USA’s two-time World Champion, Shawn Porter, pledges support for World Boxing
The USA’s two-time, World Welterweight champion, Shawn Porter, has pledged his support for the newly created international sports federation, World Boxing, which has been set-up to ensure boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement. Speaking on a recent edition of his highly acclaimed The Porterway Podcast, the former IBF and WBC champion said:
“We definitely want to support World Boxing. I will do my part by reaching out to those other champions of today who were, once upon a time, champions of amateur boxing, so we can all support this and keep it moving.”
Porter’s supportive comments (HERE) came during a 16-minute segment of his show dedicated to the situation facing boxing, which is not currently part of the Olympic programme for Los Angeles 2028. It looked at the establishment of World Boxing and featured an interview with Chris Cugliari from USA Boxing, who was involved in the recent launch of the new federation. Cugliari explained:
“It would have devastating consequences for the development of talent through the amateur ranks, globally and in the United States, if boxing was off the Olympic programme. World Boxing is focused on putting the needs of boxers first; strong governance that provides checks and balances so that someone doesn’t have too much control; financial transparency; and third-party oversight of the field-of-play. World Boxing should be the international federation for Olympic-style boxing.”
Porter, who came through USA Boxing’s amateur system (with an impressive record of 276-14) but narrowly missed-out on selection for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, went on to voice his concerns for the sport if boxing does not remain part of the Olympic Games after Paris 2024. He added:
“The reason I am talking about this is because this is where it all comes from. Any of the greats you have ever seen – it starts in the amateur programme. But now our amateur programme is in jeopardy. We are definitely going to document this (issue) and keep it at the forefront of The Porterway Podcast.”
The section on World Boxing can be viewed from 1:25:00 of The Porterway Podcast HERE.
