provides a framework for potential collaboration across a number of areas including:

  • The creation and sale of event-related merchandise
  • The development of advanced scoring systems and related equipment, including decision support tools and sensor-based equipment, to improve the deployment of technology in the scoring process and enhance sporting integrity
  • The development of professional training and education programmes for the boxing community

Under the MoU, Waychamp Sports will have the opportunity to develop and sell related merchandise at selected World Boxing competitions and events where it has been appointed through a competitive tender process to act as an official operator.

On scoring and event operations, the MoU will see World Boxing and Waychamp Sports explore the development of an advanced boxing scoring system incorporating state-of-the-art technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), as a supporting tool for data processing, analysis and decision-support functions. The proposed system may include sensor-based boxing equipment and associated software that can be used for data collection, processing and analysis.

As part of this, World Boxing will provide relevant technical standards, certification procedures and professional guidance to support developments by Waychamp Sports. Any system or associated equipment would be subject to comprehensive evaluation and formal approval by World Boxing before being considered for use at World Boxing competitions.

On training and development, the MoU will see Waychamp Sports develop and submit proposals for professional training and education programmes targeted at athletes, coaches, and technical officials. World Boxing will provide guidance to ensure these are aligned to its technical standards and certification requirements. 

World Boxing’s Secretary General, Tom Dielen, said: “This is an exciting new partnership for World Boxing that covers many aspects of our operations and is a sign of our commitment to innovation and constructive collaboration while maintaining robust standards and ensuring that the interests of boxers are always at the heart of decision making.”

World Boxing is an international sports federation that is committed to creating a sustainable, inclusive and transparent global structure for boxing, with a focus on integrity, fair competition and putting the interests of boxers first.

Wuxi Waychamp Culture and Sports Development Co., Ltd. is a culture and sports development company seeking to contribute technical expertise, event operations capabilities and collaborative initiatives to support the development and modernisation of boxing.

World Boxing to hold Extraordinary Congress on 1 July 2026

World Boxing is to hold an Extraordinary Congress on 1 July 2026 to address a series of governance and administrative matters that require formal approval by Congress.

The specific items on the agenda include:

  • Approval of Amendments to the Constitution related to World Boxing’s Ethics Committee, specifically that it should not be elected by the members but appointed by Congress to guarantee its independence
  • Subsequent changes to the membership of the Ethics Committee, inlcuding the appointment of the four members (including one new independent member); one of the members is U19 World Boxing Champion 2024 Daniel Pitt, who has been nominated by World Boxing’s Athlete Committee.
  • Approval of the appointment of the Auditors for 2025

The Extraordinary Congress will be held virtually.

In accordance with World Boxing’s statutes, voting rights at the Extraordinary Congress shall be limited to Full Member National Federations and Associate Members in good standing in accordance with the World Boxing Constitution and the current electoral period requirements. It means that a maximum of 123 member National Federations will have an opportunity to vote. Endorsed Members will not participate in this Extraordinary Congress and will remain eligible for consideration to become full member at the next regular Congress in November 2026.

The decision to hold an Extraordinary Congress reflects the status of Congress as the highest decision-making body of World Boxing and aims to ensure the continued good governance, legal compliance, and operational stability of World Boxing.

Further details of the Extraordinary Congress are available HERE.